What makes a monitor HD?

ives · 17 Nov 2009 at 21:01

Hi and sorry for my ignorance, but I've seen some monitors advertised as HD.
What makes it HD?
Is it that it can run at a certain resolution that other, non-HD monitors can't?

thanks,

cmndr_andi · 17 Nov 2009 at 21:08

Technically anything that is 1280x720 can be "HD Ready", but for a monitor this is considered rather low resolution.

For "Full HD" that refers to 1920x1080. This is obviously much higher. Monitors going from 22in offer this resolution (will need to check with specific monitors).

However, these resolutions are used because of TV/Blu-Ray signals that use these specific resolutions. Monitors are available in a variety of other resolutions, all of which can play these signals fine, they are simply adjusted to play on the different resolution by the PC.

ives · 17 Nov 2009 at 21:10

thanks mate. That's cleared that up for me

Guest2 · 18 Nov 2009 at 11:45

cmndr_andi said:
However, these resolutions are used because of TV/Blu-Ray signals that use these specific resolutions. Monitors are available in a variety of other resolutions, all of which can play these signals fine, they are simply adjusted to play on the different resolution by the PC.

So technically, a 17" monitor, or 15" come to that matter is still considered HD? I.e It can play Blu-Ray quality. Obviously the size is shrunk but it can still play HD

El_Watcher · 18 Nov 2009 at 12:30

"HD Ready" is not just down to the resolution of the panel, it is also down to what inputs it has and whether they are HDCP enabled (I think).

Therefore a 17" monitor with VGA input is not necessarily "HD Ready", but it would be considered HD. There is a difference.

Hamoodii · 18 Nov 2009 at 12:37

El_Watcher said:
"HD Ready" is not just down to the resolution of the panel, it is also down to what inputs it has and whether they are HDCP enabled (I think).

Therefore a 17" monitor with VGA input is not necessarily "HD Ready", but it would be considered HD. There is a difference.

Correct, a good example of this would be connecting a PS3 to the monitor. It would only work if it's HDCP enabled.

Zitron · 18 Nov 2009 at 16:28

cmndr_andi said:
Technically anything that is 1280x720 can be "HD Ready", but for a monitor this is considered rather low resolution.

Actually they only need a minimum of 720 vertical lines, there's no requirement for horizontal. This is why there are HD ready plasmas with 1024x768 resolutions (Rectangular pixels). Display must be 16:9 format though.
(Sorry for being anal, hehe)

So technically, a 17" monitor, or 15" come to that matter is still considered HD? I.e It can play Blu-Ray quality. Obviously the size is shrunk but it can still play HD

Display needs a HDCP capable DVI or HDMI input as mentioned above.

ives · 18 Nov 2009 at 17:13

Sorry, what is HDCP?

james.miller · 18 Nov 2009 at 17:16

ives said:
Sorry, what is HDCP?

copy protection