I have to shoot something at a gathering and they want to view it later in the evening on a plasma TV HD.
I have my component out set to HD. What is coming out of the component if I am shooting at 1920x1080 30p? I am guessing it is 1440x1080i? In other words if I want to make sure they can see the video out of my camera to the plasma, should I shoot in 1440x1080i (SP) or will the component just knock it down anyway?
It is a hotel plasma so I don't know if its 720p or 1080p.

It will come out whatever you set the camera on.....I use a LG 22" 720p TV as a client monitor and it works just fine. Just make sure you have the proper cable.

But I do want to get a 20-22" 1080p HD TV some day, as I am tried of pulling out the said LG out of my kitchen each time I need it.....

Are you saying you shot your video in 720p?

No, I shoot mostly 1080 at 60...but that HDtv is a 720p model....I know the picture will look a "little" better if I had a 1080p model......but the one that I have know does a good job.

The component output will be 1920x1080 whether you shoot SP or HQ. It is only the codec that uses 1440, playback is re-sized to 1920x1080