Kyros on 08 June 2008
I've seen plenty DVD's at their native resolution and they look infinitely better than blown out to 720p.
In this case you should invest in a good TV and player. I can attest to the fact that a DVD upscaled by my PS3 on a 32" LCD looks awesome. Not as good as a BluRay disc but significantly better than the similar sized SD CRT of my parents.
A cheap player and/or TV will result in exactly what you described a loss of quality.