Maxman Explains 1080p

Hey all,

Thanks for coming back to see what the “Maxman” is up too.

Well I thought I would tackle 1080p this week and because I’m gonna have to give you a bit of a history lesson so that you can truly understand how much TV has advanced, I may have to break it up into two parts just so I don’t bore you to the max right?

1080p and 1080i are currently the highest resolution format used for broadcasting and the distribution of consumer video content.

1080 stands for 1080 lines of vertical resolution (that is 1080 lines running from the top of your TV screen to the bottom) and “p” well that’s stands for “Pretty good” just kidding it actually stands for “Progressive scan”. The I as in 1080i stands for interlaced (more on this one later).

Now as we mentioned above 1080p is the latest in HDTV, its resolution can be defined as 1920 x 1080 pixels. Just so I know I haven’t left anyone behind I want to explain what a “Pixel” is. A pixel is an area of light which is formed when the vertical lines on your TV screen cross the horizontal lines. So this means that a 1080p TV has 1920 horizontal lines and 1080 vertical lines this will give us a total of 2 073 600 pixels.

I know. Where the heck is he going with this I hear you ask? Right?

Well a 1080i (Interlaced) TV has the same number of pixels so it also has a frame resolution of 1920 x 1080. But here is the difference.

The images shown in the interlaced format are put across the screen sequentially, that is the odd numbers of lines appear on the screen first and then the even numbers follow and this is all done at a speed of 1/30th of a second. Are you still with me here?

In the progressive scan formats such as 420p, 720p and of course 1080p all these formats show all the lines of resolution sequentially in a single pass which give you the viewer a much cleaner and smoother picture which is great for viewing anything in motion such as sports.

Can you really tell the difference?

Well this really depends on the person who is doing the viewing and where they choose to sit when they watch TV and what they choose to watch. In the last little while there has been a lot of HDTV’s coming out in the market with 1080p as their resolution this is partly because of the emergence of the Blu-ray and HD-DVD video formats which cost more than a standard DVD but give you a higher quality picture. But when you go up in resolutions it does get harder to tell the difference in image quality from the same source that you are viewing. Unlike the major difference that was obvious when DVD replaced VHS.

For a person to really be able to notice the difference, the viewing distance needs to be shortened or the screen enlarged.

The contrast of the picture also plays a big role in the eye noticing a difference and unless you are going to buy a TV that is at least 50 inches or bigger and view it from the correct distance, it will be tough to see any difference between 1080p, 1080i and 720p.

For optimum viewing of 1080p it is recommended that you sit back about three times the height of your TV.

So at the end of the day you need to figure out what you really want or need. Yeah sure like need really comes into it. Its all about the latest and greatest right? But remember when get what you want you will pay the price for the latest unless you are prepared to wait.

Maxman Out.