Tell me: The difference between 720p, 1080p, abc, cnn, etc

[swphreak]

So I'm lookin' to upgrade to a 16:9 ratio TV. I took a gander at the local store, and I saw them in 720p and 1080p flavors. The only difference I know between the two is a couple of hundred bucks.

 

 

Any HD lovers want to tell me what the flip this stuff means?

[Q]

720p is 1366(?)x720 resolution.

 

1080p is 1920x1080 resolution, also known as "true HD."

 

You'll want the latter.

[jrrtoken]

Basically, it's the resolution. 720p means that this TV has a resolution of 1280 by 720 pixels. The -p suffix means that it allows progressive scan, which is essentially non-interlaced picture, i.e., all the lines are drawn in sequence.

 

1080p has a resolution of 1980 by 1080 pixels, therefore, it has a higher resolution than 720p, but it too allows progressive scan.

 

Most standard tube TVs these days are 480i, which means that it has a resolution of 720 by 480 pixels, and the -i suffix means that it's interlaced.

 

Now, on actually choosing the TV, if you own a Blu-Ray player, then you probably want to go for the one with 1080p, in order to get the full experience. Make sure that the TV has an HDMI port, since that's the only connection allows fully uncompressed audio and video.

 

If you don't have a Blu-Ray player, but if you have HDTV service, then you could be allowed to get a resolution of 1980 by 1080, but due to bandwidth sizes, it will have to be interlaced and not in progressive scan. However, if you get the 720p TV, then you can get signals at 1280 by 720 with progressive scan.

 

So really, it comes down to personal preference. Do you want a TV with a more detailed picture but with interlaced lines, or do you want a slightly lower resolution but without lines?

 

Some additional reading:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-definition_television

[Astrotoy7]

lolz... I totally missed this

 

...and Phreak lives!! wher ya been mang

 

PastramiX has given you a nice concise version and saved you from a 2 page tirade from resident pixel junkie astro

 

Heres some longstoryshort points:

*TV broadcasts at various interlaced resolutions. Services that advertise they are broadcasting in HD usually means its 720i. Some services even get to 1080i. As PastramiX indicated - 'i' means interlaced, which is basically slicing the image into very fine lines up to save broadcast bandwidth. Most of the time, your eye cant tell.

 

*a bluray player supports 1080p, but your display needs to be 1080p ready and HDMI/HDCP compliant.

 

*PC GPUs generally dont display at interlaced resolutions, unless you really want them to Interlace lines can be removed from TV etc(displayed via pc) with some graphics cards that have specialised mpeg2 decoders working in the background, such as the nvidia purevideo or cyberlink powerdvd decoders. Starting in the nvidia 8 series, some of their cards actually have an onboard processor dedicated to that, which reduces the burden on your CPU. Anyway, unles you have a HTPC, that stuff is likely to be irrelevant, so I wont rabbit on any further about it [/htpc nut]

 

Hence - with regards to your choice. If you plan on getting bluray/ps3 especially, go with 1080p. If its just TV, I daresay you'll have just as fun a time with a 720p TV. Heck, even I havent upgraded mt main htpc's display from 720p simply because most of our channels are at 720i or less

 

mtfbwya

[Lynk Former]

Simple and short answer:

 

720p and 1080p are different resolutions. 1080p is higher resolution than 720p.

It doesn't really matter which you get if you don't really care that much, however if you're really into High Definition media, the 1080p TVs are better to get.

[Astrotoy7]

lolz, I think phreak will surely understand what it is now that we have given him the same answer 4 times

 

mtfbwya

[urluckyday]

I don't know if it's been said b/c i can't understand all your technical terms, but I was under the impression that "i" resolutions were different from the "p" resolutions because the "i" rezs didn't refresh their pixels as often as the "p" rezs...just what I thought...

[Lynk Former]

I'll try to give you a straight forward answer that won't get too technical...

 

i = interlaced scan

p = progressive scan

 

Interlaced was how things used to be done on older TVs. Basically every horizontal even line of a frame is displayed then every odd line is displayed and then every even line on the next frame is displayed to bring you a moving image, though it also creates a flicker effect in the picture. This method was used because the technology back in the ye olden days of TV wasn't good enough to display progressive and also because it was easier to broadcast TV signals if they were interlaced.

 

Progressive on the other hand shows an entire frame at a time instead but requires more bandwidth and as a result creates a sharper picture that seems more solid and doesn't flicker like interlaced can. Digital broadcasting allows this and we have much better technology now to be able to support progressive scan.

 

 

 

Astro or someone else can fill you in on more of the details if they want.

[urluckyday]

There we go...lol...tell me the "dummies" version and I'll understand it!

[jrrtoken]

A single frame of animation; the one on the left is interlaced, the one on the right isn't. It's not the best example, since it's different with actual animation, but you get it.

Show spoiler

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EDIT: Here's a better one.

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[Negative Sun]

Basically:

 

1080p > Everything else!

 

As long as you have an input that supports it you'll benefit from all the glorious pixels on your screen, pretty!

[Astrotoy7]

nice illustrations PastramiX That should do the trick.

 

Some more info: Most TV broadcasts(all that Ive come across definitely) are interlaced.

 

1080p is best left for bluray or HD gaming, be it on console or pc. If youre really not going to use it in either of those contexts, you shouldnt bother with a 1080p display - despite what the slick salespersons tell you

 

1080p > Everything else!

 

ahem. c'mon negsun you know I cant leave that there without response

 

 

1600p>1080p For you nerdy types, aka Wide Quad Extended Graphics Array(WQXGA) of course 4K2K and SHV(super hi vision) have been developed, but they are far from being supported by pc graphics cards Playing Jade Empire, NWN2 and Mass Effect in 1600p is droolworthy

 

mtfbwya

[jrrtoken]

Hehe, can't wait 'til UHD TVs come out. 4320p, ftw!

[Astrotoy7]

Hehe, can't wait 'til UHD TVs come out. 4320p, ftw!

 

As fantastic as the specs are - Super HiVision (SHV) is quiet a distance away from making it into the average home and local e-tailer A SHV camera looks like the frickin robot from Lost In Space, whereas 1080p camera fits in your palm nowdays...

 

and WTF is that wiki author on The word UHD seems to get bandied around alot these days. SHV and 4k2k need to stay with their experimental/spec names - It is only protocol to assign it HD grade moniker once it is a deployed market and broadcast standard.

 

Heck, they havent even finalised the codec theyre going to use in SHV - which when it comes to broadcast standards, is a *big* deal. The scuttlebut is Dirac needs to be tweaked from its current MPEG base to a more efficient H.264 model. This explains why the BBC is still scratching its head on Dirac.

 

Dirac is also a crap name for a codec [/iMO] Sounds like the name of a slavic cab driver...

 

Id love to see SHV on TV and in games, but people are just starting to cotton onto 1080 HD.

 

Prediction: 2015 to finalise the broadcast standard, 2020 for mass deployment rollout. By which time MegaSuperAwesomeDefinition will be out

 

I dont see a pc GPU going anyhwere near 4k2k let alone SHV anytime soon. The top of the line GPUs are still getting their a$$es kicked in 1600p... and devs are only recently starting to think about designing games optimised for HD.

 

mtfbwya

[Q]

Prediction: 2015 to finalise the broadcast standard, 2020 for mass deployment rollout. By which time HoloVision will be out

Fixed.

[Astrotoy7]

man, I hope so !

 

mtfbwya

[Negative Sun]

nice illustrations PastramiX That should do the trick.

 

Some more info: Most TV broadcasts(all that Ive come across definitely) are interlaced.

 

1080p is best left for bluray or HD gaming, be it on console or pc. If youre really not going to use it in either of those contexts, you shouldnt bother with a 1080p display - despite what the slick salespersons tell you

 

 

 

ahem. c'mon negsun you know I cant leave that there without response

 

 

1600p>1080p For you nerdy types, aka Wide Quad Extended Graphics Array(WQXGA) of course 4K2K and SHV(super hi vision) have been developed, but they are far from being supported by pc graphics cards Playing Jade Empire, NWN2 and Mass Effect in 1600p is droolworthy

 

mtfbwya

But!!!

 

You can't watch your newest blockbuster on a 1600p player yet now can you?

[Astrotoy7]

But!!!

 

You can't watch your newest blockbuster on a 1600p player yet now can you?

 

cmon negsun, no one that gets a 1600p monitor has movies in mind. I have a 3m diagonal projector for the movie biz(720p), 1600p was, and always is for pc/gaming and mega screen estate for multi window video apps I fool with.

 

In fact, when you run windows media center at 1600p it gives you a high rez warning

 

if your GPU can hack it, games at 1600p are just too pretty. Its hard to explain how pretty until you actually see it.

 

mtfbwya

[Q]

Too bad you need Tri-SLI GTX280's for any modern game to run faster than a slideshow at that res.

 

The above statement is not entirely accurate, of course.

[Negative Sun]

But!!!

 

Can it play Crysis???

[Q]

At 1600p? With Tri-SLIed GTX280's you would probably get ~40FPS, which is definitely playable, but why would anyone spend that kind of cash just to play one over-rated game?

[Astrotoy7]

the games I mentioned(Mass Effect, NWN2) are doable at 1600p if you fiddle with settings and drops some glows, particle effects etc, and thats on my 8800GTS 640Mb.

 

Having AA on high at 1600p is a joke, the lines are so fine they cant look jagged if they tried

 

mtfbwya

[Negative Sun]

At 1600p? With Tri-SLIed GTX280's you would probably get ~40FPS, which is definitely playable, but why would anyone spend that kind of cash just to play one over-rated game?

That was kind of a rhetorical question Q

[swphreak]

Ended up getting a LG brand 42" 720p LCD HDTV. Was actually only looking for the 37" that was on sale, but some guy bought the last one minutes before me. A manager offered me a 42" for only $99 more. Got a 42" for the price of a 37".

 

 

Let's see, I have: XBox 360, DVD player, A/B box for PS2/Wii, DVR, and PC (dualview mode) hooked up.

 

I love having my PC hooked up. I set it up for dualview, and now I can watch stuff stored on my hard drive on the big screen. I even hooked up the sound from the PC.

[Astrotoy7]

great stuff phreakski - 42" is the "just right" size for most rooms. Also, for your 360/ps2/wii, consider getting component output cables(the red/green/blue ones) as they give superior image quality to the standard composite cables(yellow, red white)

 

also a suggestion from your ole buddy astro - if you arent doing so already >> for your pc:

if youre using vista (home prem or ulti), consider using the windows media center interface for your vids. You could even get a usb or internal tv tuner and have an extra tv recorder(I notice you already have a DVR). A WMC remote completes the experience. You'll forget your pc is a pc when its a htpc Great for organising music and video collection too. There are many other third party apps for everything from internet tv to news, weather, mail readers, global/online photo sorting etc

 

if you still use xp, you can use the Osource alternative called mediaportal. Lemme know if you need any more info. Im a htpc ninja master

 

mtfbwya