The world of High Definition Television (HDTV) is full of new technology, new concepts, and new buzzwords. One of the most compelling buzzwords is "1080p", the designation for the highest possible screen resolution available on an HDTV. If you are researching HDTV, youve heard this term many times and might be convinced that owning a 1080p set is essential to your happiness. Maybe it is, but there are several other factors in your purchase that are just as important as resolution.
Lets take a few moments and think about what 1080p really means. The 1080 refers to the number of pixel rows in the broadcast and also in the TV display. The other common resolution standard is 720 pixel rows. Ideally, the broadcast resolution and the display resolution should match, but the TV will make adjustments if they dont.
The letter P stands for Progressive, which means that every 1/60 of a second, a complete image is sent to your TV set. If the broadcast standard is the popular 1080i, that means its interlaced, so every 1/60 of a second you receive half an image. This is to save bandwidth in the broadcast.
Every HDTV has a progressive display, so when it gets 1080i interlaced content, it sticks two consecutive half-images together, but each whole image takes twice as long to show, and fast-moving sports or movies might look choppy. This is why 1080p HDTVs are something to get excited about: they can accept 1080 rows of pixels, 60 times a second, so they give you fine resolution and smooth motion.
So, thats all well and good- 1080p is obviously better than the other common display standard, 720p/1080i. But that doesnt mean you should give in to the hype just yet. If youre not willing to consider anything but a 1080p set, here are four factors that might make you reconsider:
- input source: You will only take full advantage of a 1080p set if you have 1080p input, and this is still fairly rare. 720p input, which you get from broadcast, DVD players, and even most HD-DVD and Blu-0000364CRay players, will look just as good on a 720p set. 1080i input will look a little better on a 1080p set, though, because it wont be adjusted to a lower resolution.
- screen size: One result of changing from 720 rows to 1080 rows is that the pixels will be smaller on the same size screen. On sets smaller than 50 inches, the pixels are incredibly small no matter which resolution you have, so theres really no advantage to 1080p on these sets at normal viewing distances.
- cost: If youre considering a plasma HDTV for the deep color saturation, high contrast ratios and other reasons, you will really have to pay a premium for a 1080p set. Its nearly impossible to tell the difference between a 720p plasma and a 1080p plasma in the 40 to 50 inch range.
- other quality factors: All else being equal, 1080p resolution is better than 720p. But the thing is, all else is usually not equal. Other factors like contrast ratio, black level, color saturation, a high quality signal, and overall quality of the HDTV are actually more important than the resolution of the screen. It would be foolish to choose an inferior and probably more expensive set just because it has one cool feature.
Someday in the future, when HDTV technology is a little more advanced, the 1080p standard will probably be applied in every set, and there will be one less decision to make in the buying process. But for now, its important to take advice from manufacturers with a grain of salt, and consider all your options.
About the Author
Tom Webster writes for FlatHDTV.net and the FlatHDTV Blog FlatHDTV.net is an online guide to the HDTV revolution.
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