a basic question on HD


1920 X 1080i or 1080p....as I understand it...if 65" plasma has pixels of 1366X 768 is HD? Does it take advantage of Blu Ray, HD DVD properly? This directly relates to B&O's BeoVision 4. Yes very expensive and better ones out there, I guess. But wanted to ask the question as the dealer kept insisting it would do full HS of 1080i....is this not the same as pixel count. Am I missing something here?
henryhk
"1920 X 1080i or 1080p....as I understand it...if 65" plasma has pixels of 1366X 768 is HD?"

A quick rule of thumb, as it was explained to me a long time ago. In your example '1920x1080', look at the '1920' number/position of it as the number of interlaced count the display can produce, eg 1920i or 1080i. Look at the '1080' number/position as the "progressive scanned" pixel count the display can produce, eg 1080p or 768p.

To answer your question, the 768 does fall above the 720p figure to constitute HD. So, yes the display can produce a HD 720p signal in true HD.

"Does it take advantage of Blu Ray, HD DVD properly?"

As long as the number is above 1080, then it can display the 1080p HD signals BluRay and HD-DVD can produce. As for the display you mentioned, the answer would be no, because it can only display a signal of 768p or below.

"But wanted to ask the question as the dealer kept insisting it would do full HS of 1080i....is this not the same as pixel count. Am I missing something here?"

The dealer is correct and so are you. The mentioned display (1366 x 768) can handle the 1080i HD signal. This is the pixel count, yes. However, it can not handle the 1080p signal of BluRay and HD-DVD because the second number is not 1080 or above.

I hope this makes sense and explains things alittle better.
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Elizabeth,

While I share some of your dismay at the complicated HD market, I strongly
disagree with your deduction from these issues.

First off there are too numerous to list sets that DO accept a true 1080p
signal, all Sony's 1080 TV's do, as do their front projectors. Pioneer even has
1080p plasmas that yes accept a true 1080p/24 signal.

As for sources that output 1080p, perhaps you've missed the bandwagon.....
Your DVD-5910 can even put out 1080p (and is pretty good at it as well I
must say having had one for some time now) and many other DVD players
scale to 1080p as well, not to mention Blu-ray and HD DVD. If you think
these are 'lame' formats and waiting for a side to win, you are losing out on
amazing pictures that dwarf anything else you can get to display on any set,
the new Bond flick 'Casino Royale' sold over 100,000 copies in Blu-ray in only
a few weeks..... I know I onlu bought ONE so there are obviously many more
folks out there with these players.

For my money, if you are buying a new display of any kind and you DON'T
buy a 1080p capable set I think you are foolish as you will want this feature
before your TV dies or you want to buy another one, oh and you don't need
HDMI 1.3 to transmit 1080p, you can easily do it with 1.1.

Sorry for the rant, but I am going to go watch something on my 1080p
capable 70" Sony on one of the five sources I currently have that output
1080p.......
I agree with Kennyt above, having just acquired a Sony 46" 1080p LCD that puts out a magnificent picture. Even in 1080i it makes my 3 yr old rear projection HD Hitachi Director Series look like something from the 60's!
Yesterday I watched 1080i and 1080p Sony LCDs side by side with the same source. The improvement with 1080p was not subtle.

db
Fplanner2000,

If you don't have it already go out and buy the Sony BDP-S1 Blu-ray player and X men III, you will be blown away!
Ya' Kennyt got it. The new Toshiba X2A and even the ps3 actually output 1080p--(I have the older X1A).
I have the Sony Ruby and the pq; even with my older X1A is better than my TWC-hd feed.
I know we all have different levels of enjoyment/ desires, and budgets.---Pretty much anyone whom is a videophile with the funds has one of the new displays and one of the new format players.---LG just came out with a player that does BD and HD-DVD.--(BD= blue ray) So, as they say you can get into the game and run with the big-dogs or just sit on the porch.---I rent from Netflix--they rent both formats---same price as renting standard dvds.---
Henryhk,

HD is 720p or greater resolution, so yes, a 1366 x 768 plasma is a high def TV.

Plasma, like LCD, LCos, and DLP, are fixed pixel displays so they must convert any incoming signal to their native resolution before they can display it. And, if the input signal is interlaced rather than progressive, the set must also deinterlace the signal.

So the plasma in question will have to make a small scaling adjustment to expand a 720p input to display at 768p. In the case of 1080i / 1080p input, then the TV has to throw away some of the information as it scales down to 768p for display (and for 1080i it also has to deinterlace).

HD on TV, cable, and satellite is either 720p or 1080i.

For the two high def DVD formats, the data is stored on the disc as 1080p/24. Please note, this is not the same as 1080p/60. If the source is 1080p/24, then it can be transmitted as 1080i with no loss of information, provided the TV correctly deinterlaces the 1080i input.

Apparently, not all TVs deinterlace correctly. So, if the TV accepts a 1080p input, and you have the ability to send it a 1080p signal like some of the new high def DVD players, then its possible to see an improvement in picture quality. But the improvement is due to a problem in the TV's deinterlacing, not in the fact that it's being sent as 1080i.

All of the above does not apply if you have a true 1080p/60 source, which is different than 1080p/24, but I am not aware of true 1080p/60 sources unless the gaming systems have that (TV is 720p or 1080i, and movies are 1080p/24).

Bruce
Bruce,

Actually only the Sony BDP-S1 and Pioneer Blu-ray players output 1080p/24, I am not sure of the HD DVD players.

AVguygeorge,

All Blu-ray players output 1080p, as does the Toshiba HD XA2.

KT
Thanks all. Much more clear to me. I already have a Pioneer plasma 50" that is capable of 720p/1080i...and the vaunted Denon flagship AX1 DVD player. Just bot a house so wanted another set for another room, or more buy an upgraded set and move this one to the bedroom which is fairly large too. It seems to me that I should stick with looking at 1080p capable screens. The Denon is capable of upscaling to 1080P and besides, I think I can take my time with Bluray/HDDVD and see it how it goes in terms of software & new player models availability...but given need to purchase a display anyway, might as well get one that is 1080 ready so as not to regret it down the horizon.

A shame in way. The B&O set up looked really kool. Indeed the motivation for me was actually their speaker set up, Beolab5s. I like that they are not placement sensitive having their own sensors to auto adjust,and all speakers have inbuilt amplifcation so that a power amp is not necessary+ no sep sub needed as the BeoLab 5s have in built subs. Plus they just look interesting. But the problem is their connectivity: to use this system u have to get their processor as B&O uses their own proprierty connectivity methods for the processor/center speaker/display. (the Beolab 5s are not an issue, its the rest of the set up that is)

A sep question. So let's say I get the BeoLab 5s which should really driven via digital inputs (intern DAC/amplification/room equalization)....do think there is way to hook it up with a pre-pro/pwr amp so that the rest center/rears are driven by analogue connections?
avguygeorge,

Regarding "480p is part of HD. i.e.Can't do 480p without a hdtv", 480p is EDTV, although I don't know if they still sell EDTV sets. But I do agree that a regular TV cannot do 480p, only 480i. You need either EDTV or HDTV to display 480p.

Bruce
This STARTS at (a minimum!) 1920x1080

Absolutely agree with Elizabeth. That is why I have still have a Sony HD CRT that can acommodate for a variety of signals. The pixel issue is a big problem until standards converge. If you ever tried using the wrong resolution on a computer LCD screen (i.e. other than the native pixel resolution) then you will know what I mean - it goes all blurred. This means an LCD or a plasma will have an OPTIMUM input signal resolution and will not be as good for signals that do not match this OPTIMUM resolution.

If you still have many DVD's and still watch ordinary TV channels then an EDTV with a native resolution suited for DVD's may be your best choice in the interim (until old signals have disappeared and only 1080p exists)

Downscaling High Def 720p to DVD quality works well. Upscaling ordinary TV signals (less than DVD quality usually) to 720P or 1080P may actually look worse than ordinary TV!
Actually your 1366x768 screen will display max height of 768 pixels. So your screen will display HD 720P (progressive scan) or 1080i (interlaced) but not 1080P (progressive).

720P progressive is higher resolution than a 1080i. A 1080i is equivelant to half the interlaced value or 540P). So 720P has higher resolution than a 1080I, but not higher than a 1080P.

1080P is the highest resolution but a 768 screen will not show its capability.
Furthermore, if you use a DVD player or processor that up converts to 1080P you will need a plasma or projector that will display this.

The future is 1080P but it is pricey at the moment. This is good news for those of us with modest means, because plasma's and LCD with 728 vertical pixels will be coming down to working man prices.