High definition television rescued the world from the already 50 year old technology of analog TV signals, and instead brought increased sharpness and pretty pictures. The power behind all those pretty pictures? Resolution. There are three main flavors of HD resolution, 720p, 1080i and 1080p, but which one is best for your TV? Fall in line, soldier, it's time for an HDTV boot camp on HD resolutions.
Alphanumeric soup
Typically, the method manufacturers use to describe resolutions will be a number followed by a letter. The number part of the resolution is the number of horizontal lines going up and down the screen. The more lines, the greater resolution, and the sharper the picture can be. The second part of the equation, the letter part, is a little bit more tricky.
TVs have two main ways of displaying TV signals: Progressive and interlaced. Progressive scan TVs are TVs that refresh every frame line of the TV every time the picture is refreshed. Progressive scan TVs are represented by a "p" designation at the end of the resolution number. The most common progressive formats are 720p and 1080p. On the other hand, interlaced footage has every other row of a TV refresh every other frame. This effect chops the resolution of video in half, however the resolution drop isn't as noticeable, since every other line is being refreshed. Interlaced video can produce an extremely smooth motion, but some view it as a cutting corner way of getting higher resolution video. The only main current consumer format of interlaced footage is 1080i.
Old TVs manufactured before the HD era could be expressed as having a 480i signal, meaning they had 480 lines of signal that were displayed interlaced. Most people have seen the difference between an HD signal and a standard definition (SD) signal, but what about the differences between the different flavors of HD? We're not ready to declare the difference between 720p and 1080p as being entirely crucial yet.
Buying considerations
So now that you understand what the numbers and letters mean, let's talk about the place where resolution matters: Display resolution. Most HDTVs have the ability to display a wide range of formats and resolutions, but the specific resolution that the TV is actually displaying is called the display resolution, or alternatively the native resolution. The native resolution of a TV largely determines the price. While 720p and 1080i sets were extremely common in the early days of HD, 1080i sets have gradually been replaced, and aren't very common in the marketplace. Most sets now are either 720p or 1080p, and the higher the number, the higher the price. 720p sets are much less expensive than their 1080p counterparts, mainly because the companies hocking the 720p TVs sell them as 2/3rds the resolution of their larger numbered cousins. However, don't let the numbers fool you; do some research before deciding whether 1080p is worth the money for your needs.
When scoping out a new HDTV and determining a preferred resolution for your purchase, evaluate what sort of HD content you expect to be watching on your TV. Around the Bennett home, we have an older generation Xbox 360 (which doubles as our DVD player) which doesn't have HDMI output, a Nintendo Wii, and our cable box from Time Warner Cable. Since our house doesn't have any sort of Blu-ray player, nor are we using a TV service that provides 1080p content, our current situation doesn't actually necessitate anything above 720p. And, since we're still budget conscious, our future situation doesn't look like we'll be picking up a Blu-ray player anytime soon, nor will we be springing for any sort of extended service where 1080p is an option.
Take a similar inventory of your current home theater situation. Do you expect Blu-ray to play a significant factor in your home theater? What about 1080p TV services like FiOS or Dish Network, keeping in mind only movies are broadcast at 1080p on premium channels? Do you have a PS3 or Xbox 360 that supports 1080p? Taking a quick inventory of those seemingly high-end home theater components will quickly make some buyers realize the reality: 1080p isn't always a necessity, and may be simply a luxury.
After completing our brief survey, if you're still convinced you might be a candidate for 1080p, make sure your eyes agree with your survey results. Head to an electronics retailer and see for yourself if you can discern the difference between a 720p TV and a 1080p TV. Ask a sales associate if the footage playing back is 1080p, and if so find a set that's 720p, and a 1080p TV and compare. While we won't guarantee you won't see a difference, if you're not a video snob, you quite likely won't notice one. Some crafty sales person might try to convince you that 1080p will give you deeper black levels, will make the colors brighter, or magically solve world hunger, and make the economy recover faster. Those claims, shockingly, are not true. Resolution only has an impact on sharpness and clarity, and plays no role in color depth or brightness.
So, for the sake of argument, say you're a budget shopper who still wants to get the most bang for their buck on a 1080p TV, and wants the picture quality to be as superb as it can possibly be. If you, Mr. or Mrs. budget shopper, can sacrifice a little bit of flat screen sexy for a bit of big screen boxy, taking a look at a DLP might be a good avenue for you. We've talked at length before about why DLP is an often overlooked gem in television purchasing, and how it'll give you deeper blacks than any flat panel, but the other secret is that for the same price as a high-end 720p TV, you can likely find a comparably equipped 1080p TV.
Hopefully you've gone through this boot camp and have come out the other side a smarter person. If you've got any questions about resolution we didn't answer, as always you can reach us by leaving a comment, email us through our tips form, or IM us directly (imobsessable on AIM).
[Image credit: Goins, abasketofpups, Photo_by]
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Comments (2)
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Ebag Array (10:21 AM on Sun Oct 26, 2008)
Thanks for the info - the article makes a potentially confusing topic straightforward. Personally I'm waiting for 2160p to come out before buying a new TV, but readers will find this very useful.
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