The Next-Gen High Definition 1080p and What It Means

With all the new talk about HD-DVD, Blu-Ray, and higher resolution, advantages to the XBOX 360 and the Playstation 3, it is a good time to explain what 1080p really means, and how it will affect your viewing and gaming habits.

Terminology

To interject, let’s talk a little about the terminology.  High definition has a number with a letter following it.  The first term, interlaced (i) high definition shows every other line of information, wile progressive (p) high definition doubles the resolution, thus improving your viewing of the image two times.

Different Levels of Veiwing Definition

The first high definition signal that was received and determined was DVD 480i.  What this means is there is 480 lines of resolution interlaced.  Since then, we have progressed to 480p (meaning there are 480 lines of progressive resolution) and display units have matched this resolution.  Televisions (TV’s) that were able to show high definition pictures are Plasma, LCD flat panels, updated rear projection TV’s, DLP, and standard televisions.  These TV’s process the signals by progressively showing every line of information.

A plasma TV, LCD or other display is now named an EDTV (enhanced definition TV) if it displays a native 480 progressive lines of resolution or usually a total resolution of 853 X480.  EDTVs will down convert an HD signal and show it in the displays native pixel resolution. The term “EDTV” was invented to distinguish 480p resolution TV’s from the newer and updated HDTV’s.

Recently, the FCC mandated that digital broadcasts replace analog signals.  HDTV broadcasts are 1080 interlaced lines of resolution or 1080i, and some are 720 progressive lines of resolution or 720p. Which is better, 1080i or 720p, is a matter of opinion and depends somewhat on what type of TV you have and your HD input or signal.

Display resolutions vary greatly depending upon the size of the display. In order to truly show all of the 1080i or 720p information an HDTV must have at least 1280 X 720 lines of resolution. A much more common true high definition resolution is 1366 X 768. Most 50” plasma TVs and most all sizes of LCD flat panel TVs have this resolution. Most HDTV 42 plasma TVs only contains 1024 X768 lines of resolution. They will have to down convert 1080i HD signals slightly to display the signal, though this does not affect quality dramatically.

Hitting the 1080p HD Mark

The next and most current development in HDTV resolutions is the introduction of HD DVD players both Blu-Ray by Sony and High Definition DVD by Toshiba.  These DVD players will display a new stratospheric HDTV resolution of 1920 X 1080 lines or 1080p.  These machines will accomplish this through the use of a blue-violet laser, which will read DVDs with much larger storage capacity.  Due to the increased storage capability, these manufactures are able to put more data for images, video, and gaming on these discs to create these ehanced images.  Video gaming will also enjoy the benefits of the super high-resolution displays that take advantage of the increased resolution and increased space for games.   A question you may be asking yourself is Will an HDTV show HD-DVDs, Blu-Ray, or HD video gaming if you don’t have a 1080p TV?  The answer is yes, but they will down-convert the 1080p signal to 720p to display it.

Is There an Advantage?

How much of an advantage will a person get from a 1080p display?  It depends partially on the persons and their viewing and use habits.  In the last couple of years, there has been an increase of HDTV's with 1080p native resolution, especially with the new developments in the video formats of HD-DVD and Blu -Ray, which typically cost a good deal more than their lower-resolution DVD counterparts, but produce the higher image quality. As you move up in definitions, it becomes very difficult to tell and value the differences, especially when looking at the same source material, as opposed to when DVD's replaced VHS, which was a very noticeable difference in the video formats.

1080p HDTV's deliver more detail, which can enhance the viewing experience for more attentive visual persons, but it takes the right distance from the TV and a fine eye to truly appreciate it.  The most important factor is to view the color, how the TV handles black coloring, the contrast, and most importantly, what you will mainly use the TV for before you make a judgment.  Unless you buy a TV that is 50 inches or more and at the right distance, it will be difficult to distinguish a difference in quality between 1080p, 1080i, and 720p, but you will be able to distinguish it in price.