I was checking out a friend's 32" Sony XBR WEGA HD-ready TV (don't know the exact model), and was mortified to see that she was using a spaghetti-thin composite video cable as the connection to her DVD player. I bragged about how much better the picture would be if she were using component video cables, and offered to pick up the cables and set it up for her the next day. I picked up a set Acoustic Research component video cables and hooked them up between the TV and her lower-end Toshiba DVD player.

I was not impressed with the improvement in the picture quality using the component video connection, I really thought that there would be a noticable improvement. To be honest, it was hard to tell if there was any significant difference at all. We put "The Phantom Menace" in, and there were still jagged edges, especially with the text in the menus and subtitles. I unplugged one of the three component cables to verify that the video signal was being carried between all three cables. The HD/DVD input jack on the back of the TV indicated that it was compatible with 480i, 480p and 1080i inputs. I couldn't find anywhere in the TV's setup menu or manual if the signal type was selectable, or if it auto-detected the incoming signal type and adjusted itself accordingly.

Anybody have any suggestions on something I might have overlooked? Would a progressive scan DVD player be a noticable improvement?

There is not much of a noticeable difference between component and composite signals on that size of television unless you are running a HD signal to it. The progressive scan DVD player will give you a much better picture! If you go with the progressive scan DVD, you will need to go into the main setup menu and select progressive scan, but you cannot be on the HD input when you do this.