Tech Talk: 1080p

[icthys]

I write a newsletter each month for my company even though I don't write well at all. It's a way for our company to get similar information and stay up-to-date as possible. I thought I'd share a few things from what I write to help with the confusion and questions that arise with today's audio/video technology.

1080p is the talk of the town when it comes to high definition resolutions today. 1080p (p for progressive) means there are 1080 odd and 1080 even lines for a total of 2160 lines shown in sequence at a time.

1080i (i for interlace) means there are a total of 1080 odd and 1080 even lines where the odd lines are shown on the screen then the even lines so that 1080 lines are present at a time, although they cycle at a rate of usually 60 times a minute so it appears that there are 2160 lines at one time.

720p is similar to 1080p where all lines are shown at the same time except not as many. There are 720 odd lines and 720 even lines all shown in sequence for a total of 1480 lines at one time.

All three of these are high definition resolutions. You may hear that 1080p is "true HD" which is just a marketing term, all 3 resolutions are true HD, 1080p is just the highest of the three.

Currently all satellite, HD-DVD, and BluRay materials are either native 1080i or native 720p. There is very little native 1080p material out there and the material that is 1080p is not available to most of us. This means all of the satellite, HD-DVD, and BluRay material is up-scaled to 1080p so that it can be displayed on a 1080p display device. There are 3 devices that can up-convert, the source material itself such as a BluRay player, a video scaler, and a display device. The quality of the 1080p image depends on how good the up-converting device is. So, if you've got a 1080p display device you really aren't watching 1080p, just a representation of it.

Is there a difference between 1080i/720p and 1080p? There is a slight visual difference dicernable to only those who know what they are looking for and at a very close distance to the display device. To you and me there is no visable difference between the two. So why by a 1080p device? there is no reason to buy a 1080p device unless you are a show off and like to have the biggest baddest and latest greatest, or you fall into the marketing trap and you don't know there really is no difference.

Next time I think I'll discuss component, HDMI, and DVI video transmission. Unless you find my tech talk to be worthless and I won't take up space posting technical mumbo jumbo.

[DickHead]

What's the difference between Plasma and LCD? Which is more advantagous?

[icthys]

Plasmas are made up of tiny cells filed with gases. When the gases are "turned on" they turn into a plasma. The cells only emit 3 colors red, green, and blue. The amount of intensity of each color is what makes the appearance of all the other thousands of colors.

LCD's are made up of pixels which are each divided into 3 subpixels red ,green, and blue. Each pixel consists of liquid crystal molecules sandwiched between electrodes. When a voltage is applied you get your colors. LCD is a little more complex but that's the basics.

I prefer LCD TV's over plasma, unless it's a very nice plasma like a Runco (but it does need to be calibrated correctly).

[Iceaxe]

What's the difference between Plasma and LCD? Which is more advantagous?

Excluding the techie talk.... here is what I discovered after just buying a 50" HDtv. If you include price into your purchase you will buy a Plasma if you go bigger then 42". If you go smaller then 42" you will buy an LCD. If you buy a 42" display you will have to make a choice because that is where the two technologies currently meet when price is included.

That is just the simple version of the story but I was told this when I first started shopping and found it is basically true.

I'm looking forward to the HDMI discussion. Nice to find out if I made the correct choice in how to hook stuff up.