Learning about 1080p High definition

All other things being equal there has been a big leap in technology from normal TVs to HD TV technology. HD TV is both spectacular and gripping to watch and view content on. There are a number of different types of HDTV that are available on the market. Although screen sizes tend to vary, the real difference of HD TV screen sizes is down to resolution, contrast ratio among other things.

Most people would assume that the HD TV picture is affected by the screen size and resolution. While these two points are important, the real deal on HD TVs coming down to more than screen size and resolution. In fact, some experts agree that contrast and color affect the picture quality more than resolution and screen size. Today’s HD content is broadcast in 1080i or 720p, meaning that though Full HD 1080p is the best standard of HD available, it is not being used for broadcasting because of the bandwidth that is required to broadcast in 1080p.

1080p HD is used instead for on demand content and HD media systems like Blu-ray disc drives, computers and multimedia entertainment devices like the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. Though most multimedia systems natively support 720p, content can be up scaled to either 1080p or 1080i via the HDMI ports.

To really enjoy the full benefit of 1080p HD, you will need to get a full HD outputting device such as a Blu-ray player or computer as these two devices natively output in 1080p. 1080p HD TVs will only display content based on the content source because HD TVs rely on fixed pixel technology which limits the number of pixels the HD TV can display. 1080p HD displays content in 1920 x 1080 so the content source would have to be 1920 x 1080p for the 1080p HD resolution to be realized. So although many features on 1080p HD TVs may suggest otherwise, the real HD resolution comes directly from the content source is outputting the resolution directly.

So which HD TVs support the 1080p resolution? Well most standard HDTVs today support the 1080p resolution and since there are various HD TV types available, you can find flat panel HD TVs such as plasma HD, LED and LCD TVs as well as projection HD TVs including rear and front projection HD TVs. Some HD TVs, in particular entry level models are limited to the 720p HD fixed pixel resolution.