Re Oppo's new BluRay player and 720p TVs

Yes, BD is going to look much better than DVD, as long as you aren't sitting absurdly far from the set.

You don't really need an Oppo for BD quality; cheaper players will do as well on BD.  Oppo is mainly for top notch DVD playback, and  SACD/DVD-audio.  Even the DVD playback improvement is going to be rather small and only readily apparent on select scenes on some discs; Oppo is for video perfectionists with large DVD collections, huge 1080p screens.  Furthermore with a 768p plasma you won't be getting full benefit out of the Oppo scaler.  Basically I don't think it's worth spending extra for an Oppo given your set, I'd get a cheaper LG (if Netflix streaming appeals to you), or go for a really cheap Vizio/Magnavox.

I'm using the Oppo on a 720p projector. Agree with the post above that for blu ray any player will give you almost the same picture.

In my case I will eventually upgrade to a 1080p projector so it made sense for me in the long run. In the short run the ability to play almost any format or disk I throw in it, and analog audio connection since my receiver pre-dates HDMI were the selling points.

Its also the fastest loading player although I wouldn't but it for that.

If factors such as that don't matter then the Insignia, Magnavox, or Sony 350 that is being cleared out are all fine players that I also own.

The downside of the Insignia/Magnavox are they just finally released firmware updates which creates issues in playing some disks. For example the Insignia wouldn't play my daughter's Twilight disk. Hopefully the the firmware update I'm doing tonight will fix that. Also didn't like DVD disks I burned by HD camcorder files on

The Sony while more, at least played all my disks

I would look into a panasonic 60 or 80. they are fine players.

Jacob

Stick to a major brand with a history of delivering FW updates.  I ahve several Panasonics and the Oppo.  Other than they are slower than the Oppo I have no complaints with any of the Panasonics.  The PS3 is down to $299 so that may be a contender too.

Another vote for the Panasonic 60.  It is a great player, and Panasonic regularly delivers firmware updates as necessary. 

The Oppo player is outstanding.

I picked up an Oppo code free BDP-83. I only have 720P as well. BR and SD dvd's look great and I'm ahead of the game if I upgrade my tv.
I went with Oppo (code free modded)so I could have a player that will play any disc I throw in including SACD and DVD-A. I also have an older Denon so I wanted a unit that had 5.1/7.1  outputs. Many of the lower end BR players done have that. 
If you have the extra bucks why mess around?

Re:  your image quality problem - make sure the output on the Oppo is set to 720p.  If you're sending 1080i or 1080p, your TV has to rescale the image to its native 720p - so you are just adding another processing step, which is never a good thing.  

Regards,

Joe