Noobish HD question

GTCole · 22 Jan 2006 at 15:56

Hi Guys

I'm thinking of buying a HD TV but i'm a little confused about what i need, after looking around a hear a lot of people mention 1080i and 720 something or other, what does this represent, i'm guessing it has something to do with resolution but not quite sure, also i'm not sure what sort of inputs i need on the tv, i hear people mention DVI and HDMI but which do i need or does it not matter as long as i have one of either?

TIA

G

Windle · 22 Jan 2006 at 18:58

720p and 1080i are just different resolutions and not a huge amount of difference (imo) between them. The big difference is between them and 1080p which costs a lot of money to get a compatible telly. As long as the hd tv supports 720p you'll be ok for HD picture. Ideally you do want both DVI and HDMI, but if you can only have one or the other your probably better with HDMI as this is what all the HD dvd players / sky hd etc will use.

FrankJH · 22 Jan 2006 at 19:47

Just remember that there are converters that are relatively easy to get hold of to go from dvi to hdmi and vice versa ( they are actually a very similar signal, however dvi does not carry audio -when hdmi does)

GTCole · 23 Jan 2006 at 13:14

Thanks for the replies guys you have cleared that up for me, now to try and persuade the wife....wish me luck lol

G

Dancake(uk) · 23 Jan 2006 at 13:55

Check your HDMI /DVI input supports High Def Copy Protection too (HDCP), otherwise your HDMI device such as DVD player/ HD decoder may just appear as snow on your screen. (I believe the new TW box will need HDCP equpped TVs..My samsung DVD-HD850 also needs HDCP but you can turn it off in a way I wont mention here )

In fact for a TV to display the HD READY Logo doesnt it have to be HDCP compliant anyway?