As far as I know 1080p is not part of the broadcasting standards for HD, so don't expect it to come out of your cable or satellite box anytime soon. It would have to be 1080p 60fps to make a difference anyhow as you will have a very hard time telling the difference between 1080p 30fps and 1080i 30fps (which is the max that 1080i will do using 60 half frames a second).

They did not start making 1080i sets because they reached limits of 720p display technology. 720p and 1080i have always been a part of the HDTV spec. The older generation CRT HDTVs were all capable of handling 1080i (a lot were not capable of displaying 720p natively at all though).

I'd also like to say that for a 32" TV you'd have to sit very close to get the full detail of 1080i (4' in fact according to my favorite distance calculator http://myhometheater.homestead.com/viewingdistancecalculator.html). So unless you are planning to sit that close, you won't need a 1080 display.

Having said that, and being the owner of a 50" display that I'm sitting 7-8' away from, you can never get big enough. Go with the largest display that you can afford and that fits your space.

32" is not that big for a 16:9 display.