1080p Vs 720p

[theflyingnun]

Upgrading to a new television and I am not sure whether to spend only 2,000.00 for a 720p or 3,000.00 for a good 1080p. I heard that Sony PlayStation 3 will have the new 1080p. However, technology like Directv or Comcast and Dvd's are 3 years away from 1080p. Could someone please help me make the right choice.

[edtyct]

A saying in some musical circles maintains that two notes shouldn't be played when one will do, and that not even one should be played unless absolutely necessary. In that spirit, some reasons not to buy a 1080p set are that (1) it costs more, (2) the difference in resolution may not be visible in most people's viewing environments, and (3) the particular set at hand may not input 1080p at all, just scale to it. What justifies a true 1080p display most fundamentally is sheer size and viewing distance. A, say, 40 to 60" display typically viewed at the usual 8 to 12 ft. range won't always permit the eye to resolve the extra detail. Big screens in big rooms suffer most when the resolution is less than 1080p; they need as good a fill factor as possible to cut down on visible artifacts and gaps between picture elements.

Reasons to get a true 1080p display are that (1) you can afford one, (2) you have a big room, (3) you just have to have state of the art equipment, (4) 1080i can finally become a thing of the past. and (3) Blu-Ray and even HD DVD will be capable of it. Even on a regular sized screen, 1080p may exhibit an air of smoothness that makes it worthwhile for some people, and eliminating 1080i from the mix more often will certainly cut down on processing artifacts. Don't forget, however, that the mere presence of 1080p will not guarantee great performance. Too many other variables intrude. A well-appointed 720p set could easily outperform a run of the mill 1080p set under many circumstances.

[AVMASTER]

Hello Edtyct;
what is your opinion on utilizing a Blu-ray device with a ED plasma, specifically the Panasonic 42" and the Samsung DVD?

[edtyct]

Does one of your customers want to do it? Without actually viewing the interaction, it's impossible to say exactly how it would look. I can tell you that material filmed in HD can often look very good when downconverted on an ED plasma, sometimes a degree better than 480 material per se; the extra resolution in the HD signal might mitigate a roll-off in the higher frequencies of straight ED material. I've never measured it out, but I've seen the benefit in sharpness. It will depend to some extent on how good the plasma is in the first place, and we both know that the Panasonic EDs are among the best. Maybe Blu-Ray HD will have a similar effect under certain conditions. Whether it happens often enough or conspicuously enough to justify the tandem is a personal thing. Me? I doubt it.

I see no point to it so far as a consumer is concerned (though coupling them in the store is another matter). As good as they can look, and as indistinguishable from HD as they can be from at a certain distance, ED plasmas do not achieve the sharpness of 720p, which I believe to be the minimum display resolution that justifies HD DVD or Blu-Ray. And even though these new players are also intended to be backward-compatible with legacy DVDs, Chris Walker of the Blu-Ray team has gone on record saying that regular DVD playback (including scaling) will not be the strong suit of Blu-Ray players. He stills sees a market for dedicated DVD players. Despite the fact that I don't have much faith in Samsung's entry, which seems to suffer from some of the same defects as Samsung's upconverting players, I don't see it having much value for someone in an ED environment, even if s/he expects to buy an HD-capable display later. Better players by far will emerge sooner rather than later. I expect the Pioneer and the Sony to put a much better foot forward.

A good DVD player--like one of the Denons, a Sony ES, an Oppo (not to mention an Accuphase etc.; you get the idea) to my mind would trump the Samsung on an ED plasma. There is much to be said about matching player and display pixel by pixel and eliminatng video processing entirely. The Blu-Ray deck offers too much information on the one hand and two little refinement on the other. I should add that an ED plasma capable of accepting 1080p would be a new one me. Is there such an animal? That's what I would call optimism, if not overkill.

[AVMASTER]

thank you sir; I actually did have a customer that was willing to pay full price for the samsung just to try it out on his ED Panasonic. After a rather lenghty explaination ( i'm sure he still doesn't get it) on matching incoming signal to native rez of display, incompatible connections, cost, Samsungs' problems, he decide on a Denon. I admit that i was a bit curious how the two would interact, but i'm glad there's someone else that would confirm my reservations; thanks again

[edtyct]

Glad I could be some help. One simple analogy that might make the point is that under no circumstance will an 8 oz. glass fit 12 oz. of beer. No matter how much you like the beer and how much you like the glass, never the twain shall meet. The wasted Blu-Ray pixels won't necessarily ruin the viewing experience any more than the wasted beer will absolutely ruin the drinking experience, but the waste of cash won't hold water.

[nightflier]

Glad I could be some help. One simple analogy that might make the point is that under no circumstance will an 8 oz. glass fit 12 oz. of beer. No matter how much you like the beer and how much you like the glass, never the twain shall meet. The wasted Blu-Ray pixels won't necessarily ruin the viewing experience any more than the wasted beer will absolutely ruin the drinking experience, but the waste of cash won't hold water.

Now I'm no chemist, but if you change the composition of the beer, such as hyper-freezing it for example, can't you get it to be smaller (maybe not 4 oz. smaller, but there is some wiggle room, at least). Of course, it isn't drinkable in that state, but if you could come up with a method of unfreezing it very rapidly before drinking, at least the storage issue would be addressed, theoretically. The same concept could be applied to video, if not now, perhaps in the future. And if the television is good enough and small enough, the difference would not be noticeable. With a higher end component such as a Blu-Ray player in the chain, at least one is prepared for the future by then only needing to upgrade the TV. Given so many variables, isn't crying over the split beer just a wash? (Sorry, the metaphors were just too good to pass up)

[GMichael]

Freeze dried beer? Just add water?