Your XBR has a native resolution of 1080p. The purpose of the DVDO unit is to take the incoming resolution such as standard definition TV or DVD's (both at 480i) and upscale them to 1080p. You already have that scaler/de-interlacer in your TV and maybe in your DVD if you have an up-scaling DVD player. Blu-Ray is already at 1080p.

The DVDO unit adds lots of input/outputs, aspect control and flexibility, etc. that your TV or DVD player might not have. Hopefully for the $1000 it also will do an improved job of the scaling from 480i to 1080p and thus produce a better (if perhaps only slightly) picture than the scaler in the TV or DVD player. It will probably give you a slightly better picture from your 480i sources but it will not turn 480i into high definition (720p, 768p, 1080i or 1080p). Only high definition sources will give you a true HD picture.

The source is of course very important. The super bowl with the great picture produced by the HD cameras produced a super picture on my bedroom plasma which is a EDTV 480p plasma. No scaler will correct standard definition sources that are poorly produced or even HD sources that are the same and highly compressed. The DVDO might make them look slightly better.

The answer is to buy from a dealer that you can return if unsatisfied. Download and print out the owner's manual and read it thoroughly. Then order it and try it out/compare and see what results you get. Be sure when using the DVDO you are bypassing the scaler/de-interlacer in the TV or DVD.

RR6