I went directly from the 980H to the 983H on my 32" display (direct-view CRT). There was definitely a difference, although how much difference there was varied depending on the disc being viewed. Curiously, one of the most obvious demonstration came from some of our daughter's DVD's - computer animation (The Backyardigans, specifically, for those other parents of young children) that exhibited deinterlacing problems with the 980H were extremely crisp and clean with the 983H.