1080p is it worth it?

[GrahamB]

for PS3 the ONLY choice is 1080p

[Dave_S]

I'm thinking that it all depends on your source, I'm not entirely convinced that a 1080p plasma has a better image quality than a 720p set when fed a 720p source (the majority of the HD content on sky/virgin currently available is 720p I believe). Unfortunately most shops in which you can view these sets run a splitter and are using 720p, hence the 1080p sets look soft and blurry as they have to process and upscale the image.

Anybody using the panny pz70 42"?

Sure, I see what you're saying but SkyHD is 1080i, HD DVD and BluRay are 1080, the PS3 and Xbox360 both do 1080, everything I download is 1080 ..... I don't see the problem when I don't use 720

Dave

[Butuz]

Go for 1080p

Butuz

[danny-mac]

surely that can't be right?? it says the item cannot be delivered or reserved for instore pickup

It was advertised in all the national newspapers 2 or 3 days ago so I'm guessing that they've sold out pretty quickly.

[Duff Man]

Sure, I see what you're saying but SkyHD is 1080i, HD DVD and BluRay are 1080, the PS3 and Xbox360 both do 1080, everything I download is 1080 ..... I don't see the problem when I don't use 720

Dave

Just found out that virgin + can only output 720p or 1080i - that sucks

[nene]

i would def go for 1080p. if you're going to spend £1k on something, you may as well future proof it as much as you can. In 3 years time every channel will probably be broadcast in 1080p

No, they won't ..

Just found out that virgin + can only output 720p or 1080i - that sucks

and this comes under Things That Are Supposed To Happen #959612

There is currently no compressed broadcast standard agreed for DVB to carry 1080p, so that means that the most any current hardware will carry is 1080i. In order for channels to go 1080p it would require a substantial amount of hardware to be replaced, or at the very least have it's firmware upgraded.

A lot of channels will broadcast in SD for some time to come, even when content is available in HD, simply because of the costs involved in upgrading playout and transmission. The video is transported around a playout centre in uncompressed format on SDI connections at 1.5 Gbps, this has already required substantial upgrades to the wiring in playout centres at vast expense, often simply because the upgraded cabling is 2 to 3 times as thick. Stored data is absolutely massive, with transport streams weighing in at several gigabytes for even a short show. To give you some idea, the transport stream for a SD TV channel is usually between 2 and 4 Mbps, in other words the sort of speed that an ADSL connection would need a following wind to keep up with, whilst the transport stream for a HD TV channel will be in excess of 15 Mbps and up to 20 Mbps for movies/sport, in other words the sort of internet connection that most people can only dream of. This means that you can fit a fraction of the channels in a mux as you can with SD.

Add into this OFCOM have gone "OOO MONEY!" realising the spectrum about to be freed up by the analogue switch-off, and have decided they want to sell it off instead of allowing it to be used for HD broadcasts under existing licenses.

1080p all the way here as well. Don't forget that you can connect the pc to the tv and with a reasonable GPU you can get 1080p.

If you connect it with a DVI connection this will happen anyway, though I suspect that with a HDMI connection converted from DVI the TV may still attempt to interfere with it in some way as it would expect it from a non-computer source. It will vary depending on the TV's firmware.

I'm thinking that it all depends on your source, I'm not entirely convinced that a 1080p plasma has a better image quality than a 720p set when fed a 720p source (the majority of the HD content on sky/virgin currently available is 720p I believe). Unfortunately most shops in which you can view these sets run a splitter and are using 720p, hence the 1080p sets look soft and blurry as they have to process and upscale the image.

The very best TV sets will use irregular pixels to enable common resolutions to be carried by joining pixels together in different ways without having to scale and anti-alias.

[Goddard200sx]

Thanks SXOC so being my complete nerdy resource Everything I need to know about is already on here

Just ordered a Samsung LE40M87BDX. I think future proof is always worth it. Even if it's just playstation 3 and blu ray films that are done in 1080p. I can just about manage watching gordon ramsay in 1080i From what little I know about telecomms, I believe that the latest (even years ago) in terms of fibre obtics was something like 10Gbps in just two fibres. NYNEX etc are laying cable all the time and replacing old stuff. I'm sure that sooner or later everything will be upto 1080p. I found it hard years ago to imagine that they will switch off analouge TV, it seemed impossible that everyone would have digital..

Anyway, now I just need a PS3 and GT5 and some blu-ray films.. where did that credit card go...

[TrIcK^]

Just ordered a Samsung LE40M87BDX.

I got one of those . It is connected via DVI/VGA at the minute to my comp. Bit of a ballache as i have to swap screens then up the resolution but its brill.
Didnt really think too much till i wacked up to full resolution then played the new batman HD trailer. Have to say my Jaw dropped, especially on one scene hehe.

And playing COD4 on that setup is an eye opener, bet it will be good for the ps3

[Asht_200]

It really epends on the manufacturer.

I've seen some Plasmas that are "only" 720p, but the way the panel works makes them so much better to watch than some of the "cheaper" 1080p panels. Look at the new Pioneer range for example and some of the Panasonics for that matter. The Pioneer 428XD is a gorgeous panel and only 1024x768..

In answer to someone stating 1080i is 1920x1080. It isn't displayed as that on an LCD which has a resolution of 1366x768 or plasmas that are 1024x768.

Admittedly though for full Blue Ray experience a Pioneer PDPLX 508D running 1080p at 24 frames a second is hard to beat.

[Dave_S]

In answer to someone stating 1080i is 1920x1080. It isn't displayed as that on an LCD which has a resolution of 1366x768 or plasmas that are 1024x768.

No of course not, it's scaled, I meant 1080i is 1920x1080 what you display it on is your choice

Dave

[Goddard200sx]

I think previous LCDs suffered from poor contrast ratio and poor colouring compared to plasma. The samsung I have ordered is 15,000:1 contrast (I have read a website that have independantly measured it at 12,000:1) which is a vast improvement. Still not as high as some of the top range plasmas with 20+k:1 but I'm not sure I'd see the difference. The colour is also much improved but again not quite there compared to a plasma. But on the whole I wouldn't notice much difference as I've never had a plasma. Plus there are the beenfits that LCD offer over plasma. I'm sure I'll be pleased, I had a look at a mates "no brand" £350 LCD and couldn't bare to live with something that poor.

http://www.hdtvtest.co.uk/Samsung-LE40M86BD/

[John Bennett]

So are people saying the PS3 and Xbox 360 are displaying games at 1920x1080 .
All the games I've seen on the Xbox 360 are much lower than that and upscaled (and this is even viewing them on 1366x768 - you can see the pixel anti-aliasing to scale them up to that)

[Butuz]

So are people saying the PS3 and Xbox 360 are displaying games at 1920x1080 .

Games with 1080i or 1080p stamped on them are - yes.

Butuz

[Funb0b]

I wonder how many people could tell the difference between 720p - 1080i - 1080p , without knowing ? Not many I would bet

I would prefer good quality 1080i than cheap 1080p.......

[sparkyhx]

bit of a review of the warfedale

http://www.avforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=613734

also

branded Hitachi
http://www.richersounds.com/showprod...d=HITA-L42VP01

also this

http://www.directtvs.co.uk/Finlux_42.../version-1.asp

[Goddard200sx]

I would prefer good quality 1080i than cheap 1080p.......

I would normally agree, but to be honest there isn't alot of price difference between 720p to 1080p (same series, same manufacturer). At the moment the shops are relying on the misinformation and confusion on HD. They are trying like mad to sell people 1080i TV's at the same price as online 1080p tv's while their 1080p are too expensive for people to bother. In 6 months time when the sales drop, they will start telling everyone they have bought the wrong tv and now need 1080p or all their friends will think they arn't cool and women will jump out of their beds in disgust

Besides I don't think there is a poor quality 1080p at the moment. By it's nature it's probably good quality, as someone making a poor quality TV would just do 720p or 1080i at a stretch, as whoever buys it won't be the most discerning consumer.

EDIT: Hmm, Finlux, I'm pretty sure that's what my mates TV is (but was an older silver style). One to avoid if it was. For another £100I'd rather have a samsung!

[danny-mac]

This is a good deal. Cheapest i could find the tv alone was £950.

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Produc...UN&cmpid=COJUN

[Wallers]

Games with 1080i or 1080p stamped on them are - yes.

Butuz

On which format? I've never picked up a PS3 box, but on the 360 it's a guideline of what the game supports, it isn't indicitive of the native resolution the game runs in. I think DOA is native 1080p, I'm not aware of many or any others.

To be fair, you'd need pretty good eyes to spot the less than 720p upscaled games. Gotham 3 (maybe 4) and Jericho are two I know of that run less than 720p.

[CraZyMoFo]

Anybody using the panny pz70 42"?

I've just ordered one of these so I'll let you know what it's like when it finally arrives.

While you guys are here, what's the score with HDMI cables? I hear all sorts of conflicting reports about whether or not the cheap ones are as good or not as the expensive ones. I understand that the longer (5m +) cables need to be of good quality because of voltage drop issues but I only need about 2 meters

[*AB*]

the PZ70 is agreat bit oif kit - gets the from me as i talked the g/f dad into getting one about 2 months ago.