Reader Question: 720p and 1080p Projection TV…Difference?
Is the difference between 720p and 1080p on a rear projection TV significant?
I am planning in buying a TV and I am confused about this.
SONY has 720p and Samsung 1080p.
Posted in 1080p
Although I’m not 100% sure, it sounds like those are max resolutions.
1080 would offer a more crisp/clear picture… not sure how much clearer it would be to the naked eye.
Odds are the 1080 costs more because of the better resolution.
Yes. A 1080p display can show 1,080 horizontal lines and an 720p has only 720 lines. A 1080p display has significantly higher resolution.
Don’t confuse 1080p (progressive) with 1080i (interlaced) resolution. A 1080i display has about the same apparent resolution as a 720p display. And 1080p is not a broadcast standard. 1080i is broadcast but there is not enough bandwidth to broadcast 1080p on a standard digital television channel.
it is the amount of pixels from top to the bottom of the screen. The 1080P will have a much sharper picture as long as the video feed is also being broadcast in 1080p. Here is a link to wikipedia explaining the 1080p standard:
Unfortunately, your question does not have a simple answer. The 1080p picture SHOULD be better than 720p, simply because there are more tolal pixels in the picture. 1080p is 1920 x 1080, ( abut 2 million total) while 720p is 1280 x 720 pixels (about one million total). If that was all that mattered, the anwer is simple. However, broadcast TV does not transmit 1080p, it transmits either 720p or 1080i. This means the TV has to convert the interlaced picture (i) to progressive (p), and how that is done makes a big difference in quality. If not done well, your 1080p picture may only actually show 540p! The conversion done by Sony, Panasonic, Mitubishi, and others is well done, but I’m not sure about Samsung. I know this is confusing and probably not much help, so I would suggest you look at HD material on all the sets you a considering, especially material with fast moving images, and see if you can tell the difference. I do know for a fact that Sony SXRD, a true 1080p set, does a good job.