Panel Resolution Does it really Matter !!!

samhain

Prominent Member
Joined
Apr 1, 2004
Messages
2,827
Reaction score
143
Points
540
Location
South West Scotland
The vast majority of Plasma's I have seen seem to have a native panel of VGA, thereby compressing anything higher to this level.

Should we be striving for an XGA monitor to get High Definition or is VGA/Progressive component sufficient for most people.

Is the Pioneer 43" the only HD monitor below 50".

Thanks
 
Depends what you want to use the screen for.
If you want to use a PC on it or view hidef or both then the higher the resolution the better.

If you only intend to watch standard defininition material then I'd say you are better of sticking with the standard def panels : they look sharper than the hd panels scaling standard def from what I've seen. Using an better offboard scaler may make this less of an issue though
 
Stu,

As Keith says, it depends what you mainly want to use it for. If all you want to watch are NTSC DVDs, then a 480 line plasma is ideal. The NEC 42XM2/S is also a 768 resolution screen as is the Panasonic 42HD6. Hope this helps.

Steve
 
Stu,
I like my panasonic HD6, but I will be purchasing a scaler to improve SD a little, saying that IMO it displays a better picture with SKY than many SD screens.

The main problem I found with SD screens is the screen-door effect, which would be intrusive as I sit a bit too close to my screen.

Steve
 
I put this very question to a salesman today who told me that if you have a low-res panel (852x480?) then it will not work with a high-def source - is that right? I suspected the panel would simply downscale the image and probably still look really good because of the original lack of compression. :confused:
 
Originally posted by gammmmo
I put this very question to a salesman today who told me that if you have a low-res panel (852x480?) then it will not work with a high-def source - is that right? I suspected the panel would simply downscale the image and probably still look really good because of the original lack of compression. :confused:

They are compatible with High Definiton sources but you won't get the full benifit of it since you don't have enough pixels to display it!

I was thinking of waiting for a HD Plasma but at the end of the day, I only decided to get a Plasma lately cuz of the price and performance I saw. I'm not loaded so pushing for the extra money is difficult! You've gotta remember that the 1280x768 Plasmas will only benifit from 720P sources. It's believed Blu-ray content will be 1080I so you'll need a 1920x1200 Plasma to get full benifit...i doubt we'll see sub £10,000 ones of those till at least 2006! I say 2010 we'll begin to see 42" OLED displays (2007/8 for computer displays)
 
It's interesinting one though, I have seen the HD panels in shops and found the picture not too satisfying, but then again they are shops.

The display would mainly be used for sky using RGB2VGA connections, but 720p certainly does appeal to me big time.

Why would a HD panel be less 'sharp' than a normal VGA one ?

All down to the scaling I presume.

Standard Pal/NTSC Progressive scan on a VGA panel using component should look pretty stunning shouldn't it ?
 
A couple of things i have found with SD vs HD plasma panels.

SD panels are normally brighter than HD ones.
SD panels are normally cheaper than HD ones.

HD panels are better for PC use than SD ones.
HD panels "can" be better for HD use.

The reason i say "can" be better for HD use is due to plasmas "HD" resolution.
To date most HD plasma are either 1024x1024 or 1366x768(ish) etc.
After demo-ing HD material through both SD and HD panels, there wasn't as much a difference as you would imagine there would be.
Both SD and HD benefited from the better quality feed, with the HD panels fairing better now and again.
Since plasma screens are smaller than most peoples front projection screens, the impact of HD isn't fully realised.

The non HD resolution of current plasma hark back to computer based resolutions, with 1024x768 fitting snuggly in a 16.9 1366x768 panel.(Sony VWHT series PJs used this type of resolution)

It will be interesting to see if plasma manufacturers break away from their PC origins, and start making truer HD spec panels.
1280x720
1920x1080
Would be ideal, and it would be interesting what impact this would have with 1-1 mapping of HD sources.
 
I saw lots of pictures posted on avsforum showing some SD Panel pictures against some HD panel pictures.

I thought the SD pictures looked better in almost all cases. The feeds ranged from digital TV to DVD to HDTV.

I must say the SD panels did look brighter and sharper.
 
I agree the SD panels do generally look slightly sharper, but the other disadvantage I found with SD panels was I could perceive a small amount of flicker. This was in several different brands.
I don't notice it with the HD panel.
Also I use if for some PC use and it looks much better.

I think the HD set may look sharper with a scaler such as the iSCAN HD (if the DVI issues are sorted out ever).

Steve.
 

The latest video from AVForums

TV Buying Guide - Which TV Is Best For You?
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Back
Top Bottom