HD Questions 720p vs 1080i

Frank840

So i Hear a lot of people say 720p is better then 1080i on that, I hear 1080i is better the 720p. Me being in other hobbies I just bought the Sony Bravia lcd love it since i only paid 600 for it brand new and Sears and Bestbuy wanted need 1400 for it.well it doesnt do 1080p Im not complaining as i really cant tell the difference between the 2. But T.V wise Say a Visio or what ever against my Sony. the Vizio some can do 1080p well my 480p on the Sony looks better then the 1080p on the Vizio. That is why I ask the question 720p vs 1080i. Interlace or Parallel What is better.and i will be making a compare on cheap component cables vs Monster THX ones.

Sami

Displays:

1080i displays are disappearing (and 720p's will start soon) so I don't see much point in arguing which one is better. I think I'd take the 1080i personally but either one is fine as I don't think there is much difference.

Sources:

1080i is much better than 720p.

WilliamM2

LCD's TV's do not display 1080i, or interlaced at all for that matter. I think you are confusing input with output. No matter which input resolution you choose, the Sony will scale it to 720p, as that is all it can display. As to whether a 720p, or 1080i input is better, that would depend how good the scaler is in your TV vs. the source.

billbillw

There isn't really that much difference between 1080i and 720p. I like 720p because you don't have to worry about whether the TV is deinterlacing the signal correctly. Since all new TVs (outside of CRTs) are progressive by nature, I think feeding it a progressive signal is best. There is better detail in the 1080i signal, but much of that gets lost if the TV cannot properly deinterlace the signal, and believe it or not, many TVs do not do this crucial step correctly.

It really depends on what source you are talking. If you are upscaling a DVD, I'd say 720p would be the best resolution to send. If you are talking about a satellite or cable signal, then its a tossup on which will do a better job deinterlacing (the TV or the STB) and I usually send the native signal (720p if its ABC, Fox, or ESPN), and 1080i if its NBC, CBS, or others).

You really just need to experiment and see what looks best to your eyes.

devani

interlace or progressive scan....not parallel..:)

I have both 1080P and 720P TV....both are samsung

1080P can do all of 1080P, 1080i, 720P, and any other combination
but 720P can only do 720P, 720i and lower number combination...

because 1080i signal must be scaled down to a screen of 720, there's some loss and IMO it does not look good....but 720P signal looks good on 720P TV tho...also same 720P must be scaled up to fit 1080 screen it looks odd...I can tell small differences when watching HD Discovery Channel and other HD channels...

what is your video display 720 or 1080??

Frank840

For Xbox 360 i use 720p I could see the different between 1080i and 720p. for comcast it auto to 1080i I dont think i have the option i will see if i do. I havent went out to buy a new DVD player yet but that is only 480p. O nvm this Friday i will have Blu Ray Payday



I wasnt sure what it stood for so i guess parallel. thanks tho

Sami

billbillw wrote: »

It really depends on what source you are talking.

Assuming the display is 1080p, then it doesn't matter. If it is 720p then for other than 1080 material I would send in 720p. Still, 1080i source when the material is 1080 format is much, much better than 720p source. A poor 1080 transfer versus excellent 720 transfer, things could be different but I don't think that's relevant really.

steveinaz

720p isn't going anywhere, it is the original HD standard. 1080p is too much of a bandwidth hog to ever be adopted universally for television broadcast in my opinion; and unless you are sitting 3 feet (or less) from your 60" screen, barely indistinguishable (if at all) from 720p. "Full HD" is just about as over-hyped as "THX Certification."

Sami

720p displays are going to disappear eventually from the market. The jump from 720p to 1080p isn't as much as the jump from 480 to 720 but there is still quite a big improvement in PQ when viewing HD-DVD or BD. Definately not hype but I don't think I'd personally buy 1080 over 720 in 50" displays or less, unless there wouldn't be much difference in price.

steveinaz

As far as the 720p vs 1080i question; I tried my BD player extensively in both modes to my native resolution 720p DLP (but accepts a 1080i input), to try to answer that question for myself. Aside from the picture becoming a little brighter when sent 1080i, I struggled to find any difference in picture quality. In 720p output, colors seem richer, but this could be due to the difference in brightness. For reference, we sit about 9 feet from our 50" DLP, and it's been calibrated with DVE. I just left my BDP in 720p output mode via HDMI, since my DLP was 720p native--I figured the less processing, the better.

The picture is beautiful.

RuSsMaN

I don't notice a benefit of 1080 until the screen hits about 60 inches.

devani

steveinaz wrote: »

since my DLP was 720p native--I figured the less processing, the better.

Same can be said for the 720P Samsung TV that I have:)....
but I can't say same for the 1080P LCD TV....signal must be scaled up to fit in 1080 screen...

But my PC is capable of generating 1080P full signal and my LCD TV is connected to my PC....it's another step up from watching HDTV's....my LCD has 15000:1 contrast ratio....all my friends that have same size TV came to my house and said it looked much better....

Sami

steveinaz wrote: »

I just left my BDP in 720p output mode via HDMI, since my DLP was 720p native--I figured the less processing, the better.

In the case of DVD's, this is true. If you're playing BD then there is still pretty much the same amount of processing (although since the BD is mastered in 1080p24 there is the 1080i60 conversion, which isn't that big of a deal).

I'm getting a 1080p FP Friday, and I'm pretty excited that it has support for 1080p24 input. After that, all the 3 displays in the house are 1080p. I just couldn't watch 720p front projection anymore when I got used to my 1080p DLP's.

Rivrrat

When we recently got Directv HD, I tried both 720p and 1080i signal from the receiver on our 50" Philips 1080i plasma, and I can't really say I saw a difference.

I suppose there's a valid point about receiving the signal in whatever the channel broadcasts in, but I'm not going to change the signal to suit whatever channel I'm watching. I channel surf too fast to bother with that.

J_Kennedy

Figure 720 is displaying 720 lines at the same time, and 1080i is displaying 540 at a time. I'll take 720 over 540.

1080p I'm sure is better on larger displays, but when you look at the engineering of the human eye, unless you watch a 50" at 5' and not what is normal for most people, our eyes can't tell a difference. Ya ya, I know some of you will pull the youth card against us with "advanced" eyes, but you just wait!

Sami

J_Kennedy wrote: »

Figure 720 is displaying 720 lines at the same time, and 1080i is displaying 540 at a time. I'll take 720 over 540.

Then again 1080i has 2 million pixels while 720p has less than a million. Some will take the 2x pixels...

J_Kennedy wrote: »

1080p I'm sure is better on larger displays, but when you look at the engineering of the human eye, unless you watch a 50" at 5' and not what is normal for most people, our eyes can't tell a difference.

Have you seen 60" 1080p and 60" 720p side-by-side with well mastered HD-DVD or BD? If you have and can't tell a difference, I'm sorry.

Airplay355

What if you plan on using your TV as a computer monitor as well, should you pick 1080 over 720?

devani

Airplay355 wrote: »

What if you plan on using your TV as a computer monitor as well, should you pick 1080 over 720?

I am using my LCD TV for computer....it's pure digital at 1080P....you will go everytime you turn on the computer...

steveinaz

Sami wrote: »

Then again 1080i has 2 million pixels while 720p has less than a million. Some will take the 2x pixels...

BUT...since it's half-frames, you're only seeing 1 million pixels and any given instant--the same as 720p--out of 1080i, getting motion artifacts and using more bandwidth--I'll take 720p over 1080i any day---1080p, that's a different thing, but even then the difference would be negligible with my setup of a 50" screen at 8-9 feet viewing distance. The 720p vs 1080i debate is a lesser of 2 evils discussion. Motion artifacts/flickering are far more noticeable (lighting dependant) than any slight resolution difference--and this has been tested and backed up. I have not read, nor experienced on my own system, anywhere that 1080i is preferred over 720p, or any advantage to running 1080i over 720p--only disadvantages. If anything is going the way of the dinosuar, it's interlacing.

Would it make sense to go 1080p? Probably yes, especially with prices coming down; but it's not a "done deal" for everyone, and definitely not a requirement to enjoy an excellent high def picture.

PhantomOG

steveinaz wrote: »

BUT...since it's half-frames, you're only seeing 1 million pixels and any given instant--the same as 720p

That's not true. You see all of the pixels even if only half of them refresh at a time. They don't just disappear and lose resolution.

Sami

steveinaz wrote: »

I have not read, nor experienced on my own system, anywhere that 1080i is preferred over 720p, or any advantage to running 1080i over 720p--only disadvantages. If anything is going the way of the dinosuar, it's interlacing.

Are you talking about having 1080i source or display? Two very different things. 1080i source over 720p is important when you have a 1080 display as it has all the same information as 1080p source would have. So if your source is 1080i and your display is 1080p, you're getting the full 1920x1080 progressive image.

For 720p displays it doesn't matter, you will have to downscale to 720p anyways.

Phantom already covered the resolution issue on 1080i displays vs 720p.

Bamadude

What's strange is that many 50in plasmas, including mine, have a 1366 x 768 (768p) resolution. So if you send 720p it's scaled up, and 1080i is scaled down so there's always scaling no matter what you're watching. Not that that makes the picture look back cause it doesn't, just don't know why they would choose to build panels at non native resolutions that require everything be scaled to fit. I'm sure there's a logical explanation related to $.

Daniel

danger boy

are plasmas limited to 768p resolution then? do they not show full 1080p?

Sami

danger boy wrote: »

are plasmas limited to 768p resolution then? do they not show full 1080p?

Some of the newer plasmas are 1080p. The odd resolution had something to do with manufacturing process. IIRC the pixels are uneven dimensions as well but the end result isn't too bad, it's not a problem.

PhantomOG

There are 1080p plasmas now. For some reason, many of the plasmas of the past few years were made with a fixed pixel resolution of 1366x768. I'm sure it was a manufacturing thing. They did and still do look good though. I agree though, I think it would have been better just to make them 720 instead so less scaling would have to be done, at least for 720p sources. Anywho... most things will be 1080p from now on. Its just too bad that there are more true sources of 1080p.

Sami

Bamadude wrote: »

So if you send 720p it's scaled up, and 1080i is scaled down so there's always scaling no matter what you're watching.

True. It all depends on the source material and the quality of scalers in player vs. display what combination gives you the best result. If you're using HD-DVD or BD, I would stick to outputting 1080. If you're playing DVD's on them, 720p might be a better option but I don't think either way is going to give significant change.

1fastz28

it doesn't matter, pretty much the end story

the only panel i can think of on the market that is 1080i as a native resolution is hitachi plasmas, everything else is 768p or 1080p but 90% of all HD programming is 1080i. so the tv interlaces it. i sell tvs for a living, looking at them all day long, its more important to buy a good quality tv rather than buy for resolution. because a good 768p tv will be Much better than a mediocre 1080p

Willow

could not tell the diff. between 720p and 1080p when we bought our Panny plasma at the 10ft distance we sit. (our screen is 42") So with on BR HDDVD and some video games being 1080p, I thought the diff. in $ would be better spent some where else. When I talk to people who think they know tonns, they say " it's a shame you didn't buy the 1080p" I say "why", they respond cause it's the best...I reply " right.....but what do you own that plays 1080p?" .."ummmmm" "yeah that's what I thought"
Until the content I mostly watch is in 1080p isthe time I will buy that type of display. I think we are quite a ways away from that (seeing as TV has a while before they reach that point)

McLoki

RuSsMaN wrote: »

I don't notice a benefit of 1080 until the screen hits about 60 inches.

I would agree for 50" on down. For some reason, I have not seen a 720 plasma over 50" that I liked the picture on.... (first one I noticed was the 58" 720p panny. I didn't like the picture at all, but the 50" is one of my favorites.... Go figure)

Bamadude

1fastz28 wrote: »

but 90% of all HD programming is 1080i. so the tv interlaces it...

I think you mean deinterlaces it.

1fastz28

Bamadude wrote: »

I think you mean deinterlaces it.

oops, yup