Is there a huge difference between 720p, 1080i, and 1080p resolution?

Question

Sitting 8 feet away from my t.v am i really going to be able to tell the deifference?

Answer 1

Probably, but it depends on the size of screen. For example, on a 15" screen at 8 ft you won't see a difference.

To use a more realistic example. For a 37" HDTV optimum viewing distances, based on visual acuity (ability for the normal eye (20:20 vision) to resolve detail), is 10.8' for a 480p image, 6.8' for a 720p image and 4.8' for a 1080p image. What these numbers mean is that at 8' you will see differences between 480 and 720p (you are between the optimum distances for the two resolutions, so the eye can resolve additional detail in the 720p image), but not 1080p and 720p (you are outside the optimum distance for 720p and 1080p so the eye cannot resolve the additional detail).

See the article at the link for a full explanation and a table for other screen sizes.

Note also that quality of a picture is determined by more than resolution. In fact resolution is 4th most important after Dynamic Range (Contrast ratio), Color Saturation (Intensity of the colours), and Colorimetry (Colour accuracy). You might see a changes in one or more of these from different video sources even though resolution is unchanged. For example HD disks use a different colour space (basically more colours) than DVD so even if resolution were kept the same the picture might look richer than from DVD.

Finally, 1080i vs 1080p are indistinguishable to people on a 1080p HDTV (There are still the same number of pixels and the TV will deinterlace and display a 1080p picture). On a 1080i TV ... which is really a 720 HDTV with the picture scaled to 1080i you can't display a 1080p picture (it will be downsampled) and 720p might or might not look sharper than 1080i depending on the video processing.

1080 p is only potentially useful for HD disks, since there is no 1080p broadcast TV.

To try to simplify as much as possible, most people have no trouble seeing benefit to HD (720p or higher) vs SDTV (480), but there is less difference between HD disks at 1080p and 720p. How much difference, how much it matters, and whether it's worth the extra cost are all personal and individual.

For most people watching TV (or HD disks) at their normal 8-10 ft on a under 40" TV there is no benefit to paying extra for 1080p TV.

Hope this helps.

Answer 2

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
Is there a huge difference between 720p, 1080i, and 1080p resolution?
Sitting 8 feet away from my t.v am i really going to be able to tell the deifference?

Answer 3

You'll only notice the difference if you are watching a true 1080 program. Broadcast HD is 720. You can only get 1080 from Blu-Ray discs or the newer gaming consoles. The i or p is interlace scanning or progressive scanning. This is a function of the way the HDTV displays the picture. Interlace means it displays the odd then the even lines (like standard CRT TVs do). Progressive means all the lines of the picture are displayed in order.

Interlace or progressive scanning affects the ability of the TV to react to fast-moving changes in the picture. With a standard 60-Hz video refresh rate, interlace scanning will track motion changes better. But, with a 120-Hz video refresh rate, the progressive scanning will have the more accurate picture.

Answer 4

The difference at a distance of 6 feet is to most almost trivial, the difference between progressive and interlaced output is how the screen is scanned, progressive is slightly nicer because it eliminates screen scalines that are common with interlaced modes usually the refresh rate keeps you from notice the difference but for some this is noticeable. Depends on how critical you are on yoru video quality.