I thought all flat panel displays today have inbuilt deinterlacers, which will convert from your 1080i to 1080p internally. In theory, that should give us more details as opposed to 720p, assuming that your display is capable of 1080 resolution.

hi anfieldude,
mine display is an older model panny 50" hd-ready (1366x768) 50pv80h so i guess it should have an inferior deinterlacer, although i have yet to test it out myself. now, if astro is going to broadcast in 1080i instead of 720p, then all the more reason for me to skip it although i still hate to see the aspect-ratio distortion (fat and short people like me).

for me, i have a media player set up such that i can only spend rm470 for a 1.5tb loaded with hd stuff which should have hundreds of titles - no need astro hd for me!

what i mean to say, ar188, is that since i will still stick to the non-hd astro, i will still see the stinking distorted 4:3 playing on my 16:9 plasma tv.

anfield,
this 'just' mode helps a little but the peope remain short and fat, definitely not the correct aspect ratio. it's only when i set it to 4:3 that i get the correct a-r with the 2 empty blue/grey bars on the sides.

Does anyone know if they will charge for the swapping of the dish? If they do, how much? Also, can anyone here confirm if it will be 720p or 1080i?

Okay, now i know. They will charge rm80 for the installation of the new dish, and every month you pay an additional rm20. They are broadcasting in 1080i, so the question remains just badly my old 50" pv80h will perform in deinterlacing the signals.

I just called astro. Seems that they won't charge the rm80 if we let them take back the old dish and decoder, and that the rm20/month only starts in april.