Will a home dvd player that is progressive scan work on a regular tv (by that I mean on that isn't HDTV ready)? Crutchfield led me to believe that you need an HDTV ready TV to use a progressive scan dvd player, but I've heard from other sources that you can use the progressive scan player, but there will be no quality difference on a regular tv.

Most progressive players have component video output which is incompatible with regular TV's RGB connector. European players however have SCART (RGBS) connectors ;). But if the player has component RGB out, it should work. If not, you'd need YUV-RGB adapter that can handle 31.5 kHz signals, for example http://www.altinex.com/Products/special_application/tr6102hd.htm. They cost about $200-1000.

Yes, SNGX1275 your understanding is correct.

The progressive scan output only applies to the component video out from the DVD player. Component video is quickly becoming the standard connection for HDTV(in the US). To further confuse things, there are two types of component video: HDTV and non-HDTV. HDTV Component video can be identified by 3 jacks labelled Y, Pb, Pr while non-HDTV component video is labelled Y, Cb, Cr. The output from DVD players may also be identified by 480p for HDTV output or 480i for non-HDTV output. Most DVD players I see at Crutchfield support either format.

Here's a great overview of video connections: http://electronics.cnet.com/electronics/0-6342366-8-7008129-1.html

All the progressive scan DVD players that I've seen also have regular composite video and s-video outputs for use with non-HDTV sets.

The Crutchfield representative should have told you that you will not get much, if any, benefit from progressive output without an HDTV.

Thanks guys. That cleared up some questions for me.