Try using PHP's ob_gzhandler() function is your installation is >= 4.0.5 and supports zlib. Place the following above all whitescape and html on the page(s) in question:
ob_start("ob_gzhandler");
Basically, this will send the output to the browser compressed using either gzip or deflate (assuming the browser supports compression.... uncompressed output is sent otherwise). The other thing that's going to slow it down is browser related.
IE can begin rendering tables before it reaches the </table> tag. Sensible browsers like Nutscrape and Mozilla perform tag checks to make sure everything is closed off properly. Thus, the entire table must be read before render. The more complex the table structure, the longer it takes. HTH.
Geoff A. Virgo
