Does anyone else not see the need for 1080p? or blu-ray/HD DVD? Will they go the way of the first laser disc?

Question

I have a 720p projector that projects onto an 84" screen.

I keep seeing these people buying 720p and now 1080p TVs that are under 50". Quite frankly I don't see why.

I am using an upconverting DVD and the images look great to me. My brother has a 62" 1080i DLP witha PS3 and some blue ray. There is a difference with the blu-rays, but not enough for me to jump to a new standard, pay $300 for a player, twice as much for discs and have hardly any content available.

It seems like most people I know still are using sub 36" TVS.

I keep on reading about this format war, but it doesn't seem like anyone is really buying the product.

I am wondering if Blu-Ray and HD DVD will be like the old large laser discs that became a niche until DVD finally replaced the VHS.

I think the biggest hurdle to HD is the bandwidth necessary to donwload them. I have begun watching DVDs online through netflix and love it. I can't imagine waiting to download an HD mpeg-4 video...

Answer 1

You basicaly answered your own question. Right now we are in a "format" war of sorts. With HD being the norm as of 2009 ( I refer to off air) companies are scrambling. Both the blu ray and HD dvd are viable formats however, I don't think, in my opinion, we have see the best device...Yet. Personally, being that you are happy with the picture that you have presently, I'd wait a little while and see what happens.

Answer 2

Perhaps your solution is just to get a Sony Bravia XBR LCD HDTV and a Pioneer Elite Blu-Ray DVD player. If you want to go with HD-DVD (although only 720p or 1080i), then the Toshiba model is half the price of the Elite if that's any con- solation. Getting full 1080p is the best resolution, but you may not notice much difference if any unless you get an HDTV over 42". LCD is the way to go IMHO. H a p p y V i e w i n g !

Answer 3

I see the need, and here's why. The HD formats 720p and 1080i were codified during the CRT era. CRTs had been interlaced analog devices ever since their invention. So it seemed reasonable that 1080i would be the upper limit on screen formats.

But now CRTs have essentially vanished from the scene. Virtually all new display devices (LCD, DLP, plasma) are based on fixed pixels, which means there is no more interlacing. Modern fixed-pixel displays must take 1080i input and deinterlace it anyway. So if you're getting a 1080i signal, which would you rather watch? A 720p down-conversion or a 1080p deinterlaced version? I'd rather see all 1080 lines.

Answer 4

There is a big and real difference between 480p, basically 720x480, the resolution of conventional DVD discs and 720p at 1280x720. It is a very noticiable difference even wt 42" in my opinion. I work in the display industry and know most professional experts agree. It gets very unclear though when you compare 720p to 1080p.

A couple of key points to consider:

The North American and Asian display standards make no provision to broadcast at a non-interlaced resolution above 720p. The bandwidth does not exist.

1080p media only exists on Blu-Ray DVD and video game consoles.

While there are infant technologies in development for much higher resolution broadcast (Japan is working on 4Kx2K for 2015 or later), the bandwith demands of such formats will likely interfere with deployment.

LCD displays suffer significant image quality problems when driven to 1080p resolution. Pixel aperture ratio drops hurting their already poor contrast ratio performance. Power consumption and heat go up shortening lifetime and accelerating the aging brightness loss. Higher res LCD's suffer slower pixel latency. Movign picture resolution suffers greatly.

My advice to most of my customers and contacts are to stick with very good quality 720p capable PDP devices. If you've got more money and a desire for the best quality, go with the new 1080p PDP's, but I doubt you'll be able to see a real difference between a 720 and a 1080p device.

As to the future of Blu-Ray vs HD DVD. In time, it will shift to Blu-Ray. It's technically a better format, but the real reason is that most of the studios have lined up for it. they believe it has a better security system (may not be true tho!) and that is top of their concern list.

Answer 5

You basicaly answered your own question. Right now we are in a "format" war of sorts. With HD being the norm as of 2009 ( I refer to off air) companies are scrambling. Both the blu ray and HD dvd are viable formats however, I don't think, in my opinion, we have see the best device...Yet. Personally, being that you are happy with the picture that you have presently, I'd wait a little while and see what happens.

Answer 6

yes, i see the need, and it will continue to 1440p in the future!