u will get a better picture with a progressive dvd,than a non-progressive and letting your set do it for u...my suggestion is the panasonic rp-56,,180.00 range right now....IF you can wait till late july,then go with the new version of it,the rp-62,,a little better audio at the same price...
I still have not found an answer as to the improvement w/ progressive w/ a NON-hdtv.
I have this TV: Panasonic CT-32SF36
It is a good TV.
I was looking @ hooking up a Sony DVP-NS500V to it.
Like you, I have a Toshiba HDTV-ready RPTV. To answer your second question first, there are many good progressive-scan DVD players available for $200 or less: Toshiba, Panasonic, JVC, Philips, Zenith and others all fit this description. As to whether you need it,I used an interlaced player with my Toshiba, which left the scan conversion to the television.The IDSC Pro did a pretty good job on its own. I then bought a progressive scan DVD player. I saw a difference but not a big one. The picture seemed a bit more detailed and there were fewer artifacts, not that there were all that many with the television alone. Oh yeah, the black level had to come down 13 steps. Since I only paid $150 for the player, the relatively small difference seemed to be worth it. Your mileage may vary.
Your 57HX81 will surely accept a progressive signal. However, that TV will upconvert all 480i/480p to 540p and lose most of the benefits with using progressive player. Most TVs will see a nice improvement with progressive DVD over interlaced.. our Toshibas are the exception. :frowning: Their 540p upconversion was not done well and as such resolution is lost