You have to admit, it was a very nice gesture from D* to allow us to test the 1080p movies, and they were mostly very recent.
Only thing we didn't get to test, that I hope works good, is similiar to the "Movies Now" Feature, where they send them to the DVR via satellite instead of internet download.
If they can do 1080p silently downloaded to the box and ready on-demand, then they've done well!
I don't have a 1080p TV, but was able to notice a slightly better picture compared to the regular 1080i movie channels. Subtle on my sets, but still looked great. On a full 1080p/24 set, I bet it looked like Bluray.