Full HD: Hip or Hype?

[Jeremy Charette]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://news.digitaltrends.com/talkback207.html' target='_blank'>http://news.digitaltrends.com/talkback207.html</a><br /><br /></div><i>"Eyesight is ultimately what mocks the Full HD hype. Even if you have 20/20 vision, your eyes can’t distinguish the pixel size of 1080p vs. 720p on screens of 42 inches or less. Even at 50 inches, the difference is debatable. Up at 70 inches, you may see differences—but even then, things like video artifacts, video noise, and the limits of source material (whether HD or not) take their toll."</i><br /><br /> <img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/mfp_store_hype.jpg" /> <br /><br />Mark Fleischmann has a great article over at Digital Trends that demystifies the hype surrounding "Full HD". To sum it up: don't believe the hype. For starters, no one broadcasts 1080p in North America, only 720p or 1080i. Then there's the little issue of the what your eyes can actually see. Pile some video artifacts and noise on top of that, and there's no compelling reason to go "Full HD". So why are they pushing it? Money. Profits are getting slim in the flat panel TV biz, and manufacturers need something on the high-end to "upgrade" to, so they can maintain healthy profit margins. Save a few bucks, stick with 720p.

[Jason Dunn]

Yeah, I feel the same way - when I was looking at what would replace my Samsung DLP, I had the option of the 1080i Toshiba 72" or the 1080p 61" Samsung. I opted to get the extra 11 inches in size because I simply didn't see the advantage in having 1080p...I haven't regretted it yet!

[Jeff_R]

Reminds me of a great example I heard at a symposium on digital cinema; the fellow was talking in a lecture hall about 2K and 4K resolution digital projectors for theatres. He said "I frequently hear people asking why on earth would you buy a 2K projector for your theatre? Isn't that planned obsolescence? Well, let me put it this way. You are all sitting about as far from me as you would sit from a theatre screen; some of you closer. You all can see that I'm wearing a blue tie, yes?" Everyone nodded. "How many can see the dots on it? Show of hands, please." No one put up their hand. "That's what 4K would give you. The dots."

[Jeremy Charette]

In theory, higher resolution is better. In practice (and in the living room), there's no discernable difference. It's not just resolution, it's a bunch of other things. Read the article and you'll understand.

Jason: All LCD and DLP rear projection TVs take a 1080i input signal and convert it to 1080p. It's the nature of the display technology. It just means you set won't accept a 1080p input, but it will display everything as 1080p anyway.

Since "Full HD" sets display 1080p @ 60hz, the 1080p output from an HD DVD or Blu-Ray player isn't being displayed properly either. That source is encoded and sent out at 24 Hz. The TV set fills in the missing frames. The result isn't as good as it "could" be.

It's a marketing ploy. Me? I'm going to go for a 42" LCD or a 50" plasma. Either way, it'll be 720p.

[jeffd]

In video games, the resolutions of both are a huge difference that you can easily see.

On the other hand, ok I dont have a 1080p screen, I have a 1050p screen, that is my laptop and pc both use 1680x1050 lcds so I can't actually display full 1080p movies. however when I play 1080p movies, I don't notice much of any difference from 720p. I think this has to do with the SOURCE material. I don't think most source material is clear enough. I mean when was the last time you saw the camera man using a microscope to make sure the film he just shot has razor sharp edges beyond what he could see through the tiny eye piece or small picture window?

Anyways, when I go and download my hd movies, I go for the 720p versions. It dosnt lose much over 1080p and dosnt have the higher bitrate requirements associated with the higher resolution. Ok, and my laptop can't quite decode 1080p at full frame rate. ;) (recompressed movies play well with some slow down and speedup, but I have a discovery SPACE HDTV capture that is 1080p that chokes the hell out of my laptop)

[Jeremy Charette]

Agreed. The critical factor is source quality.

As far as video games, there are very few 1080p native games for the 360 and PS3. (The 360 actually has more 1080p games than the PS3 (http://www.makeyougohmm.com/20070721/4652/), surprisingly!) Most games on the next-gen consoles render at 720p (or less, in the case of PGR3). So while the 360 and PS3 can output games at 1080p, in most cases it's upscaled. More to the point, the quality of the 720p gaming experience is going to be better, as the console can use higher texture resolutions, longer draw distances, and faster frame rates. Because of this, an upscaled 720p render will look better than a 1080p native render in many cases.

So again, it's back to 720p.