Jack A Smith asked:




Before we start discussing on the subject matter, let us understand what 1080p stands for. It is a category of resolution, mainly referred to for a TV display. The resolution offers 1080 lines of vertical resolution, with progressive scanning as denoted by the letter "p". Progressive scanning would mean that the picture generated by 1080p is not interlaced, a full image frame being displayed in one single pass. The scan matrix in a 1080p TV creates a frame resolution of 1920x1080, or 2,073,600 pixels in total. If you are going for 1080p Plasma TV, it is worthwhile if you consider a screen size of not less than 50 inches. For most situations a 1080p plasma TV less than 50 inch is probably not going to offer you the extra detail that 1080p has over 720p because you simply don't see it from the distance you are at.

To find out the worth of 1080p Plasma TV, let us take one of the best TV in the market - the Pioneer's new ELITE plasma TV model, the Pioneer PRO-FHD1. This TV has a 50 inch plasma screen with a 1080p signal, and fits in more than 2 million pixels in its screen. The pixels measures 0.576 millimeters, providing stunning picture quality, and when viewing the content in 1080p/24Hz, it truly gives a fantastic picture. The picture quality is so unique that you can see the beads of sweat on the athlete's face, and the stitches of the football so clear, as it travels through the air.

Having said that, the question remains if it is worthwhile to buy a 1080p signal Plasma TV? The issue is quite confusing amongst the present Plasma TV buyers. There are no content being delivered in 1080p as of today, and has been heavily planned for the future. If you possess a high definition DVD player the matter may be different. The fact remains whether you should invest in a 1080p Plasma TV and block your money for the thing to happen in future, or go in for a 720p set.

To help you to decide, you would do well to ask yourself how long you are prepared to wait for making a jump to 1080p content. It could be one, two, or even three years, but the longer you wait, the sense in having a 720p Plasma TV becomes more sensible. You should understand that even if you buy a 1080p Plasma TV today, you would not see any change in picture quality with 720p signal going into that TV. On the other hand, if you consider going in for high definition in one year's time, it makes sense for you to go for a 1080p Plasma TV.

You should consider all aspects before you invest in buying a 1080p or 1080i Plasma TV. As regards the question of viewing, it is hardly possible that you could tell the difference between 1080p, 1080i, or 720p plasma TV unless you sit at the right distance and watch the right content. On the other hand, when you view a photo, you would be able to see the difference in the picture quality between a 1080p and 720p. But then again virtually all the watching that you do on your TV is with moving images, and you will hardly notice the finer details in the picture that you are viewing. Walk into a showroom and try this out and you will understand the meaning of both the effects. If you should have a smaller TV, you would never notice the difference at all, while you sit at a standard distance from your Plasma TV. Your eyes will never be able to pick out the differences between the two picture qualities.

The price between a 720p and 1080p Plasma TV has a great difference. Before you decide to buy 1080p Plasma TV, you should consider the facts as related above and also check out the other guides related to this subject (follow the links at the bottom of this article). You could spend the price difference between 720p and 1080p more wisely by redirecting the money towards better contrast or color accuracy. Resolution is on the 5th place when it comes to factors that affect the overall picture quality. Color saturation, black levels (contrast) and white levels (brightness) are much more important for the overall experience.

1080p

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Bob Wood asked:




The latest great thing in home theater displays is the emergence of 1080p resolution displays. p stands for progressive, which means the screen fills all at once at 1/60th of a second, versus i for interlaced, which means every other line, then the other half of the full picture, each field displaying at 1/30th of a second.

At this time, there is no source for broadcast 1080p programming. Instead, we have 1080i: two interlaced fields make a frame, at 1/30th second for each field.

Finger it out!

Take your fingers and spread them apart. That's a crude example of interlaced. When you bring the hands together, you combine both fields and you get the whole picture (one frame). It happens fast enough that you don't notice the effect unless there's motion on the screen, then you might see a difference in the smoothness of the motion.

Progressive is all the fingers at once. 720p is fewer pixels, faster: 1/60th second per frame.

1080 = 1920 x 1080 pixels | 720 = 1280 x 720 pixels

Till recently, HDTVs were either 720p or 1080i. Most TV transmissions were 1080i. I believe ABC adopted 720p because it would have shown sports with better pictures. I also remember back when Panasonic Broadcast underwrote ABC (as 720p) - or at least Monday Night Football. Fox and ESPN now also do 720P. The others are 1080i.

The new 1080p sets don't have the front end circuitry to actually receive that resolution. But, again, nothing is transmitting that res anyway. What the advantage is, is how these sets show 1080i - they have the pixel count to do it without trouble. They deinterlace the transmission and present it full frame without throwing away any detail. A 720p set has to downconvert a 1080i signal. In that downconversion you can lose some detail.

(BUT) OH SAY CAN YOU SEE?

But there's a more important issue - can you really see the difference in resolution between 1080i and 1080p? Tests of visual acuity to determine the resolution required of a television transmission system by the BBC's J.O. Drewery and R. Salmon determined that at 9 feet, a 50 inch screen at 720p's resolution will give you all the resolution you can see! At 9 feet, a 56 incher needs 1080i to avoid seeing the pixel structure.
If you sit farther or closer, you may need more resolution.

1080i vs 720p: MOTION CHANGES EVERYTHING

Motion is different issue. If you want to see motion clearly, then live action 720p is what looks best, compared to 1080i. Here's why: the information content of 720p is about the same as 1080i, though what it lacks in spatial resolution, it makes up for in temporal resolution (because the picture is at 1/60th of a second, not 1/30th x 2.) On 1080i, this would show as flickered or jagged edges on bright horizontal objects (like in the background of a camera pan.)

The good news? As the retailers hawk 1080p, you might find a killer deal on a 720p set and not give up anything in what I'll call 'effective' picture quality to get it.

1080p

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