trying to under stand HDTV

[Rubber314Chicken]

okay, so I was in sears with my parents looking at friges (boring, but I know which ones are better and whatnot), and i get bored, so I go over to see the HDTVs. I was looking at them, and I noticed that some are sharper than others. One would say 1080i, others 720p, and then there were ones that like listed a resolution or something. how does that system work? and why were two identical models, one was blurry, one was really sharp, look different if the only difference was screen size (by 5" or so) if they are both 1080i?

 

[freestyler105]

1080 and 720 are resolutions. So a 1080 TV will be much clearer than a 720 TV because there're more pixels, assuming the source video is 1080. 1080 is 1920x1080 pixels, 720 is 1280x720. In comparison, standard TV is 720x480.

Then the P on the end versus the I on the end. P is generally better.
P stands for progressive scan. Each line of each frame is drawn in order, from top to bottom one line at a time. Progressive scan usually looks more detailed, because people perceive the resolution to be greater, even if the resolutions are really the same.
The I stands for interlacing. Most standard tube TVs use this. The difference with interlacing is that it draws every other line at first, and then draws the rest of them. This image explains it:

Because of that, the picture doesn't appear as good as it would with a progressive scan picture.


The smaller the size of a TV, the sharper it will usually look. Assuming they have the same number of pixels, the smaller it is, the more pixels will be packed in there, so the sharper it will be.

 

[Anubis1980]

I'm pretty new to this too lol, but found this site, might help!

http://www.buyinghdtv.com/html/hdtv_basics.html

As to y one look sbetter than the other etc, i guess its the quality of components used.

Lol ur always quicker at posting than me Freestyler u must have 3 hands

 

[freestyler105]

Haha, you caught me.

 

[David Lindon]

1080 and 720 are resolutions. So a 1080 TV will be much clearer than a 720 TV because there're more pixels, assuming the source video is 1080. 1080 is 1920x1080 pixels, 720 is 1280x720. In comparison, standard TV is 720x480.

Then the P on the end versus the I on the end. P is generally better.
P stands for progressive scan. Each line of each frame is drawn in order, from top to bottom one line at a time. Progressive scan usually looks more detailed, because people perceive the resolution to be greater, even if the resolutions are really the same.
The I stands for interlacing. Most standard tube TVs use this. The difference with interlacing is that it draws every other line at first, and then draws the rest of them. This image explains it:

Because of that, the picture doesn't appear as good as it would with a progressive scan picture.


The smaller the size of a TV, the sharper it will usually look. Assuming they have the same number of pixels, the smaller it is, the more pixels will be packed in there, so the sharper it will be.

Yeah that pretty much explains it. 1080 is obviously best with the option of progressive scan

 

[freestyler105]

Yeah, the only drawback is 1080 is much more expensive, especially for plasmas.

 

[Rubber314Chicken]

okay, thanks, that helps.