Should I really go for 1080p?

onkeh

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I don't want to start a big flame war or anything but this something I really want to know before I drop over a grand on a new TV.

I've noticed a lot of commentary on the Internet how you can't tell the difference between 720p & 1080p unless you've got a 50 foot TV and are sitting 3mm away. The thing is I don't see a lot of people saying "I can definitely tell the difference between 1080p and 720p and it's awesome!".

To compound this, a friend of mine who has very similar taste to me recently checked out his dad's new 42" 1080p set and said the difference was practically unnoticeable even very close, which has got me pretty concerned.

So, can YOU see the difference between standard HD and full HD? How big is your TV? How far away do you sit? Any input would be very much appreciated.
 
i had a 40w2000 until i returned it, and let me tell you that from 4 feet away the difference is very noticable.

at 6 feet it wasn't as noticable but it was noticable beyond that no i couldn't.

but if you're spending over a grand yes you should get it, its the HD standard for Blu Ray and HDDVD so why would you want 720p when you can have 1080p
 
Surely no one spends a significant amount of viewing time only 4ft away from a 40in set?
 
Another aspect is that, even if you can't tell the difference between a 1080p signal at 1080p an a 720p signal at 720p you might notice a 1080p picture that has been downconverted to 720p (or 768 lines, which is more common than 720 lines on a panel)
 
Surely no one spends a significant amount of viewing time only 4ft away from a 40in set?


why not?

its used for HDDVD, Xbox 360 and PC. I dont subscribe to the whole "you're sitting too close" thing these days.

I still have the entire tv + the area around it in my field of view, i feel more relaxed and my eyes feel less strained at that distance on a 40" than they do now at 3 ft from a 19" (waiting for either new sammy or new tosh).
 
Its difficult to make a scientific judgement on this unless you have 2 sets that are identical in spec other than the screen resolution (does this exist) Screen resolution isnt everything a decent picture processing chip is equally as vital. As far as I am aware there are no 32" 1920x1080p models yet they are creeping into 37" panels. I've seen some stunning WXGA HD footage, and assumed it was 1920x1080p. I think the 1080p is something that is expected now in a top end TV.
 
I've seen both 1080p and 720p sets running side by side at a moderate viewing distance of approx 10ft and I couldn't see a difference. Infact, anyone who can honestly say that they can must have eyes like a hawk.

Save your money and get a decent 720p for now. The money you save this time round can be put towards a better set in 3 years or so when the technology has advanced.

Also, unless you watch a lot of HD-Dvd or Blu-Ray there isn't much point in owning a 1080p set as it is highly unlikely that there will be any broadcast material at 1080p in the near future.

My advice is to check it out for yourself. I opted for the768 model in the end as it was significantly cheaper than the 1080 model. SD looked the same on it. Sky HD feeds were identical. Xbox 360 was the same. I didn't see the point in paying a lot for a feature which would get fairly little use.
 
Another aspect is that, even if you can't tell the difference between a 1080p signal at 1080p an a 720p signal at 720p you might notice a 1080p picture that has been downconverted to 720p (or 768 lines, which is more common than 720 lines on a panel)

This is a valid point. 720p ha to go through more processing when it's a 1080 source

Screen resolution isnt everything a decent picture processing chip is equally as vital.

Excellent point IMO. Look at the whole TV. Many plasma owners have bought 1024X768 panels that give phenominal pictures.

I have an excellent external scaler, so I'm not too upset that 1080 has to be scaled down to 720p. Ultimately, you may find £1200, for instance, would buy you a better picture using 1366X768, than a 1080p model, because much of your money will be going on those extra pixels, rather than good processing (this is hypothetical of course). Really try and see for yourself tho.

Additionally I wonder how many 1080p panels will actually give 1:1 pixel mapping?

T.
 
Another aspect is that, even if you can't tell the difference between a 1080p signal at 1080p an a 720p signal at 720p you might notice a 1080p picture that has been downconverted to 720p (or 768 lines, which is more common than 720 lines on a panel)

Surely the same logic could be used in reverse when upscaling a 720p source to 1080p ie an xbox 360, as each panel will perform best in its native resolution ?
 
Surely the same logic could be used in reverse when upscaling a 720p source to 1080p ie an xbox 360, as each panel will perform best in its native resolution ?

To a certain extent, but most UK HD sources are capable of delivering 1080 lines and you don't lose picture information when converting from 720 to 1080.
 
Yep, the price got me too in the end. Ideally wanted a 1080p but managed to pick up a 40" 720p Sony for 800 in the end which is £500 less than a decent 1080p. I figured that from my sitting position (around 10 ft) I couldn't really see the benefit between the 720p and 1080p (I tried this numberous times in the showroom with a number of displays).

There is a lot of material on the net regarding viewing distances and from which distance the resolution of the display will have an impact. For a 40" 1080p set the recommended viewing distance is 5 ft. Once you get between 8 - 10ft you'll not perceive the increase in detail.

Check here http://www.carltonbale.com/wp-content/uploads/distance_chart.png

and

http://www.carltonbale.com/wp-content/uploads/resolution_chart.png

The way I see it is that the cash I saved this time round could be put towards another TV a few years down the line, when 46 and 52" displays will be the norm and HD broacast material is 1080p. I'll take plunge then.
 
I suspect that a lot of the difference between 720p and 1080p will depend on the material being watched. Fast-paced action movies may not show much of a difference but highly detailed scenes with a lot of scenery may make a difference.

Personally, I plan to use my TV with a PC and I want to be able to run the PC at 1920x1080 in order to maximise my screen real estate. Obviously on a 720p set you'll see a lot less.

Buy the biggest set you can for your viewing room and I would expect you to appreciate 1080p over 720p quite easily. I would also say that buying cheap quite often means buying twice. If you buy one of the next-gen sets with LED back-lighting and a xvYCC capable display, you should be good for quite a number of years to come. Buy a lesser display now and you could be facing severe disappointment next year at what is then available and want to buy again. Ultimately, it's your choice.

Cheers,

jah
 

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