High Definition Resolutions

[Timmy!!!]

I recently went into a huge Currys superstore and I was gobsmacked with the quality of the HDTV's. I was stunned, it convinced my dad to buy one when skyHD is coming out!

I was slightly confused with the resolutions on the HDTVs though, I am aware that there are two versions - 720 and 1080 (p and i).

So why the hell do these lcd tvs have a resolution of 1366x768?? Every single display I looked at had this resolution. Surely they should have a resolution of 1280x720?

Can anyone shed any light on this?

[Stoo]

It's the widescreen equivilent of 1024*768.

That means they can use their existing LCD fabrication plants to build the displays, making them cheaper to produce

[5lab]

yaeh i would think its somewhere along those lines - which means that when you use propper hdtv (nothing will broadcast in 1080i imo, as no-ones going to have the kit to support it for aaages) you'll get a black border round the edge..

[Stoo]

Sky are broadcasting in 1080i apparently.

Most of the 1st gen HDTV's are scaling to picture down to 720 res iirc.

[Stoo]

In fact..

WHAT FORMAT WILL SKY'S HDTV SYSTEM USE?
· Sky 's HDTV broadcasting system and HDTV receiver will support two HDTV formats:

- 720 / P / 50 (Progressively Scanned picture)

- 1080 / I / 25 (Interlaced picture)

· Sky believes the progressively scanned picture format is better suited for the delivery and viewing of HD content on large screen, flat panel displays (mostly plasma or LCD) that are increasingly available in electrical and specialist retailers. However, Sky does accept that for some types of programming, the higher screen resolution offered by the 1080 Interlaced format may be preferable.

· Broadcasters planning on launching HD services on the digital satellite platform will be able to choose whether to broadcast content in 720 / P / 50 or 1080 / I / 25.

· Sky's HD service will also utilise the advanced compression technology MPEG4. MPEG4 is a more efficient means of compressing the data in a TV picture.

[5lab]

yeah, so occasional programs using 1080.. to be honest i kinda expect it to fade into oblivion unless prices on them drop considerably - a 1920x1080 lcd costs a fortune compared to a 1280x720, and the bandwidth needed is much higher..

[Timmy!!!]

Originally Posted by Stoo

It's the widescreen equivilent of 1024*768.

That means they can use their existing LCD fabrication plants to build the displays, making them cheaper to produce

Ah ok, that makes sense. But surely that makes the displays look worse than they can because they are not displaying HD in its native resolution - which is really important for LCDs.

I have never actually seen a 1080 resolution TV yet, even the huge 40 inch + tvs are 720p.

As to what sky said - is 720p really better than 1080i? Or is that a fancy way of saying they want to keep costs down?

[Stoo]

1080p is where the good stuff is at, but I doubt we'll see that being broadcast for a while, that's likely going to be restricted to pre-recorded material.

720p will be the mainstay for most things until lcd manufacturing costs come down enough to make the jump to the higher resolutions.

Re: why don't they look awful? Probably because they're hiding the excess under the facia?