480i,480p,780,1080?

To Sailinfla: No, you cannot get local stations (ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX) in HDTV from a dish OR digital cable. It is ONLY available through the airwaves w/ an aerial antenna....

DVD players can put out 480i or 480p depending on the type. Most older DVD players are 480i. You may have heard of new DVD players have Progressive Scan. This is where 480p comes from. Interlaced DVD players did not output ALL of the information on a disc, hence used "interpolation" to achieve a great pic. Progressive Scan uses all 480 lines of data with each frame. GENERALLY a better picture, but a great interpolator can make you not tell the different.

I have Satellite High Def with Dish Network. I get HBO, Showtime, and 1 pay-per-view. These are all in 1080i OR 760p format, your choice. The picture is AMAZING! You can often tell when a 480i or 480p movie is SCALED up to a 1080i format as it still does not look that great. Showtime seems to do this more than HBO, instead of transmitting in native 1080i format directly from the film. Rule of thumb for High Definition...Go with 1080i for the best pictures without lots of movement. For
sports and high action, go with the 760p as you'll have
less artifacts.

Lastly, many tv stations are broadcasting during certain hours of the day in a High Definition format of either 760p or 1080i, depending on the station... You need a good aerial antenna and HD decoder to get this signals. Have fun!