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If you've been looking to buy an HDTV, you've no doubt seen those labeled as 1080p or Full HD. I get irritated every time I hear these terms because they're very deceptive. Every 1080p HDTV that is sold today should be labeled with the following disclaimers:
- This TV supports an HDTV format (1080p) that no broadcaster in the US is currently broadcasting in, and probably won't be broadcasting in for several years.
- The only 1080p content currently available is on Blu-Ray and HD-DVD discs.
If those disclaimers don't mean anything to you, let me explain. All HDTV content is broadcast in either 720p or 1080i. 720p means 720 lines of resolution in a progressive format. Progressive means all of those 720 lines are drawn on every split-second refresh of the screen. 1080i means 1,080 lines of resolution in an interlaced format. An interlaced format, which is how regular TV has been broadcast in for decades, means that on every refresh of the screen, only half the lines are drawn - the odd lines on one, then the even on the next. This happens so quickly that your eyes see it as a complete picture. Some networks broadcast in 720p, others in 1080i. 1080p, or Full HD as it's also being called, is supposed to be the best of both worlds - the higher resolution of 1080i with the progressive format of 720p. But, as the disclaimer mentions, nobody anywhere is broadcasting in 1080p and none plan to for several years.
So why would you want to pay more money for a TV that displays a format that no one is broadcasting in, you ask? The answer is: there is no compelling reason. 1080p TVs will display content in 720p or 1080i format, they just convert the signal much like an HDTV that natively supports 720p will display 1080i content by converting it. Converting a signal doesn't increase resolution, so broadcast content on a 1080p TV will not look any better than a typical HDTV. In fact, it may look slightly worse because of the conversion. And don't expect networks to start broadcasting 1080p content anytime soon. Many are still upgrading their systems to support current HDTV formats. Cable and satellite companies already have to compress their HDTV signals significantly in order to fit all their content into the limited bandwidth they have.
The one place that you can find 1080p content is on Blu-ray and HD-DVD discs. These two competing formats are the high definition successors to DVDs. Both are competing hard to become the standard, and at this point there is no clear winner. Chances are, only one of them will succeed. The cheapest Blu-ray or HD-DVD players are around $500.
So what does all this mean? You can pay more for a 1080p HDTV, but the only way that you can take advantage of it is if you are watching Blu-Ray or HD-DVD movies. Even if you watched a Blu-Ray or HD-DVD on a 1080p HDTV, you'd be extremely hard-pressed to tell the difference if you watched it on a quality 720p or 1080i HDTV. In fact, people that test HDTVs for a living have a hard time telling a difference (see this great article).
I just bought a 720p plasma and have no regrets (read about that decision here). If you're shopping for an HDTV, save your money and take a pass on the 1080p or Full HD sets.
