Use LCD screens, not plasma, unless your screen will only be used as a part of home cinema, in which case make sure you NEVER watch any news or TV channel on it - you will get the logos hard burned on your screen in a matter of days.
If you want to buy an HD screen now - definitely go for 1920x1080 as that will gurantee it will be at least somewhat future-proof. Drop a screen size, if necessary, to fit into budget but get 1080 horizontal lines set.
Be prepared to see that SD broadcast will look not very good on your screen but most screens will let you tweak the image (NR etc) to make it more or less acceptable.
DVDs connected with RGB or component will generally look quite nice, but depends on quality of encoding as cheap encoding artefacts will be quite visible.
DVDs played on a decent upconverting player connected with HDMI/DVI will likely look very good if they are well encoded or worse than with RGB/YCbCr if they are HalfD1 or poorly encoded. However some DVDs will look better at 720p, some at 1080i or p.
Usually, upconverting DVD players have better quality scalers than TV screens.
None of the above ways to play DVDs will be comparable with native HD recording on HD-DVD or BD if, repeat IF, the transfer was done in HD throughout. If the transfer was made from an SD copy - that will not be better than DVD player with upscaler.
However, DVDs and DVD players are irrevocably yours once you bought them. HDDVD and BD (both discs and players) are NOT yours - they can be disabled at the whim of the AACS licensing authority.
So, if you enjoy being dependant on someones favourable disposition every time you insert a new disc into your player - go ahead and buy them. After all that's what our kids do - they ask permission.
But be prepared to have to ask a responsible adult every time you want to watch some entertainment. Be also prepared to him saying NO if he thinks you were being naughty.
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A few observations about HD
Use LCD screens, not plasma, unless your screen will only be used as a part of home cinema, in which case make sure you NEVER watch any news or TV channel on it - you will get the logos hard burned on your screen in a matter of days.
If you want to buy an HD screen now - definitely go for 1920x1080 as that will gurantee it will be at least somewhat future-proof. Drop a screen size, if necessary, to fit into budget but get 1080 horizontal lines set.
Be prepared to see that SD broadcast will look not very good on your screen but most screens will let you tweak the image (NR etc) to make it more or less acceptable.
DVDs connected with RGB or component will generally look quite nice, but depends on quality of encoding as cheap encoding artefacts will be quite visible.
DVDs played on a decent upconverting player connected with HDMI/DVI will likely look very good if they are well encoded or worse than with RGB/YCbCr if they are HalfD1 or poorly encoded. However some DVDs will look better at 720p, some at 1080i or p.
Usually, upconverting DVD players have better quality scalers than TV screens.
None of the above ways to play DVDs will be comparable with native HD recording on HD-DVD or BD if, repeat IF, the transfer was done in HD throughout. If the transfer was made from an SD copy - that will not be better than DVD player with upscaler.
However, DVDs and DVD players are irrevocably yours once you bought them. HDDVD and BD (both discs and players) are NOT yours - they can be disabled at the whim of the AACS licensing authority.
So, if you enjoy being dependant on someones favourable disposition every time you insert a new disc into your player - go ahead and buy them. After all that's what our kids do - they ask permission.
But be prepared to have to ask a responsible adult every time you want to watch some entertainment. Be also prepared to him saying NO if he thinks you were being naughty.