A hypothetical question here... I was in a local audio/video store the other night and saw the Blue Ray demo (as compared to a standard DVD). Wow!
If Santa decided that I was a good boy this year and brought me a Sony Blue Ray Player for Christmas, would it work well with my current system. Let me explain..
I've read a lot about Blue Ray that to get the very best production from it, you need a TV with 1080p. Also, you have to buy special Blue Ray DVDs and an HDMI connection is required.
My set up is that I currently have an LG 720p/1080I plasma and I run a pretty high-end Sony Elite series DVD Player directly into the Plasma through an HDMI connection and the audio is connected into my Rotel amp and receiver (no HDMI switching) and plays on Paradigm Speakers.
So, I know that I have very good equipment, but will I realize the true benefits of Blue-Ray now? Also, I heard that there will be an HDMI 1.3 coming out in a year or two. How does that work with all this?
Well, unfortunately what you are asking for is really all matter of opinion and therefore open to debate. No hard and fast scientific answer.
Yes, it is meant to display a native res of 1080p, whether or not you can actually tell the difference between 780p/1080i/1080p in any kind of ABX testing would impress the hell out of me, but who knows. What I can definitely tell the difference between is any form of HD and standard DVD 480p. So the odds are pretty good that no matter how high-end your Sony is (unless of course it is an upconverter) the BD probably does have a better pic, even on standard def formats (it upconverts).
However there is still a huge distance to travel before the two competing HD formats (BD and HD DVD) decide on a winner, so personally I would stick with your current player until one wins. Or, as another option, I know LG was suppose to come out with a duo-format player, but I have been pretty out of the loop so have no clue what the status is on that gem. Now... HDMI 1.3. UGH! What a can of worms this HDMI crap is. Bottom line is, eventually you will get a cable that can transmit Dolby HD (google it for the specs man, too much to type). It's basically a lossless digital copy of the audio track, no compression, no data-loss, etc. You don't need it now though to enjoy either format.
The Blu-Ray player will present a wonderful picture to your monitor/TV in 1080i via HDMI as would HD-DVD. And as Michael says, it is very hard to visually see the difference between 1080i and 1080p.