My ideal home cinema kit.. hmm let me see... I'd go for a Sony 46x2000 LCD TV (£2,200), Samsung BD-P1000 (£400), Mission M-cube speakers (£700) and a Yamaha RX-N600D (£500) receiver. And there's still some cash left over for popcorn :)
have seen the evesham iplayer which is hmdi too. have to say there was an improvement in image sharpness and smearing was reduced a little. wouldn't say the jump was massive tho.
yeah i don't think you can convert scart to component. You should try and get a freeview box with an hdmi slot. search for the evesham iPlayer. that'll give you a much sharper image than s-video.