Quote Originally Posted by GMichael
A 1080p display is usually 1920x1080= 2,073,600 pixels.
A 720p display is usually 1280x720= 921,600 pixels.
That's more than twice as many. But it doesn't mean twice as good. That depends on how far away you are sitting and the size of your screen. If you are watching a 42" screen from 15 feet away, most people would not see much difference. If you are watching a 103" screen from 10 feet away, then it makes a huge difference.
I have a 102" screen, 10 feet away...and yes, 1080p does make a huge, huge difference in resolution and detail.
Just for giggles though, I have tried 480i, 480p, 720p, 1080i as well. 720p is still pretty good looking, and far better than 480p. The jump to 1080p is at least that much improvement again.

480i can be painful now...especially if it's a compressed signal or bad recording to begin with...