Cable cards are crap at the moment. Hopefully they'll get the bugs worked out in the future. I'm waiting for the HD-DVD drive for my XBOX 360 to be released this holiday season, much cheaper than buying a stand alone player.
Also, your TV is going to scale the image no matter what you feed it since it is a plasma like mine and has a fixed resolution which isn't to true 1080 specs. I'm not sure when the true HDTV's will begin hitting the market, but it should be soon and expensive. O yeah, every pixel on your plasma is refreshed every frame so don't get too caught up in the 1080p hype, all plasmas are progressive all the time. There is also a huge debate raging at the moment about the quality difference between HDMI and component. A lot of industry people will tell you (and sometimes show you) that component is equal and in some ways superior to HDMI. They consider HDMI as a copyright protection scheme that is being forced on consumers even though it provides no added benefits. I personally use HDMI for my cable and component for 360 and my DVD player. The only difference I've noticed with the HDMI (i've swapped the cable to component many times to compare) is the sharpness and color. HDMI is crisper, but the colors are washed out. If you have ever had a Trinitron tv, you know what I'm talking about. If you like more vivid colors, red push etc., then component is the way to go. It really comes down to personal prefs.
The absolute best thing you can do for yourself and your TV is to get a calibration disc and use it every few weeks for the first year. Also, limit your videogame playing to 20min uninterupted sessions for the first 6mo until the plasma is broken in. Never leave the plasma on when the game/movie/cable menu is paused for the first 6mo or you will see ghosting and maybe permanent burn-in. After the plasma is broken in, you'll see ghosting after an extended session of surfing the cable menu, but it disappears after 30secs of moving video.
Enjoy your new toy!
