What's beter quality: 1080p or 1080i?

1080P is better than 1080i. The p stands for progressive scab and the I stands for individual scan. Progessive scans are always better than their individual scan counterparts.

Why? (I’d like to know as well)

1080p

Interlaced means only every other horizontal line of pixels is displaying part of an image for each frame of video.

Progressive means every line of video is being displayed at once.

But there’s not much 1080p content out there yet.

From everything I’ve read, its the same signal but delivered in different ways. Supposedly, most decent HDTVs will reconstitute an interlaced signal into a full frame so the overall effect is not even noticeable. When I was pricing out my TV I looked at tons of different sets and was able to put 1080i and 1080p sets of similar quality next to each other. The shop had a HD player that output both types of signal and we tried the same movie out I couldn’t see any difference and nor could anyone else in the store. The sales guy confessed later that he was pretty sure the whole i/p thing is largely marketing to drive higher end set sales. We also tried an xbox in i and p mode for the interface – same conclusion. I did, however, notice a difference in quality when it came to different brands; the Sony and Toshiba sets seemed to do best.

1080p is better. You’ll notice it more when watching something with a lot of camera movement like in football. The image will be smoother as compared to a 1080i where it will become pixelated.