Confused about Plasma

[Gibthomacas]

With the 360 supposed to be out in a month and a half I think it is finally time to upgrade my 8 year old 27'' TV. Visually, I would like to be able to enjoy the 360 to the fullest. However, after reading about all these new standards I am a little confused. I was thinking about getting the 42'' Dell (Here ) bc it seems descent, will display 480i, 480p, 720p and 1080i, and is reasonably cheap. What confuses me is Dell says the resolution is 1024/768 at 60hz. How can it display 1080i if 1080i is supposed to be 1920/1080? Can someone shed some light on this or point me to a better Plasma under $3000? Thanks

 

[j4zzee]

from my point of view as of today... (this stuff changes really fast).

1080p support is getting some buzz; Bluray HD DVD and native HD format.
how the Dell will handle 1080p I am not sure; upsampling?
but, the buzz seems to be about 1080p.

As a plasma alternative; the brand new Samsung DLP(next gen TI-DLP) rear projection sets with 1080p support are very very nice.
I stood in the store with my mouth open a little drool coming out the other day as I gazed at one...