HDTV's size and resolution

[Adam12]

Does anyone know how the resolutions and screen sizes relate? More specifically, on a 23" LCD, does 1080i typically look better or worse than 720p?

If the size does make a difference, at what point would 1080i be better than 720p, and does 1080p always trump 720p?

[schwein]

HDTV resolution explained - HDTV World - CNET.com

"Despite the obvious difference in pixel count, 720p and 1080i both look great. In fact, unless you have a very large television and excellent source material, you'll have a hard time telling the difference between any of the HDTV resolutions. It's especially difficult to tell the difference between 1080i and 1080p sources. The difference between DVD and HDTV should be visible on most HDTVs, but especially on smaller sets, it's not nearly as drastic as the difference between standard TV and HDTV."

[Aegdaien]

gg citing an article from 2006.

Originally Posted by CNet article

1080p - Rare but getting more common especially in larger TVs

Not really an accurate claim in 2008. At least 50% of HDTVs 42" and up are 1080p, if not higher. What's more important is that resolution depends on screen size and how far you sit back from your television. 1080p will make a difference on larger screens or if you sit 5-8' from your television. See attached chart. You want to look along the red line and in the triangular region above it.

To answer your question directly though, you will not be able to discern a difference between 1080i and 720p at 23" unless you sit less than a foot from it. And even then it's iffy.

[Desx]

720p is good enough for me. Infact once 42" 1080p lcds become $500 then I'll get one. Id say 1080p is the maximum video technology needs to leap for the next 10 years. I see more wireless tv features coming soon.

[Aegdaien]

Originally Posted by Desx

720p is good enough for me. Infact once 42" 1080p lcds become $500 then I'll get one. Id say 1080p is the maximum video technology needs to leap for the next 10 years. I see more wireless tv features coming soon.

I'd tend to agree with this statement. I own a 720p plasma and it's excellent. It's difficult to make an accurate comparison between a 720p and 1080p set directly because you'd need two different models and each would have different image processors, but from my understanding even Blue-Ray looks great on a 720p set. Now obviously you should get a 1080p set if you're just in the market now and plan on getting a HD player with it, but there's no reason to avoid them if you have a 720p set. I'm planning on picking up a PS3 in the next few months for the player. I think I have about 200 channels on my tv and I only watch about 10 now, all but 2 HD (SciFi and Comedy Central). Once you see it there's no point in using any other channel.

[Desx]

no joke about that. When I had my HD cable I watched only the HD channels. Lots of MOJO and discovery. Then school ruined my life and i cancelled cable.

[Araxen]

That's all I watch anymore is HD stuff, if it's in SD I don't bother with it.

[budrick]

I am using 720p on a 37" LG LCD. I've had it for a few months but only in the past week got an HD decoder. I can't believe the picture difference. I'm ruined for regular TV and have removed all regular channels from my TV lineup.

HD for life!

[Eomer]

He's been asking about 1080i, however, and if there's much of a difference between it an 720p. I can't comment on how it would look on your small panel, but as others have said 720p should be plenty on such a small one.

I do know, however, that having my computer feed 1080i to my projector instead of 720p is an instant head ache for me. The flickering is very, very noticeable to me. It might just be that my projector is a piece of shit, and by today's standards it is. But personally, my preference would ALWAYS lean to non-interlaced resolutions.

[spronk]

720p is a resolution of 1280x720 (or thereabouts), or around 1 million pixels. 1080p is a resolution of 1920x1080 or around 2 million pixels. 1080i is not really a LCD/plasma TV format, there (almost) really isn't any such thing as a 1080i TV. After all a TV has either 480, 720, or 1080 vertical scan lines. A caveat is that some manufacturers try to con people and sell TVs as 1080i TVs (Hitachi is one), but they are really 1280x720 TVs that accepted a 1080i signal and downshift it.

Remember, interlacing is an artifact of old television, basically you show every other line of video in one frame and the missing lines in the next frame. Interlacing isn't that big of a deal anymore, most (all?) new LCD and Plasma 1080p sets will take a 1080i DVD signal and correctly merge the 2 frames before displaying it as a single frame, in realtime.

The flip side is the video material. Regular DVDs are 480i as stored on the disc, DVD players can do tricks and such to upconvert them to 1080p but your source material is 480i. TV/cable/satellite signals are 480i or 720i (some 1080i), there is no 1080p TV as far as I know although that is the future. No matter how good upconversions are its basically taking 1 pixel and stretching it into 2, 3, or 4 - never as good as if you had the original 4 pixels.

HD-DVD and BluRay are stored as 1080p. Unless you really are a pixel guru you won't be able to tell a 1080i HD/bluray DVD player from a 1080p, hooked up to a 1080p LCD. Any LCD manufactured in 2007 will do a fast and good job taking the 1080i signal and fixing it up as 1080p at 60fps or less. Of course some newer TVs now run 120fps (120hz) but since bluray/HD-DVD is 24fps or 30fps it really doesn't matter, until a new format comes out.

Bottom line, 1080p sets are better than 720p sets but most people (MOST, not all) cannot tell the difference unless you sit 4' or closer to the TV. It is a doubling of pixels however so its not just a minor technical difference, its 2 million pixels vs 1 million. Coming down the pike is 120hz sets and the next big format is 2650x1480 (or something like that), but its probably years away. Broadcast TV/cable/satellite itself has quite a bit to go before its shown in 1080p format which would be ideal, the bandwidth is just enormous.

This is all my understanding of the whole thing, feel free to correct any mistakes. I have a 47" 1080p attached to my PC and consoles (PS3 and hd-dvd), running games at 1920x1080 is great

[Adam12]

Thanks for the info! The reason I asked was because I'm considering taking my tax return and picking up a marginally larger TV (32" in comparison to my 23"), and as I research the size/resolution/distance question kept popping in my mind. Anyway, I think you answered my question!

[Kevincheese]

What I want to know is, why they came up with the retarded I and P designations in the first place.

We've been using resolution numbers on PCs for... I don't even know how long, all my life at least. Why the fuck couldn't they just use the pixel numbers?

[Vinen]

Originally Posted by Kevincheese

What I want to know is, why they came up with the retarded I and P designations in the first place.

We've been using resolution numbers on PCs for... I don't even know how long, all my life at least. Why the fuck couldn't they just use the pixel numbers?

Probabaly marketing. 1080P is a lot easier to say then say. 1920x1080 Progressive Scan.

[prescient63]

Originally Posted by spronk

720p is a resolution of 1280x720 (or thereabouts), or around 1 million pixels. 1080p is a resolution of 1920x1080 or around 2 million pixels. 1080i is not really a LCD/plasma TV format, there (almost) really isn't any such thing as a 1080i TV. After all a TV has either 480, 720, or 1080 vertical scan lines. A caveat is that some manufacturers try to con people and sell TVs as 1080i TVs (Hitachi is one), but they are really 1280x720 TVs that accepted a 1080i signal and downshift it.

Those Hitachi sets are actually 1280x1080 panels. The reasoning behind it is that when you convert a non-native signal you will get less, and I'm going to use the wrong word here, distortion. There is a big tech pdf floating around on the net regarding these plasma sets. It's actually pretty interesting.