1080i but no 720p , can someone explain? hdtv?

Question

I found a TV i really like for a tremendous price.

It says it supports 1080i, 480p, 480i,

720p is not listed, I'm a little confused because 1080i is a higher resolution (even though 720p has a higher framerate).

This TV has nothing but great reviews even though it is old. It's a CRT (tube) HDTV, toshiba 34HF81.

Will HD channels look just as good on 1080i?. If they are broadcast in 720p, do they get upscaled to 1080i?
How will normal channels look.

And my last question is.. i know DVDs are in 480p, so what exaclty does an 'upscale' dvd player do, convert up to 1080i / 720p, but this tv has no 720p?

Thanks,

a confused consumer

Answer 1

This is very easy to explain.
1080i means you send two fields, each 1920x540 every 60-th of a second. The TV can't display all 720 lines, so it can't do 720p. (It probably has about 600 lines of resolution or so).
(In other words, a field in 1080i has fewer lines than 720p)

Broadcast channels transmit at either 1080i or 720p. Your TV will downscale 720p to its native resolution.

Answer 2

It is odd to not support 720p, but not unheard of. Your cable box will have a setting to output everything at 1080i, regardless of the broadcast being 720p or not. It just converts it, and will look basically the same as if the tv was doing 720 itself. Others may disagree, but I can easily tell the difference between 720 on fox vs 1080 on NBC or CBS. I much prefer the 1080.

And yes, and upscaling dvd player will convert the 480i to 720p or 1080i. Again, just go into setup and tell it 1080i. They have a processor in them that mathematically tries to guess what is in the missing lines. Its not as good as an actual HD source, but some are fairly decent.

My previous HDTV was a 32" Toshiba CRT (I dont recall the model) and it was a GREAT TV.

Answer 3

Your television will downscale the 1080i photograph and upscale the 720p photograph to 1368x768, this is its community determination. Your television isn't a working laptop or computing gadget visual exhibit unit, its unlikely to alter resolutions up and down, its going to scale them to verify its community determination.