9 Factors To Consider About 1080p Resolution Before You Buy A High Definition TV Set
About two weeks ago I entered the arena of internet marketing with 2 Squidoo lenses. It seemed to me that people are forever buying TV sets, so my lenses are about LCd HDTVs. This is my first lens: http://www.squidoo.com/Vizio_XVT_42_LCD_HDTV_Deals and http://www.squidoo.com/Samsung-Flat-TVs will take you to my second lens.
Talking to some people about my lenses, I realized that a lot of people do not know enough about HDTV’s to make a smart buying decision. The result of this is that I wrote some articles covering some of the things people seemed confused about.
Here I am going to cover the mighty 1080p resolution. 1080p resolution is full high definition (as opposed to 720p, which is not) so when marketers tell you that you get 1080p and full resolution, they’re not offering you anything extra.
1080p is technically the best resolution you can get. It’s more than two and a half times more than 720p. 1080i is the same resolution but it delivers images differently. ‘i’ stands for interlacing, ‘p’ stands for progressive scan. Interlacing gets you images that are not as smooth as what you get with progressive scan. So you do want a ‘p’ after those numbers.
It looks like TV makers are going to phase out 720p and concentrate on 1080p. Even right now, 720p is almost non-existent with the very large sets. For now you have the choice. The 1080p is going to cost you a couple of hundred dollars to many hundred dollars more. The question is: Should you spent it?
Here are some things to consider before you spend:
1. On small screen there’s no difference between the two resolutions, on medium-sized screens (32-50 inch screens), there is not much difference, many people’s eyes won’t notice it. Everyone will notice the difference on large screens.
2. The 720p has to scale down images transmitted in 1080p, which makes for less than perfect images. 1080i gives you images that are less smooth than those you get with 1080p. However, you won’t notice the difference in either case.
3. If the images are transmitted in 1080i (or any other interlaced resolution), they are converted to progressive scan when they are displayed on your screen. If your TV has progressive-scan resolution of 720 and the incoming images have interlaced resolution of 1080, your TV will convert the incoming image from interlaced to progressive scan and will scale down the resolution, with some loss of detail. Even with the loss of detail, you get a great image.
If the resolution is the same, but the incoming images are interlaced and your TV set has progressive scan resolution, your set will de-interlace, convert to progressive scan. Some TVs are better than others at de-interlacing. But odds are that you won’t notice which group your set belongs to.
4. All fixed-pixel TVs can only display images in their native resolution. Changing the resolution is called scaling. Most newer TVs that have 720p resolution can handle incoming images at 1080p resolution. Yes, you get fewer pixels, in other words, less detail. But the images are still going to be great.
5. 1080p doesn’t even begin to matter if the source of the images transmits the images in 720p. There are very few sources of 1080p images. Blu-ray, some video-on-demand sources, latest video games have it. The major networks don’t broadcast 1080p programs.
6. Differences in resolution are most visible when the source is a computer. Do you plan to use your HDTV as a large monitor for your computer?
7. The higher the resolution, the closer you can sit to a HDTV and not notice the individual pixel patterns.
8. There are more important features than resolution. Think about the following scenarios. You’re watching a movie but the contrast is poor, images kind of look washed out, foggy. Do you enjoy the movie more if it’s on a 1080p resolution TV than if it is on a 720p resolution.
9. How about this. You’re watching a movie but the colors are either too reddish or too drab?
I hope this helps. Since I do want the people who land on my lenses to make informed decisions I am going to post this information on http://www.squidoo.com/Vizio_XVT_42_LCD_HDTV_Deals and on http://www.squidoo.com/Samsung-Flat-TVs Final thought: If you’re going to make a lens, choose a better url than I did for the Vizio lens, something easy to remember, like my Samsung lens.
