HD Ready or Full HD? (1 Viewer)

[Nick Garlick]

Forgive me if this question has been asked/answered elsewhere. If it has, I can't find it.

I have a Philips HD Ready LCD. Is it even worth buying an HDDVD or BluRay player? Or do I need a Full HD display to get decent results?

 

[Cees Alons]

"HD Ready" is normally 1320 x 768 or so. That's a lot better already than standard NTSC or PAL TV.
Full HD is 1920 x 1080, which is what's needed to get the full resolution a HD player can produce.

If you want to step up to HD, buy a player and you will definitely get a much better picture with this set already. There are many members on this forum, who are using a 720p TV set or projector.


Cees

 

[Nick Garlick]

Thank you, Cees. Your answer is very clear, and much appreciated.

 

[Austan]

I thought "HD-Ready" ment that there was no built-in HDTV tuner.

 

[Marko Berg]

What "HD Ready" means to Nick may depend on where he lives.

In Europe, display devices that are marketed as "HD Ready" and bear the official EICTA logo must have both analog component video and at least one type of digital (DVI or HDMI) inputs, accept both 720p and 1080i signals via these inputs, and have a minimum resolution of 720 lines of vertical resolution.

 

[Nick Garlick]

I understand HD Ready to mean that the display is capable of 10801 pictures (maximum) while Full HD offers 1080p pictures. An assistant in a shop I use regularly suggested that the difference between 1080i and 1080p was very hard to see on a decent set. With all due respect to the shop, though, I thought I would check here for some confirmation, or denial.

 

[Sanjay Gupta]

Sony and I think Samsung also, have regularly been using the term 'Full HD' for products that are only capable of handling upto 1080i. I think they define 1920x1080 as 'Full-HD' even if it is only 1080i for eg. the Sony HDV camcorders.

 

[Cees Alons]

No, because 1080p isn't any "better" than 1080i PQ-wise.

"HD Ready" means a lower resolution LCD (or plasma) screen, e.g. 1024x768, or 1366x768 at best (with the ability to accept 1080i signals). "Full HD" means 1920x1080 at least.


Cees

 

[Jari K]

At least in Europe, I haven´t seen many "full HD"-TVs that are 1080i. Can´t recall that I have seen any 1080i-models.

"Full HD" 1080p all the way if that´s the choice. It´s the way of the future.

 

[Cees Alons]

Jari,

They all accept 1080i as well. Until the start of this year, many so-called 1080p sets (often tagged "1080p display") really converted a 1080p input signal to 1080i first.

Not that it matters very much. The image is as beautiful.


Cees

 

[Jari K]

Yes, of course, but my point was that I haven´t seen any TV-sets in Europe that has "1080i", but NOT 1080p. If the set is "full HD", it´s 1080p (which can then accept 576i/p, 480i/p, 720p and 1080i/p). We have "HD ready" TV-sets in Europe, though, with the max resolution of 768 (not 720p).

 

[Cees Alons]

Jari,

They SAID they were 1080p, but many weren't until the end of last year.
(The 1080p apparently meaning the display - which is meaningless unless it's a CRT). Then some added an internal 1080p -> 1080i circuitry to emulate the 1080p signal support, and this is the situation in many sets still.

I suppose it's quickly changing (but I'm not aware of any percentages) to direct 1080p -> image memory support.


Cees

 

[Jari K]

Well, my Sony Bravia W is 1080p, goddamnit.

 

[Clinton McClure]

My (about 7 years old) Toshiba TW40x81 RPTV is HD-ready, with no built-in tuner. It displays 480i, 480p and 1080i. No 1080p, 720p or any kind of digital input.

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

In the U.S. an "HD-Ready" set is one that lacks an ATSC tuner, and therefore requires a cable or satellite box or other external tuner in order to received HD signals. Sets with an HD tuner are simply "HD". There is nothing called "Full HD."

The "HD-ready" designation has nothing to do with resolution beyond the fact that a set has to have at least 720 horizontal lines to qualify as an HD set at all.

Certainly in the case of LCD sets the distinction can't be between 1080i and 1080p, because there is no such thing as an interlaced LCD set. (Or DLP, or plasma or LCoS or LCD RP for that matter. All fixed-pixels systems are inherently progressive scan. Only CRT-based sets are interlaced.)

Regards,

Joe

 

[Seppo]

This is exactly what I've been wondering lately. I'm about to step up to HD this year (probably Christmas). I have a 720p projector (Sanyo PLV-Z3) and a 92" 16:9 screen, so would 720p be worth the upgrade? How noticeable would the difference be and would I constantly be wondering "Hmm, I wonder how this is going to look in 1080p"?

 

[Cees Alons]

To my big surprise, the picture on my old PAL TV set already looked much better when I first installed my Toshiba HD-A1.
I suppose that there is still room for better horizontal resolution on those older sets, which is immediately visible when you switch to HD.

Then, I tried the image on a 720p set, and the improvement was dramatic! So, if you ask whether or not it's worth the upgrade, I would say: yes! As said before, several of our members who stepped up to HD (HD DVD or BD) are still watching on a 720p set (even one of our reviewers does!)

Think of it this way: suppose you upgraded your projector first, what good would that do?

You now have the means to start enjoying HD, and all you need to do is (loosely) plan a proper trajectory. HD at Christmas, new project in x years (e.g. depending on the age of your current projector and your personal situation), etc.

But there's no doubt you will start enjoying the HD picture from the first day on ("even" my wife immediately acknowledged the vast improvement).


Cees

 

[KurtEP]

My Samsung CRT (no idea of the model designation and it's not convenient to check, unfortunately) is listed as an HD ready. As far as I know (the manual is about 100 miles away right now), it has no HD tuner built in, but it will display 1080i. It says it is an HD Monitor on the front.

I run HD DVD via an Xbox 360 and Blu Ray via a PS3 through it with fantastic results. As far as cable goes, I don't really know whether some of the new boxes will convert it to a form useable by the TV, or whether I'd need a separate HD tuner (do they even make them anymore?). Anyway, the question isn't really relevant for me, since I don't plan on upgrading to HD cable until I finish grad school in a year.

 

[Marko Berg]

Cees:

You gentlemen are talking about two different things. Jari's Sony FullHD set certainly displays everything in 1080p, but I think Cees was referring to the fact that currently few sets (and a year ago, just about none) accepted 1080p directly via external video inputs.

I'm desperately waiting for a TV set that will accept a 1080p24 signal, and display that at an appropriate refresh rate without the need to convert the signal to 1080p60.

 

[Joe D]

Likewise, my Mits RPTV is HD-Ready, it will accept a 1080i signal but it lacks a built in HD tuner.

I believe in the US the TV's that accept 720P but no 1080i signal are called ED-TV, which means extended definition.

Please correct me if I have made an error.