Does a composite cable work as well as HDMI for a standard DVD player on a 1080p television?

A standard DVD player uses 480p, is that worthy of a HDMI cable?

A standard DVD player will not incorporate an HDMI connection. Only up-converting players will.

A composite (yellow, red, white) cable will not give you 480p resolution. The best composite can do is 480i. In order to even get 480p, you have to use component cables (red,blue,green). Unlike composite cables, component cables split the video through three streams and only transmit video. So you will need to use stereo RCA cables (red,white) along with the component cables to get Video and Audio to your tv. After you have connected the component video and audio cables to your television. You will then need to open up your DVD's set up menu and tell the player that you are either using a 16x9 tv. After this you will need to enable progressive scan (progressive scan is the "p" in 480p, and composite cables can not transmit the "p)

If your player has an HDMI port, then your player is an up converting player. Meaning, if you use an HDMI cable from the DVD player to the TV, then in your DVD's setup menu you can adjust the HDMI resolution to up convert to 1080i or 1080p depending on your player.

As far as the difference goes in picture quality between displaying your DVD's in the way they were encoded (480p) or up converting them to 1080i or 1080p, this is dependent on the viewer. Some poeple swear by the quality difference. Some people, like me, would prefer to watch the DVD in its original encoding.