Sdtv Vs. HDTV
Television marketers often use technical jargon to advertise their products. Common terms, numbers and acronyms are easily misinterpreted and confused, such as LCD, Lcos, HD, Full HD, 1080p and 1080i. Finding practical meaning to definition standards and how to choose a resolution will help you choose the right television.
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Resolution Defined
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Screen resolution is a measurement on how detailed a picture is viewed on a display. For a picture to be displayed on a screen, tiny dots known as pixels are used to show colors and detail. The more pixels on a screen the more defined a picture will be.
Television resolution is measured by the number of horizontal lines of pixels multiplied by the amount of vertical lines. For example, a resolution of 1920 x 1080 equals 2,073,600 pixels. Most television manufacturers advertise only the vertical resolution (1080, 480, or 720 ) of the display.
Interlaced and Progressive Scan
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Resolution isn't the only standard that defines picture detail. The "i" or "p" often seen at the end of the resolution specification (1080i, 1080p) stands for "Interlaced" and "Progressive scan".
An interlaced picture redraws the odd lines on a refresh cycle and the even lines on the next. This method is effective but can cause what is known as a combing effect during motion. Progressive scan redraws the entire picture during a single refresh cycle enhancing moving picture quality.
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Standard Definition
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Standard definition refers to any television display that has a resolution of 480 vertical lines or 720 x 480. This resolution has been the only one available since the NTSC made it the standard in 1941. Progressive scan was later integrated into standard definition television sets, which increased the quality.
Standard HD
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High definition comes in two resolution categories 720 (1280 x 720) and 1080 (1920 x 1080). The difference between HD and Full HD is whether a display can redraw a 1080 image using progressive scan. HD television sets have a resolution of 1080i. As far as picture quality goes, 1080i is very similar to 720p.
Full HD
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Full HD is capable of displaying a 1080 image resolution using the progressive scan method. This enhances the quality of the image drastically when watching 1080p content.
Most programming is in either 720p or 1080i with a few exceptions. Devices able to output a 1080p signal as of 2009 are Blu-ray players, Playstation 3, X-Box 360 and the Vudu internet media service.
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