Is my telly HD?

student

I am getting really confused what is and what is not HDTV. I understand there are two standards 720 and 1080 interlaced. My TV has only resolution of 1024x1024, does that mean I am out of luck? My TV is Hitachi 42PD5200. I ask not only because of the upcoming HD- sky but also because the new Xbox 360.

Can someone explain to me where I stand on this one? Thanks

Channel Hopper

Dont get widescreen confused with High Definition

Your screen should have a HDCP-compliant DVI socket, meaning its able to provide HD quality to the viewer, however the screen resolution your TV has means its not going to give full 16:9 without some jiggling or black bars.

All the Hitachi plasmas are highly recommended by most magazines, especially if you have paid just over £1000 for them.

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student

Yes, my TV has the DVI socket, so does that mean it is HD ready? So will I benefit if/when I get the Sky-HD and the Xbox 360?

Well, I have paid fair bit more then £1000 but that was a year ago.

Thanks for the response

spiney

There's two things:

1) The actual pixel resolution of your screen. Most plasma/lcd sets are currenly only 720p vertical, only more expensive ones are 1000p vertical.

2) The received signal, which in upcomming HDTV broadcasts may be transmitted in several possible "standard" digital video formats, including 720p and 1080p (others exist, in tv production, but not normally for broadcasting use).

3) The full HDTV info is conveyed across the DVI link from receiver to display device. The display device then "shows what it can", ie, a 1000p vertical picture will display only 720p vertical picture on a screen with that resolution (actual picture formatting of the DVI signal being done inside the display device, by interpolation, as they're all a bit different!). Conversely, a 720p vertical picture will display on a 1000p screen at maximum (but lower than possible) resolution.

4) Current "analogue standard" display resolution is approx "580p" v, anything better is "high resolution", and this should be noticable on your Hitachi.

jimbo

http://www.dealtime.co.uk/xPF-Hitachi_42PD5200

Take a look at this for the spec of your TV. Looks like it's HD Compliant but will only display 720p.

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pinkerton

Simple answer is No your TV is not HD ready, minimum resolution for hidef is 1280x720 and yours is only 1024x1024. Still much better than standard TV and you will see a better picture with hidef content, but you will still be missing out.

spiney

well, yes, 1000x1000 is an unusual max resolution, as Pinkerton says most current plasmas start at 700x1300. So, not as good as that horizontally, but better vertically!

Maybe a "previous generation" plasma technology, possibly once intended for showing Japanese "digital Muse" via cable (probably, if Panasonic).

However, that resolution is still better than the current PAL/MPEG2 "main profile at main level" standard, so should display any HDTV DVI input with some resolution improvement, as expained above.

(actually, the "p" figure is just no of screen "pixels", actual visible resolution is lowered by the "Kell factor", goolge this for info).

(1280 was the intended production format for Eureka HDMAC, now defunct, only a few receiver sets were made for demo purposes, I'm not sure how much if any material was produced this way! Current intended max res is 1080 via MPEG4, this chosen for being easily compatible with both older PAL/SECAM and NTSC formats. 720 allows 50 Hz frames, on digital production equipment, not sure how this will look after MPEG4 coding!).

longreach

Finally 720 and 1080 recognised by Spiney

Regards

spiney

Not quite sure what that means!

1080 and 720 are now the "standard size" for HDTV, by international agreement. But, most screens will accept other formats, and along the way, especially during the last 25 years, there have been many different "getting towards HD" screen formats and resolutions ....... (see history link on my HDTV primer).

kamaleon

So does that mean my 1280x800 wxga laptop display is HD hey?

ArPCPro

Your laptop is not Full HD (1920x1080), but "HD ready" and capable of displaying 720P mode. But i'd say it's HD anyway.

An interesting article I've found:

The Facts and Fiction of 1080p
By: César A. Berardini - "Cesar"
April 17th, 2006


There are already a large number of 1080p HDTV sets on the market, which upconvert all incoming signals, including standard-definition TVs, DVDs, HDTVs and PCs, to their panels’ native resolution of 1920x1080 pixels. Ironically, these 1080p televisions can not accept a 1080p signal. Yes, you read that correctly.

If you already own a 1080p HDTV, it is highly probable that you won’t be able to provide it with a 1080p signal from a PlayStation 3 or a Blu-ray Disc or an HD-DVD player. The good news is that the first 1080p input capable televisions are on the way and if you are planning to get a big screen HDTV, this is the perfect time to invest in a future-proof television.

But before discussing these new HDTVs, it is important to clarify a few myths surrounding HDTV resolutions to truly understand what 1080p brings to the table and, most importantly, when.

Table of Contents
* ASTC standard
* Why 720p is better than 1080i in HDTV
* Why 1080p HDTVs are so cool
* 1080p input capable HDTVs
* 1080p and the PlayStation 3, Blu-ray Disc/HD DVD movies


the rest in:
http://editorials.teamxbox.com/xbox/...n-of-1080p/p1/

kamaleon

very interesting stuff actually. sorry if i'm hijacking your thread student, plese feel free to moan, but since we've started, i'd ask if image is *really* crap if the lcd display is lower than the definition of the image being displayed.
another thing, how can i know if the channels being currently broadcasted in europe footprint are 720p, 1080i, etc?