1080p

[lsmd69]

when will the new 1080p sets be out on the market?? and whats so good about them? does it upconcert every signal to 1080p or does it display every signal ( 720p 1080i 480p 480i)

[57U]

There are some plasmas that are already 1024 x 1024, effectively 1080p. The Toshiba LCoS is no longer for sale but there are plans for some other 1080P sets. None of them will be cheap.

Almost all sets only have one "native" HD mode, therefore all signal will be converted to 1080P - no reason not to.

There is currently no consumer material/broadcast availabe at 1080p though, and I don't even know of any plans for it.

Master tapes are 1080/24P, but that's commercial stuff.

[lsmd69]

if nothing is being broadcast in 1080p, then is it worth it to wait for a 1080p model or should i just go for an lcd or dlp? also, are there any digital displays with a native outout of 1080i?

[57U]

Digital displays cannot do interlaced - they don't know how, nor would they want to. They can only do progressive. All you have to do is look at the number of pixels - they go from 480, 720, 768, 788, 1024 (plasma - which is also 1024 horizontal, rather than something like 1300 for the "720P" displays..

There is probably no real reason to wait for 1080P, except for "bragging rights".

[spaceman_spiff]

There is currently no consumer material/broadcast availabe at 1080p though

Adding to what 57 said, when 1080p sets come out, the current 1080i signal might be able to be converted to 1080p with a progressive processor.
That will be a spectacular sight. :D

[57U]

There is probably no real reason to wait for 1080P, except for "bragging rights".I'm going to take back and clarify this remark a bit.

Since the new 1080P TVs will be upconverting 720P and 1080i, the upconverted picture should look better.

We know that a very clean 480i signal looks pretty good when upconverted to 720P or 1080, so I guess the next step should also hold true, however, I don't think the difference will be as dramatic.

People will need to decide if it's worth the $, since the sets will not be cheap.

[spaceman_spiff]

however, I don't think the difference will be as dramatic.
I would agree 57. I think the difference might more dramatic on bigger screens HDTVs like 73" or larger projector screens. Smaller HDTVs like in the 40 and 50 inchers might not be as dramatic.
There was a day when I was a kid a 27" TV was considered big screen. Now 40 or 50" seems small. :D Technology progression. I love it. :love2:

[sto22]

Will 1080p be the "highest" output for a while?

Or do we have even greater resolutions/detail on the way.

What will make 1080p "outdated old tech"?

One good thing about TV broadcasts maxing out at 480i for so long is that the manufacturers were forced to develop cheaper tech that provided better PQ along with newer features.

Here's hoping for the 1080p plateau ! :cheers:

sto22

[lsmd69]

lets say i do get a 1080p set...my comcast stb receives 720p or 1080i...what would be the better conversion??

720p to stb set at 720p to tv upconverting to 1080p
or
720p to stb set at 1080i to tv upconverting to 1080p
or
1080i to stb set at 1080i to tv upconverting to 1080p
or
1080i to stb set at 720p to tv upconverting to 1080p

[57U]

Depends on the STB and the TV, usually let the "better" unit do the converting, but it's hard to tell.

For example, I've found that setting my SA3250HD STB to 480P output with 480i input and letting the TV upconvert from there is better than 480i to the TV... Perhaps this is because the upconversion in the STB is in the digital domain (not sure).

[summerfun]

Just don't forget the garbage in garbage out rule of life. Just because something is unconverted, does not mean it looks that great.

480i unconverted to 1080i doesn’t look anything like real 1080i. Therefore to really enjoy 1080p, you are going to need a 1080p signal, which I don't see coming any time soon.

We have all been struggling for a standard in HD and things went very slow because you had to have all the players agree. Networks, Cable and Satellite, TV manufactures, everybody. Nobody wanted to go first, because the rest of the industry was not there yet and they could have gone in the wrong direction. Like Fox did with 480p widescreen. It’s the whole chicken and the egg thing.

I think now however, the bed has been made and we have to sleep in it. HD is 720p and 1080i. I don't see the whole industry changing gears again just because the ability is there for a new resolution. Too many people have invested in what is here now. It took 50 years for the last change. If you get a 1080p TV, your going to be watching upconverted 1080i for a long while.

[mikehbkwm]

i remember when i was a kid and i really thought 32 inches was huge i was just in aww like man it cant get any better then this....

[HDBoobToobNoob]

If you have a DVD player that does Windows Media, some of their movies on DVD are 1080P, but only a handful. If it catches on perhaps more movies will be coded in WMV and 1080P might become more common.

Windows Media HD Content (http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/content_provider/film/HDVideo.aspx)

[Ratman]

WM9 is not what you want to bank on.

No DVD players available at this time that support WM9 (Except a Bravo player that had been announced).

The only WM9 movies availble (AFAIK) are T2 and 'Standing in the Shadows of Motown'. The rest is "docu-fluff".

IMO... for PC's this is nice. For HT... not the best option. Don't feed the Gates pig! :boo2:

BTW: This months Sound & Vision mag has a full page advertisement for WM9.

[Freddy Basset]

It's time to upgrade my media room PC and I'm looking to be able to play these WM9 DVD's. I saw the ad in the magazine the other day. Looks like this may be a halfway-decent stopgap until the real thing is introduced.

M$ is making some impressive waves with the WM9 compression scheme. Anyone else out there tried it?

[amato]

I"ll guess, 720p and 1080i may be the standard for OTA the next 50 years, but I suppose the rest might get tangled in Moore's law.

[Tom in OH]

Mitsubishi might be upset if we didn't mention their LCoS 1080p set in this thread. Expensive? u bet but maybe worth it in the long run. The only drawback (besides $$) is a slightly elevated black level.

What I especially like about these sets is there's no burn-in issue. You can tweak all day with your test patterns with no chance of damage. Also LCoS HDTVs have no color wheel spinning around (as in DLP which for some people causes a rainbow effect).

[Skyboss]

There is probably no real reason to wait for 1080P, except for "bragging rights".

Or teh 73" screen that will come along with it! :-)

[namechamps]

Some often overlooked pros for 1080P:

1) 1080P would make an amzing computer monitor. If you are an HTPC nut then 1080P would be the holy grail. 25% more progressive data on screen vs 720P means sharper cleaner text and graphics.

2) I would imagine those 5.0 megapixel digital camera shots shown in whatever the native resolution is for 1080P would look amazing. Kinda thing that would make the neighbors jaw drop when they saw it.

3) Also next DVD format (DVD-HD, or blueray) may be 1080P capable. It wouldn't take much work to encode the disks at 1080P and have the HD-DVD player downconvert to 1080i 720p, 480p depending on the ouput requirments of the the TV set.

4)Lastly even though the last TV standard lasted 50 years I doubt that means that 1080i/720p will last another 50 years. As an example look at VHS. VHS ruled for about 20 years. Then was replaced by DVD which ruled for about 6-8 years. Now HD-DVD is on horizon. As HD sets become popular people will demand HD-DVD. Who wants to watch live TV @ 720P or 1080P then watch DVD @ 480P? Basicly in the digital age each generation becomes shorter and shorter.