(excuse typos, I typed this fast)
1080p stands for a resolution of 1920 pixels across by 1080 pixels down. Times them togethor you have 2 million pixels, about twice that of 720p resolution. The "P" stands for progressive. Which means each horizontal line is drawn one after each other all in one pass. So 1080 lines in one pass. Your CRT PC monitor, if that is what you are using, is progressive like that.
1080i is the first form of HD. Still technically 1920*1080 like 1080p, it's jus the type of display draws it differently. The "I" stands for interlaced. Which means instead of drawing all the lines progressivly at once, it does every other line. The 540 odd lines, then 540 even lines right after, and done so twice as fast to make you think you are seeing full 1080 resolutin. This also limits things like games to 30fps. As the signal can only be 60hz, refreshed 60 times per second. And 1080i at 30fps requires you to split the 30 frames in two fields, odds and evens, which ends up with 60 half frames. I read the whole reason behind this interlacing was the first regular tube tvs could not draw all the lines progressivly in one pass before the first lines started to fade, so they used this interlaced method to compensate. Though, during fast motion, you may have side effects of the fields not blending well and causing blur. Not great for games unless you really do have a true 1080i tv.
The 360 Premium, Elite, Halo edition, all come with HD component cables (red green and blue ends and separate red and white audio). Those will do HD, upto 1080p. Though, while Component can do 1080p, it's rare for the tv itself to work with 1080p over component, reserving 1080p input to HDMI most the time. The latest 360s come with HDMI outputs now except I think for the core, which doesn't even come with HD component. The Elite includes an HDMI cable. So component is usually just 720p or 1080i. Then you can also get VGA, for a HDTV that has it or PC monitors. Just double check the resolution VGA on a tv can accept, sometimes they limit them to PC type resolutions and don't even allow 720p.
Do you have a 1080p or 1080i tv, maybe even a 720p native tv?
The only 1080i tvs are the CRT ones, which are your classic tube type tvs or bulky almost not sold anywhere CRT rear projections. Though, don't mix up a tv like say a 32inch LCD that claims 720p/1080i, that only means input "support". As everything that's not a CRT is progressive and doesn't ever run in an interlaced mode. So a 32inch LCD is usually just 720p, but can accept 1080i and convert it down to 720p. Thus, for a game on a 360, it's best to use 720p for a 720p tv, as 1080i conversion will only hurt the picture quality with motion and max framerate.
I hope I didn't confuse you :)
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