which is better HD quality? 1080i or 720p?

Question

any thoughts would be awesome

Answer 1

A lot depends on the SOURCE and the deinterlacer

1080i means that you create 720 lines using info from two fields, each with 540 lines.
Case 1: A bad deinterlacer can just throw away one whole field and interpolate 720 lines from 540 and then repeat it..
Case 2:A better deinterlacer could use all 1080 lines to create 720 lines ; definitely better picture than case 1


Now, you can send 720p directly, but again that 720p has to come from a sensor. If it is a 720 lines sensor, then you get the best possible quality from that camera. If it is a 1080-lines sensor, again the camera needs to interpolate. In that case, sending directly 1080i may be better.

To add to the mix, lets consider also 3:2 pull-down for material from movies. It is rarely done on 1080i material on TVs (needs too much memory), so in that case a true 720p may be better.

So, as you can see there are way too many variables and there is no better judge than your eyes. Set the source at both 720p and 1080i (if possible) and then judge by yourself.

Answer 2

If your going to buy a HD televison. Bigger is better! I would rather get the 1080i. In general, 720p is more appropriate for fast action as it uses progressive frames, as opposed to 1080i which uses interlaced fields and thus can have a degradation of image quality with fast motion. In addition, 720p is used more often with Internet distribution of HD video, as all computer monitors are progressive, and most graphics cards do a poor job of de-interlacing video in real time. 720p Video also has lower storage and decoding requirements than 1080i or 1080p, and few people possess displays capable of displaying the 1920x1080 resolution without scaling.

Answer 3

1080i is 720p.

The "i" is interlaced. This means that the screen paints lines 1,3,5,7,9.... then goes back and paints lined 2,4,6,8.

The "p" means progressive. This one paints all the lines in order.

A 1080i can display 720p and 720p can display 1080i.

I saw a 1080p demo the other day. WOW! It is brighter and sharper than 1080i tvs right next to it playing the same signal.

Do watch out for some other lower "HDTV" resolutions. 538i I think. Be sure your HDTV tuner is included unless you specifically don't need it.

Answer 4

Without going into a lot of explanation, in brief: 720p is preferred for fast moving images, and 1080i for normal pictures. This is why networks that concentrate on sports programming (FOX, ESPN, and ABC) chose 720p. Interlacing produces artifacts (reduced edge resolution and "jaggies") in moving images; in fact, the edge resolution for a fast moving image in 1080i is only 540 lines.

Answer 5

the 1080 and 720 are how many lines are drawn across the screen. Progressive vs interlaced I think is only really noticeable when your TV has a high contrast ratio (In my experience). I would say 1080i is best for a larger TV.

Answer 6

1080i
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/720p#720p_versus_1080i