For Seller

By: Dave Westin

Everything you hear about High Definition video is that it is the best you can get. However, when you hear about new televisions they say they are HD and then list off numbers like 720i, 720p, 1080i, 1080p and nobody explains what they mean. The truth is that even a lot of sales people in stores really know what they mean either. This article is a break down of what High Definition video really is.

Television all began with what is called interlaced video. This means that the screen is never using all the lines of resolution that make up a picture. The tlevision actually took images and projected the image using every other line of pixels. then the next image would be projected using the opposite lines of resolution. When you see the 720i or 1080i listed for a televisions resolution, it means that it is alternating the lines so that you never have a full picture.

Real HD video requires 1080 lines of resolution. This can be done with the interlaced 1080i, but you still aren’t using all of the lines at once. Progressive video is the new format that actually fills all of the lines at the same time. This can only be done with newer digital televisions because older tube televisions were not capable of doing this kind of video. The new fully HD video is referred to as 1080p video, meaning that all 1080 lines or more are filled for each frame of video. It is still new and is only on very expensive new televisions. Most televisions offer 1080i and 720p, which are about the same resolution. 1080p is only neccessary if you will be using the newest products like HD DVD. A 1080i resolution will give you a great HD picture and it will also not cost as much as a 1080p capable set. Plasma screens offer the best quality picture with no trailing. Projection sets that use DLP or LCD will have trails behind fast moving objects in a picture.

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