Blu Ray connectability HDMI / Component

To get the best picture you'll need the hdmi...and wait on the blue ray anyway, Sony is coming out with new models as is everyone else and they'll be cheaper to boot.

Go with an Oppo, great picture, and with the 980 you'll get decent sound as well.

lwood

If your tv has a DVI input like my 5 yr old Sony rear projection, you can use a hdmi-dvi cable.

You can still get an HD picture out of component, but there's the risk that at some point in the future, movie studios might start enforcing the ICT, which is a silly anti-piracy measure limiting output over component to 960x540, basically an EDTV resolution.

No movies using the ICT flag will come out until 2012, if ever.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image_Constraint_Token

As Rrekstad said though, if your TV has DVI you can adapt HDMI to DVI without any quality loss.*

*Well, you lose a small amount of colorspace, so you may need to make sure the Blu-ray player you buy works with DVI displays. Search on AVS to make sure.

Great answer Hudsonhawk.