On The Subject Of HDTV... 720, 1080 etc etc

jellybeard999

jellybeard999

jellybeard999

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If i was to buy a "HD Ready" LCD TV, what would you recommend i look for in terms of features...

Im after around 30", but need it to last a while...

Is it a case of HDTV will be broadcast in 720 AND 1080, for various TVs (cheaper, smaller TVs 720 etc) or will it be 720, then upgrade to only 1080 ???

Anyone offer any help, im not looking for the best TV, i'm after a 30"ish HDTV for my room, and it musnt cost the earth

Im no AV nut, but like a half way point :p ... ie i got some Hi-Fi Speakers and an amp off a mate for £100... not the best, but a lot better than PC speakers... basically i want good and cheap lol
 
Most cheaper tv's only do 1080i as the resolution isnt high enough for 1080p

Try and look at Toshiba, Samsung , LG in 32" guise - hard to believe but Sony Bravia are also meant to be pretty good also

Depending on whether you want a Desktop display also, look for 1:1 pixel mapping, DVI or VGA, and preferably at least one HD input if not two (componant and HDMI -- there are converters for DVI available)

Otherwise its a case of going around and looking for which picture "style" you prefer
 
HD signal will be broadcast in 1080p or i AFAIK. Basically an HD ready TV can scale down these signals to whatever its resolution might be.
 
Sky have chosen 1080i.

Ideally you should get a 1080p capable tv but these are kinda rare and expensive.

A 720p set will still look fantastic though.
 
so if i was to get 720p ... all broadcasts will just be downscaled ?

so im good till the next gen TVs ?

all these new TVs, when the old ones have been fine for 50 yrs :rolleyes:
 
just to point out a 720p LCD is very rare more likely to be a 1366x768 which is a close match so there will be some scaling done

scaling from 1080i to 1366x768 is generally very good... the recommendation is to scale down but this is all down to the manufacturers on how this is done
 
1080p screens are slowly coming onto the market, Pioneer have a 1080p 50"plasma due anytime now but will be in the region of £5000-£6000.Plus sky hd is only 720p or 1080i so don't worry too much
 
afaik Sky broadcast everything in 1080i, and the box can scale/deinterlace it to 720p if necesary. I have no idea why they do this because almost all HDTV content is from the states where it is recorded and broadcast at 720p. So sky will be upscaling and interlacing it, reducing the quality, then when recieved it will be deinterlaced and scaled to be shown on a plasma/lcd tv, reducing the quality some more again.

I'm a purist, i'd rather take the origonal 720p all the way or nothing. As for 1366x768 screens, I will never understand this. It means EVERYTHING has to be scaled to fit. I have seen scaling in action on a bunch of LCD monitors and the resulting picture is always awful soft focus blurry rubbish. I want 1280x720 or nothing.
I won't get HDTV until they have stopped making compromises in quality on a system which has the sole purpose of increasing quality.
 
Actually in good ole USA youll find the majority of networks use 1080i with approx 5 of the main ones using 720p. Most of this improted material or popular USA shows will be converted to euro 1080i which i think is altered to 50Hz or 25Hz an interlaced frame against USAs 60Hz 30Hz an interlaced frame.

Of Course I checked, look

Really surprised if Sky only output in 1080i, can someone confirm this.

Some of the best HDTV ive seen is from CSI in 1080i although LOST in 720p aint half bad neither. Depends on the Bit Rates being transmitted too but ive seen CSI reach approx 17-18mbps.
 
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Both 720p and 1080i use simular bandwidth regards Sky you can be sure just as happened with Sky Digital that eventually more and more channels will appear and bandwidth will be reduced therfore giving channels with lots of mpeg blocking, its very aparent at times even on Sky HD at the moment (non owner but viewed it several times)

1080p broadcasts, not a chance anytime soon in the UK if anything it will be available with some form of ON DEMAND internet service and im not sure its really needed or would be MUCH of an improvement over 1080i on a 1080p display anyways.
 
Mr Latte said:
Both 720p and 1080i use simular bandwidth regards Sky you can be sure just as happened with Sky Digital that eventually more and more channels will appear and bandwidth will be reduced therfore giving channels with lots of mpeg blocking, its very aparent at times even on Sky HD at the moment (non owner but viewed it several times)

1080p broadcasts, not a chance anytime soon in the UK if anything it will be available with some form of ON DEMAND internet service and im not sure its really needed or would be MUCH of an improvement over 1080i on a 1080p display anyways.
Click to expand...

It would be a huge improvement going from 25fps 2x 1440x540 to 50fps 1x 1440x1080.
 
Clarkey said:
whats all the talk of 1440x1080? That is a 4:3 resolution, 1080i should be at 1920x1080.
Click to expand...

Thats the resolution the bbc use apparently and many trailers are in 1440x1080, I assume they encode using rectangular pixels to make it 16:9.
 
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