What do I need to know about 1080p?

[mrSHEiK124]

Originally posted by: SynthDude2001

Originally posted by: yllus
Free OTA signals are all 720p (AFAIK).

Not in the US....CBS, PBS, and NBC are all 1080i (though there are quite a few local stations that overdo it on the multicasting so their HD doesn't look so hot )

*cough* WTSP, WTVT and WFLA, damn them all to hell *cough*

I've got a 24" 720p Samsung LCD and a 54" 1080i Hitachi RPTV, the latter of which we've had since 2003. Guess which one I like more?

1080i and 1080p are where it's at, if you're already at 1080i it isn't worth going to 1080p unless you reaaally want HDCP or something.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: MS Dawn

Originally posted by: jammur21
1080p on 50-60" plasma / rear projection -- diminishing returns

1080p on 22"+ Computer LCD -- :thumbsup:

1080p on 100"+ front projection -- :heart:

1600p on 30" LCD =

You win. Do you have job openings?

 

[wyvrn]

Originally posted by: Staples

Originally posted by: wyvrn

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: Staples
Same thing I was going to say. I don't see why people are so hung up on "but there is no content."

1080i = 1920x1080 interlaced.

720p TVs have a resolution of 1280x720.

I think people are having a hard time wrapping their heads around the fact that 1080i and 1080p are "effectively" the same from a source perspective. But we're talking about a display. I forget the math but 1080 has about TWICE as many pixels as 720.

With the majority of TV content being 1080, it only makes sense to get a display that doesn't throw away resolution.

The proof is in the pudding however; compare a good, large 1080p display (plasma) to a 720p with the same source and see for yourself. I have and the difference is very apparent.

Not bragging, seriously. I have 3 HDTVs (CRT, plasma, DLP) and have had HD viewing for almost 5 years now. I'm looking for a new TV. No way, no how would I NOT purchase a 1080p set. This is based on my eyes regardless of any spec.

To play devils advocate I can say that a very good 720p set will look better than a not so good 1080p set. But a very good 1080p display, and I can't repeat this enough, has the best of both 720/1080 worlds.

So if you are effectively seeing 1080i, how does a 1080p display help you?

A 720p TV has a display resolution of 1280x720. 1080p/i has a resolution of 1920x1080.

When you are watching 1080p/i content, whole rows and fields of pixels are cut out of the picture in order for it to be shrunk down. It is just like looking at a 3mp picture on an 800x600 pc monitor. The image is shrunk and quality is lost.

And where is this 1080p content?

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: wyvrn
And where is this 1080p content?

I still don't think you get it yet. 1080i and 1080p are effectively the same.

 

[wyvrn]

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: wyvrn
And where is this 1080p content?

I still don't think you get it yet. 1080i and 1080p are effectively the same.

So where is the 1080i content?

edit: and when will it get here?

Answer: long enough that I don't have to waste money on technology I cannot use yet.

 

[Reckoner]

1080i is good enough for me

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: wyvrn
So where is the 1080i content?

edit: and when will it get here?

Answer: long enough that I don't have to waste money on technology I cannot use yet.

huh? most of the networks are 1080i. Most prime time and sports are in HD. It's to the point now that I'm disappointed if an event or show ISN'T in HD.

Like I said earler, most of my TV viewing is HD/1080i.

I'm really misunderstanding you because there is a ton of 1080i content. Maybe you're just really confused on HD?

 

[Tom]

On the other hand, a 1080p display has to scale up 720p content, which won't look as good as 720p content on a 720p display.

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

Originally posted by: blurredvision
Any good articles out there that I can read that will explain everything to me?

The wikepeida

No longer seek The Google.

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

Originally posted by: Tom
On the other hand, a 1080p display has to scale up 720p content, which won't look as good as 720p content on a 720p display.

Shakes head in disgust. Umm, this is just no correct.

 

[Tom]

Originally posted by: IHateMyJob2004

Originally posted by: Tom
On the other hand, a 1080p display has to scale up 720p content, which won't look as good as 720p content on a 720p display.

Shakes head in disgust. Umm, this is just no correct.

So the info on this page, with samples, is wrong ?

"If the camera used to acquire images is of the 720p flavor, the resulting final output will be rescaled upwards by any 1080 display. How much will this affect the image? Mathematically, quite a bit. There are just over 920,000 pixels in the 720 image, while the 1080 image has nearly 1.6 million pixels. The quality of the scaling will be determined by the hardware in the display. How much can the human eye perceive as being scaled? On a 1080 display, quite a bit of difference can be seen. This is where the size of the display comes into play. If the display is smaller than approximately 40 inches, the 720p signal, while being rescaled, may be scaled down enough that the image will still hold strong. Conversely, if the display is approximately 40" or larger, the image will appear somewhat washed out, and in a compromised signal resulting from heavy MPEG compression at low bit rates, macro blocking is easily seen, whereas this is not the case with 1080 frames."

source

 

[wyvrn]

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: wyvrn
So where is the 1080i content?

edit: and when will it get here?

Answer: long enough that I don't have to waste money on technology I cannot use yet.

huh? most of the networks are 1080i. Most prime time and sports are in HD. It's to the point now that I'm disappointed if an event or show ISN'T in HD.

Like I said earler, most of my TV viewing is HD/1080i.

I'm really misunderstanding you because there is a ton of 1080i content. Maybe you're just really confused on HD?

No I think not. As I have previously written in this thread ( go back and look for verification), the local broadcasts are not in 1080i. Most of the OTA signals are 720p, and each station has more than one channel assigned to it where they use the left over bandwidth for weather channel, music videos, and traffic cams. (Why they would do this is beyond me, those are wasted channels imo).

So for example, channel 8 (ABC) in my area is actually:
channel 8.1 (main)
Channel 8.2 (weather streamer)
Channel 8.3 (various camera shots from around area, like for traffic)

This is true of almost all of my local HD stations. So they are not broadcasting in 1080i because all 3 (and sometimes 2) stations would not fit in the bandwidth. I also know this because I used to have an EDTV plasma which I recently upgraded, and I can tell virtually no different in picture quality. And if I switch between 720p and 1080i on my HD tuner, there is zero difference in picture quality. And as many people have stated, most television sources are saying that they are broadcasting 720p and NOT anything in 1080. This is also very easy to confirm visually, I have seen a few 1080 programs in stores.

Now on to satellite and cable. I have seen each of these from my friends houses, and I can tell you that those are most definately not 1080 quality. In fact satellite is really disappointing because of the compression, the HD channels on a big monitor are not impressive at all. This is one reason why I cancelled satellite service and just went OTA.

So tell me again, where is the actual 1080i or p content coming from that you are watching? It isn't from television.