Monday, February 16, 2009

The Basics of High Definition

By Brian Engle

While most people know that high definition is important, they don't know the specifics of how HD works. In addition, the only product on the market that can make total use of HD is Blu-ray disc.

High definition is defined by its resolution, which is measured in horizontal lines and pixels per line. The more lines and pixels a television has, the better the resolution. Of course, as these measures go up, so does the price of the equipment.

High definition resolutions have either 720 or 1,080 lines, and either 1,280 or 1,920 pixels per line. This is much better than the original type of DVD, which can only have 480 horizontal lines and up to 720 pixels per line.

There are two methods in which resolutions are displayed. It is best for all the lines to be displayed sequentially, as with progressive scanning. The other option is interlaced scanning, in which all even and odd lines appear first.

Progressive scanning is visually better because it produces a clearer picture. However, it requires larger amounts of data, which can slow down transmission if hardware is not up to date.

The main HD resolutions are 720p, 1080i, and 1080p. The number of horizontal lines used is denoted by the number, and interlaced or progressive scanning is done so by the lowercase letter.

1080p is currently the highest resolution available for HDTVs. Unfortunately, no televisions display shows in that format. On the bright side, Blu-ray players can conform to 1080p, so it doesn't go to waste.

With all the talk of the differences between resolutions, it may become important to one to get the best resolution. Realistically, a 720p HDTV looks about the same as even a 1080p one. Logically, it is not economically justified to get the 1080p, especially if you are on a budget.

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