EDTV vs. HDTV for DVD

[ch83575]

This is my first HTGuide post, it is going to be long, but bare with me... it will have a question at the end .

I have an Daewoo 42" EDTV Plasma screen that I have not been satisfied with. The de-interlace looks like crap, specificaly my DirectTV looks REALLY bad. BUT, this screen looks really good with DVDs (as long as you have progressive scan turned on). Last year when my old DVD player craped out I went to my local Hi-Fi store and fell in love with an Arcam DV-79 that they had in used. I took it home for a test drive next to a Toshiba HD-DVD player from Bestbuy and ended up keeping the Arcam over the Toshiba without hesitation. So I have a very nice DVD player and a no-name plasma that I am not happy with.

My father-in-law purchased a Phillips 42" HDTV Plasma over the weekend and so I went over to see it. It looked so much better playing his cable than my screen playing satelite that I went home to get my DVD player. I couldn't bring myself to say it while I was there, but it looked like crap! Well... not like crap, but nothing like it looks at my house. And this is on a screen that is HD and 3 years newer!

My only conclusion is that while my screen must have a bad de-interlacer, his must have a bad upscaler? So my question: If I am dedicated to the format of DVD as my main source (for the forseeable future) is an EDTV a better match for me than a HDTV? I would love to get somthing that would look better with the satelite, but I will not sacrafice quality on the DVDs. It just seems kind of wierd to buy an EDTV in 2007! But if it fits it fits. Right? Is there something I am missing?

p.s. I might be looking at 50" (i havent seen any 50" EDTVs though) but my wife likes the 42" size.

Thanks,
-Chad

[aud19]

I would probably lean towards an HDTV just because...well why not? But really what you need to look for is actual picture quality regardless of HD or ED resolution including quality scalers etc.

FWIW your not likely to find those things in a Daewoo or similar display. You'll need to read some reviews/info and look up makes/models based on recommendations. I'll start by recommending you look at Pioneer, Panasonic and Samsung plasma's and Fujitsu (though they're a bit pricey).