Thanks Jeremy and Gary.
The converter does accept 1080p23.98 and 1080p24 signals and the tv has a film mode which “automatically detects a film-based source ( originally encoded at 24 frames/sec ) analyzes it then recreates each still frame for HD picture quality”
Like I said, I am getting to work using the 1080i 29.97 playback. I just feel like that’s cheating.