1080i gets the thumbs down from Ofcom
If you’re weighing up a new television, and you don’t have bags of money to spend, you’re often left with a choice between two different high definition formats: 720p and 1080i.
1080i offers the benefits of more pixels (the screens are 1080 pixels tall), but the tradeoff is that the pixels are displayed ‘interlaced’: only 50% of the screen is refreshed per cycle, in alternating lines of pixels.
720p refreshes all the pixels at the same time, giving a higher quality image, but with only 720 pixels, so detail is lower. (The ‘p’ stands for progressive.)
To make life easier, industry body Digital Television Group (DTG) have decided to resolve the issue, saying that 720p is "better than 1080i".
Interlaced pictures lose out most to progressive pictures when compression is used, common in television broadcasts. Additionally, on many average sized (32") televisions, the difference in detail the higher resolution 1080i provides is not really noticeable from across a living room.
Of course, if you can afford it the best picture quality ought to come from Full HD or 1080p sets, but if you read the reviews on our televisions section on Reevoo, you’ll know that isn’t always the case!
Blog posted on Friday, April 25th, 2008 at 6:51 pm under Televisions. Leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.
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