Few Questions - Need answering

[ash]

Thanks to whoever can answer my questions.

I am looking to buy a Plasma 42"/37" or a LCD 32"/37" still unsure.

When I buy it I want it to be futureproof for a long time, so if I splash out a lot I dont want it to go to waste. Soon HDTV will go to 1080i right? (After 720p obviously), so need a TV supporting 1080i. What is the minimum resolution for this(1080i)? Can anyone show me a TV taht has this support?

Also does the PV500 have support for 1080i?>

[Rimmer]

HDTV can be 720p or 1080i. It's unclear at this stage which format will be most common, but most of the European pay TV broadcasters due to launch HDTV channels seem to have chosen 1080i. 720p/1080i will eventually be superceded by 1080p.

There is technically no miniumum resolution for a HD panel, because many SD plasmas with a resolution of 852 x 480 will accept a 720p or 1080i signal and downscale it to the panel's own resolution. The PV500 can display more of a 720p or 1080i broadcast than an SD plasma because it has a resolution of 1024 x 768. However, if you want a TV that can display all the pixels in a 1080i broadcast you need a display with a 1920 x 1080p resolution. Some 37" 1080p LCDs from Westinghouse and BenQ have recently become available in the US for about $2000, but they are not yet available in the UK.

[domtheone]

You could get a Sharp 45" LCD which has a native display of 1920*1080

Not currently aware of any other telly (LCD) on sale (UK) that has 1920*1080 at the moment. Should change soon though..

[ash]

Thanks people, so I look for one with 1920*1090.

Say I buy a tv that downscales it, like pv500, how much quality will I lose if I watch a 1080i broadcast?

[ash]

PLease someone

[Stephen Neal]

1080i broadcasts will not contain significantly more vertical resolution than a 720p broadcast, and so a 720p display shouldn't lose you too much vertically.

However horizontally, 1080i broadcasts can have up to 1920 samples, whereas 720p broadcasts (and 720p panels) max out at 1280. You would therefore potentially be losing information horizontally. (Assuming there is much information there in the 1080i broadcast)

However this is assuming the display or the device feeding it has a good quality 1080i to 720p converter - some are better than others. (Apparently some go via 540p - which IS a quality issue)

Of course this is ignoring the fact that there are possibly going to be 1080p sources - which have higher vertical resolution than 1080i and 720p sources. (Devices like PS3 - and possibly HD-DVD/BluRay players which may also output 1080p)