What do the numbers and letters (480i 480p 720i 720p 1080i 1080p) mean when you buy a high-def tv?

Question

I'm looking to buy a hi-def tv but i want to find the one that works best for me i don't want to spend more money than i have to, to get a clearer picture

Now what's the difference between Plasma, LCD, and DLP?

Answer 1

Standard television is 480i.

480 lines of information in a screen.

"i" means interlace: the TV makes 2 passes down the screen to draw the image. This is what causes those "scan line" you see.

For High Def - they created 3 more resolutions of signals:

480p ("p" means progressive like your computer monitor)
720 p/i
1080 p/i

Most network channels use 720. It took a while for TV's to be able to display 1080, and now HD-DVD and BlueRay are the only good sources of 1080, but more will come. You should buy a TV that handles 1080p

IMPORTANT:

HD televisions must accept all the numbers. But each television has a internal or display resolution. Make sure you read the fine print and get a TV that had 1080 internal resolution, not one that simply 'accepts' 1080.

My HDTV is 3 years old and is a native 720 unit. If I feed it 1080, the TV down-converts the signal to 720. If I feed it 480, the TV up-converts the signal to 720.

Answer 2

those numbers refer to the max resolution of the television.

1080p is currently the best resolution in market standards right now. The higher the number the higher the resolution and the better the picture quality.