480i, 480p, line doubling... what's best?

[mzupeman2]

So I have the Sony 42" LCD Rear Projection HD widescreen TV, model KDFE42A10. You can use features like the Digital Reality Creation (DRC) and Cinemotion on this set when you're viewing dvd's in 480i. But you can't if you watch them in 480p. I know 480p is better than 480i but is it better to watch 480 if the TV provides a feature that:

"The Digital Reality Creation line doubling feature replaces the signal's NTSC waveform with the HD equivalent, while doubling the number of vertical and horizontal lines. This results in four times the density for quality sources, such as DVD, satellite and digital camcorders. The CineMotion technology feature uses reverse 3-2 pull down technology, providing smoother picture movement when playing back movies or other video sources on film."

Unfortunately my Panasonic HT-920 home theater system only supports 480i and 480p with progressive scan. I will someday in the future buy a DVD player that will do some upscaling to a resolution that's higher to HD, but can't afford it right now since well, I just bought the TV. But, I would like to know for my current situation what the best options would be. Because I hear everyone say just how AMAZING DVD's look on HD, and I wanna get the best possible picture out of it, yes, I am using component cables. I dunno why I expected a DVD to look as good on HDTV as it does on the standard TV's that it was made for... because durrr, DVD's are not as high a quality as HD. But it DOES give a nice little effect that it's projected on a movie theater screen because of the grainy looking effect due to the lower resolution, so it still looks pretty damn good. But anyways, any help on how to do my settings would be great. Also, should I use a standard 'temp' coloring for the TV setup, or should I use 'cool' which gives it more of a blue-grey look?

[Spiky]

Those are just fancy names for changing 480i into 480p or higher. So, if you feed the TV 480p, obviously those circuits are bypassed. Even though they sound neat, it doesn't necessarily mean they are better than the players de-interlacer. Try both to see which looks better, that will tell you which machine does a better job.

The temperature color should be set at whichever is closest to 6500K temp. (that's a color temp, not heat temp) This is what ISF calibraters do with expensive machines. With your eyes, the best you can do is set it to whichever looks most natural. Then you can tweak the color, contrast, etc. settings to the best you can do. I always recommend Digital Video Essentials for this since it's under $20, but the THX Optimizer found on many movie discs can help for free.

Many people who say DVDs look amazing on HDTVs have had CRT-based RPTVs. Which have a 480p native mode, so they are acting as an EDTV for DVD watching. Which is the best setup for DVDs. Now with the digital HD technologies generally set at 720p resolution, DVDs are noticeably lesser than HD. Although well done DVDs still look amazing.

[mzupeman2]

Well I believe the latest installment of Star Wars on DVD has a THX optimizer, so I'll use that. THanks for your opinion!