It should be revised to 'it is substantially cheaper to deliver content in 720p over wires or satellite channels' Just wanted to say here that the line that the industry uses: 'it is practically impossible for an average customer to tell the difference between the picture quality of 720p and 1080i' is just simply hype.

In 1080i, however, the tie and its fine pinstripe pattern was as crisp and clear and sharp as can be, no 'video noise' whatsoever! So the difference between 720p and 1080i is significant, with 1080i much more clear on fine details onscreen.

In 720p one could see the pinstripes in Bill's tie because 'video noise' was generated by them. In 480i and 480p, the tie was just beige in color, the fine pinstripes completely invisible. Bill Cosby's tie had a fine pinstripe pattern. There was a significant VISIBLY NOTICEABKE difference. I watched in 1080i and then switched to 720p. So if you compare an 720p satellite signal to an OTA 720p you will see the same result even though resolution wise they are identical.

The reason is the Over the Air HD broadcasts usually have a higher bit rate than cable or satellite. To the previous commenter: Your comparison isn't quite valid for comparing 720p vs 1080i. On my 37' 768p LCD panel I can't tell any difference b/t the two sources. I'm speculating that in 1080i all the spatial resolution is provided and the TV does a better job at deinterlacing than filling pixels for a 720p source. I find on my 61' 1080p projection TV 1080i source looks significantly sharper than 720p. The comparison of resolution alone is not adequate to address all the visual differences between 1080i and 720p. I've seen some concerts on prime-time PBS special events that looks and sounds absolutely stunning, then on the same channel I've seen bran-newly produced programs in 'HD' that are pixellated, have streaming fallouts, and pasty surface-posterized artifacts throughout. As an example, you can watch PBS on channel 9 both on Cable, SAT and OTA and see stiking differences in streaming quality not only between sources but also between individual 'HD' programming on each one. The best comparison between ALL formats would be to compare the relative quality of a high-end Blue Ray player running at 1080P vs all other formats, and rate them both on resolution and compression. ALL of these formats are capable of very high resolution 1080ior 720p, but none deliver their content uncompressed and dithered into a subset of the picture's former glory. Irrespective of the comments both ways on thios subject, they appear to all be ignorant of the differences compounded by the amount of data delivered via OTA vs Cable or SAT.

Should i record in 1080p or 720p