Gonk, once again your clear explanation helps all that read these posts.

So the fact the OPPO 981HD does not output 480i and the 970HD does makes the 970HD the preferred player for those using outboard video processors? I would expect a separate video processor to be better at converting a 480i signal all by itself to the native resolution (or close to it) of the TV versus having either a source or the TV do some of the processing. Sound reasonable?

As most of us will not spend the big bucks for a seperate video processor we will need to experiment between having the source (e.g. upconverting DVD player) or the TV doing varying degrees of the video processing to display a 480i source.

This is probably a topic for a separate post but I don't like the way standard definition TV looks on my plasma. I have some old VCR tapes that look even worse. While the upconverting DVD players improve a standard DVD's appearance these other sources are processed by the TV alone. The trend to include video processors in pre/pros and receivers that work on all video inputs seems like a good idea as long as the ratio of cost to desired features is appropriate.