1080p, 1080p ready HDTV, 1080i, What's all the hype about? Which HDTV should you buy?

We recommend buying a 1080p ready HDTV. But remember one thing... don't ever believe the hype. It all comes down to what looks the best to your eyes.. So do the research online.. then get out there to your local HDTV retailer and check out all your HDTV options.

The resolution of 1080p televisions have the sharpest and smoothest images possible. If you thought HDTV looked good before... You will be blow away with a 1080p television. And with a 1080p TV, you can take full advantage of the new DVD formats: HD-DVD and Blu-ray.

But complications with de-interlacing cause problems, some TVs don't do it correctly and you can end up with less resolution than you started with. The TV's refresh rate also help determine the quality of the HDTV. HD-DVD or Blu-ray Disc players are currently the only device on the market that supports a full 1080p. Current digital television broadcast systems and standards are not equipped for 1080p transmissions... they broadcast HDTV in 1080i.

In theory a progressive scan 1080p is superior to interlaced scan 1080i. But most HDTV's like LCD TVs and Plasmas TVs can't physically display an interlaced picture... so what they actually do when when using an interlaced picture it is de-interlaced and convert it into a progressive scan picture! So the argument goes that there is no difference between 1080i and 1080p because your HDTV will convert the 1080i signal into a signal all through your HDMI cables.

1080i vs 1080p What is 1080p?

1080p Progressive scan differs to this in that it scans all the lines at once, thus giving a clearer and flicker-free picture. 1080p televisions display twice as many lines of resolution at one time.

The difference is that with interlaced 1080i picture you see is scanned to the screen in alternating lines, so your HDTV will only get half of the lines of the picture in the first scan and the second half of lines in the second scan. This all happens so quickly that human eye is tricked into seeing a complete picture.

Can you tell the difference between 1080i and 1080p? The difference in the way the picture is scanned and displayed on your HDTV set. The i is for interlaced and the p is for progressive.

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