Is my high definition television capable of displaying1080p?

Question

My plasma tv's instruction manual says that the recommended source (dvd player) for my display is something that is in the 1080i format.Now I notice there is a fairly new format called 1080p and many dvd players advertise themselves as that.What happens if I buy one of these new 1080p dvd players but my plasma was manufactured before that format came out,will my display revert to 1080i or does the dvd player know what format is best for my display and automatically adjust for best available picture that the tv is capable of producing?

Answer 1

Now, as a person who is looking into buying an HDTV in the near future, I can't claim that my statements are accurate to the letter, as I've never owned one. However...

As far as I know, if you plug a 1080p device into a 1080i TV, the TV will convert 1080p into 720p, allowing you to view it. It will NOT display in TRUE 1080p, however.

1080i TVs are really 720p TVs that allow the viewing of 1080p, without having to shell out the cash for full 1080p viewing. It shrinks the image proportionately.

In less technical terms, if you bought that DVD player, you'd likely be able to play the movies, just not at the FULL resolution they were intended for. Then again, why buy a DVD player that plays 1080p? Assuming we're talking about regular DVD, not HD-DVD or Blu-Ray... All that a 720p/1080p DVD player would do, if I understand correctly, is stretch the image to the edges of your TV, to avoid the black bars on the sides of your image. If that's the case, it might even distort the aspect ratio to a very strange "stretched" or "fish-eye" perspective. Sounds like a ripoff to me.

If you ask me, buy the cheapest player you can, deal with the black bars, and wait until the Blu-ray/HD-DVD war is over, and then restock your collection with true HD 720p/1080p movies, heh.