On smaller screens, it's quite possible that while the set may accept 1080, it will probably downsample to display at 720. So theoretically, you're better off just going with 720 if your screen is a smaller one.

Answering the question you want a HD-DVD player. Your television cannot even display 1080p. So there goes the first reason for buying a Bluray player. The second reason is the studios which movies do you want to watch. However that might not be a concern for much longer granted the more affordable price of a HD-DVD player compared to a Bluray players.

You will get the same visual quality regardless of which player you purchase. The only difference is the price. Both are backwards compatible with DVDs. HD-DVD requires backwards compatibility with CDs as well. Most Bluray manufacturers are backwards compatible with CDs, but its not required.

Given that you have purchased a 20" television I will make the assumption that your not going to spend over four hundred dollars on a player. Were that the case you would have purchased a much larger screen in the first place.

I would also not get caught up on the signals. Displaying in 720p is amusing for some time, but eventually you will discover the experience from having a full screen is preferable. Further more you always have the 720p option if you just have to see that picture in perfect clarity.

Go with the HD-DVD. You cannot even use 1080p anyway, and you will save yourself around two hundred and fifty dollars.

. With movies you should set the resolution to the highest your TV goes, interlaced or not, since they only playback at something like 24fps...maybe 26? I cant remember, but yeah. So if I were you I would (and I do, I have a standalone HDDVD and a PS3) watch them in 1080i, the picture quality really is amazing, people who say they cant tell the difference are either lying, or just don't have a clue. (I am talking about the difference between DVD and HD, not 720 and 1080)

Dodece, I have a samsung DLP that displays 1080i and 720p, but not 1080p. I completely disagree with your comment "no point in getting blu-ray since you dont have 1080p", couldn't be more incorrect. Blu-Ray looks absolutely AMAZING in 1080i, same with HDDVD, there is absolutely no difference in picture quality when I watch movies on both formats, so I dont understand why not having a 1080p would make HDDVD a more viable purchase compared to blu-ray!

It will be awhile before we have a clear winner and dual format players are the only real solution right now. I thought Blu-ray would win this war easily but HD-DVD is putting up a real fight. From what I heard HD-DVD actually has more studios backing it exclusively as well as support from the DVD format. The problem is that Sony is also a rival movie studio, and certain studios would love to see Sony fail. It will be few years before we see all the movies on one format if at all.