What does 1080p mean on an hdtv?

Question

Explain in detail, please.

Answer 1

There are several forms of "HD" at this time.
When you see the resolutions of TV's and DVD's you might see some of the following.
720p
1080i
1080p
The current formats that are 720p "sources" are HD-DVD, XBOX 360, and any HD channel on TV
Keep in mind the source is 720p, meaning the disc has been encoded with 720 lines of resolution.

The current formats that are 1080p "sources" are Blue-Ray DVD, Playstation 3
This means the discs are encoded with 1080 lines of resolution, currently the highest resolution available for general consumer electronics

Now what the "i" and "p" stand for is how the signal is displayed on the TV
"p" means progressive
"i" means interlaced
Now lets say for the sake of argument that you are watching a movie at 30 frames per second
this means every second the tv will refresh the screen 30 times
for progressive this means the entire screen will display all of the lines , either 720 or 1080, every frame during that second
for interlaced this mean the screen will display half of the lines for the first frame, and the other half for the next frame, thus switching back and fourth during that second in time
for 720i, this means only 360 lines of vertical resolution are displayed every frame for those 30 frames during that second, or for a 1080i it means 540 lines of resolution are diplayed for every frame for those 30 frames during that one second.
Most people say they cant see the difference between 1080i and 1080p. Even though the displayed resolution for 1080i is half that of the 1080p, because it flashes each half of the signal 15 times per second, it is so fast it tricks the eye to seeing a full 1080 lines of resolution.
In case you wanted more info:
There are HD-DVD players out there now that will output full 1080p resolution. Keep in mind though that the disc is only encoded with 720 lines of resolution, the HD-DVD player simply interpolates the extra 360 lines of resolution from the source signal.
Now that I will mention the TV choices
A 720p TV will display 720p and 1080i resolution
A 1080p TV will display 720p, 1080i, and 1080p resolution

So if you have a 720p source on a 720p TV, you can watch it in 720p or 1080i, again some people think watching in 1080i lokos better since it appears as though there are 1080 ful lines of resolution

The only way to get true full HD of 1080p lines from your source and display is to go with a Blue-Ray DVD with a 1080p TV.
I have a fairly sharp eye and can tell sometimes at the store when watching a movie, the color and picture are extremely sharp. But the big decision maker is price nowadays. HD-DVD playes are coming down in price and can be had for 200-300 dollars and 720p tv's are getting under the 1000$ mark. Hope this made things clear without being too wordy but it can be confusing out there with so many choices.

Answer 2

1080p means 1080 lines of resolution, scanned progressively. In general, the more lines of resolution, the better the picture. HDTV can be found in both 1080 and 720 lines of resolution, in both progressive and interlaced forms. So you can have 1080p, 1080i, 720p, and 720i. Progressive means that the whole screen is refreshed each "frame," whereas interlaced means that half the screen is refreshed each time.

There are currently no broadcast sources for 1080p, but that's bound to change at some point.

Answer 3

In simple terms, P is for fast motion, but it required more signal to produce 1080P. Right now 1080P is reserved for high compacity DVDs (HD DVD, Blue Light DVD) especially for video games. There is no plans on sending signals over the air like that for sports for example (those will be sent as 720p). Some movies will be sent over the air as 1080i (which 1080P can handle), but motion will be blurry. The 1080 is the pixal size width wise of what the monitor is capable of. The more pixals on the screen, the sharper the image. If you plan to just use it to watch TV and never get a high compacity DVD player, then 720P is fine.

Answer 4

1080P is currently the highest level in HD. It refers to 1080 lines of horizontal resolution and 1920 lines of vertical resolution displayed at the same time. The P is for progressive, as in the TV displays every line at the same time. Whereas, I is for interlaced which means the display draws half of the lines first and then the other half resulting in a lesser quality picture. 720P is a lesser HD variant. 1080I is a lesser version of 1080P.