Were looking for a new TV and we've found a lot of good deals for the 720p TVs but I heard that having a 1080 makes the world of difference especially for the new bluerays. We just don't want to buy outdated technology.
If we were to divide things into classes, it'd be like this:
1080p - Class 1
720p/1080i - Class 2
1080i isn't true 1080p because its simply two frames interleaved together to make an image and not a true 1920 x 1080 progressive broadcast.
Secondly, anywhere below 40-46", you don't even need 1080p. After that can you discern the difference, otherwise it'll look exactly the same.
And blu-ray isn't exactly a very good option for right now. Reason being that it still has some issues and the high price. After that will it start going mainstream, heck, look what happened to the DTV bill - it's gonna take a while.
I've actually owned both a 720 and moved up to a larger 1080P tv recently. Both Tv's are Sharp Aquos.
The biggest thing I found between the two (aside from the size) was that regular TV (standard cable) looks really bad on my 1080P tv because of the native super high resolution.
Anything High def like a blu-ray or my xbox 360 looks incredible on my new TV and just blows the old one out of the water, but if im trying to watch something using standard cable the lower resolution of my 720 is much better.
The point im trying to make is this: If you are still on standard cable, the 720 is going to look better than the 1080, but if your going to watch blu-ray and have a hi def cable box get the 1080P, its totally worth it.