HDTV resolutions can be confusing. Just look at some of the numbers being thrown around:1080P, 480i, 720P.

If you’re in the market for an HDTV, you should know your i from your P or someone might call the police.

WARNING: You won’t get a technical breakdown of HDTV resolutions here - this ain’t Wikipedia! If you need something to help you sleep, take a Zolpidem.

Resolution is simply the number of linesor dots that comprise the picture. Higher numbers mean a higher-resolution picture.

i stands for interlace which means you only see half the picture at once. The technique allows alternating odd- and even-numbered lines of resolution to be visible at once. This alternates so fast we can’t really see it, so it lookslike one solid picture.

480i is the classic standard-definition resolution used for decades. A de-interlaced version of 480i is 480P and it’s called EDTV (Enhanced Definition Television).

P is for Progressive Scan which means you see all picture, all the time. It’s a vast improvement over interlacing. Even though interlacing fools the eye, there is no denying the improvement of a progressive image. That’s why almost all DVD players sold today have a feature called progressive scan.

Television Resolution: What were YOU watching?

• 480i - MASH, Barney Miller, Six Million Dollar Man: Standard definition      television is what you used to watch the classics.

• 480P - Star Trek Next Generation, Friends: De-interlaced or Enhanced Definition Television. A minority of geeks might have watched in this resolution.

• 720P - Monday Night Football, 24, Lost: Broadcast HDTV used by FOX and ABC.

• 1080i - Survivor, Heroes, Bionic Woman: Used by NBC and CBS. Boy, I’d like to de-interlace Michelle Ryan, the new Bionic Woman, to 1080P. 

720P is a modern digital resolution used by ABC and FOX to broadcast in HDTV.

1080P is used only by specific hardware sources. Today, only the Sony PlayStation3, Blu-ray and HD DVD players are capable of sending a true 1080P signal to an HDTV.

HDTV networks use interlacing as a means of saving bandwidth when they broadcast at 1080i (1080P chopped in half). This technique works well because modern digital HDTVs can "de-interlace" the images, allowing you to see the whole picture at once again.

When you’re shopping for an HDTV, you’ll find every TV has a native resolution. That’s the only resolution that HDTV is capable of displaying.

Every modern HDTV is compatible with all the HDTV and standard definition resolutions (1080i, 720P, 1080P, 480i) and scale all incoming resolutions to its native resolution. Scaling is when your HDTV bends and chops up the picture to display it at its native resolution.

Your new HDTV will have a variety of compatible input resolutions, but only one native resolution. Much of your TV’s image quality depends on the grade of scalers used by the HDTV.

No scaler jokes! Scalers are no laughing matter. They’re processors inside HDTV video equipment designed to convert one resolution to another. If your HDTV doesn’t use a system of high-quality scalers, your TV’s images are liable to look a little fishy. People spend good money on high end scalers to do the job externally.

Tags: TLM

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 6th, 2007 at 9:40 am and is filed under Video. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.