Is it really worth the upgrade?

My kid has never seen Star Wars, so I was looking to get him the set for X-mas. What better to be your first BluRay purchase?

Thoughts? Experiences?

Blu-Ray content is the best consumer video widely available and on a decent television set it surpasses everything else.

1-to-1 pixel mapping, a frame repeat mode which doesn't let it look "smooth like television" and the difference should be obvious and worth it.

While there are more recent and more polished productions out there, Star Wars is one of the best restored ones available and the newer episodes all look different due to them being shot later and either partially or completely digitally.

Martin Scorsese mentioned that Blu-Ray video had something filmic, something granular in its picture quality.
He's right, of course. There's a lot more detail not compressed away, the codecs used for compression and the depiction of motion are much better than on DVDs.

Or you could skip the whole HD thing, wait several years and see whether the television industry has come up with a unified standard for 4K content until then - four times 1080p isn't 4K, actually - and found a delivery mechanism not plagued by heavily compressed streaming over a shoddy internet infrastructure.

Blu-Ray content is the shit for today though.

OK. I have a 1080 projection tv. I guess the old standard 60hz. Will that make much of a difference in noticing the improvements over DVD?

It will in terms of visual fidelity due to increased resolution.

It won't that much in terms of motion depiction due to your television set being limited to 60Hz output.
A slight jumping or studder should be noticeable during pans of the camera and on end credits, a point of reference for setting up a TV.

Yes

OK. Any recommendations on BluRay players under $100?

I'd look which rather recent models companies like Panasonic and Sony offer in that price range, scan through some reviews online and it should be okay.

Look for one with internet streaming as well. Almost all the name brands have it. I have an LG that cost under 100.

Toshiba seems to list a handful of inexpensive Blue-Ray players but the reviews are all over the map -

Toshiba USA

Nowadays you should be able to get a Blu-Ray player with streaming capability from Sony, Samsung, LG, or Panasonic somewhere in the $70 to $90 dollar range assuming you aren't going to some store with ridiculous markups, i.e. Best Buy.

I was gonna get this Sony BluRay player on my way home from work, but I got done too late. I'll probably pick it up Thursday. Boy won't be here till Friday, so its all good.