1080 vs 720

I'm ready to buy. Brand and size yet to be determined although the new set needs to be between 42 and 50 inches. Problem is, every time I walk into a store like Best Buy or Circuit City, all but one or two sets is a 720. At BB today, the only 1080p on display was the Westinghouse monitor. (interestingly, BB's return policy is 30 days for most things...exceptions include monitors which have only a 15 day return window...I know that refers to computer monitors, but if they wanted screw you on it...they could) There was one Samsung 40 inch 1080 and it had a superior picture...If it was just a few inches bigger, I would have bought it. Should I settle for a 720? It seems like retailers just aren't giving many 1080 options.

Resolution shouldn't be the ultimate factor in your decision. Don't forget, depending on your seating distance, your eyes probably won't be able to resolve a difference between a teeny dot, and a teeny teeny dot. On top of that, remember that virtually everything you feed into your TV, whether it's 1080p or 768p (most common lately), will have to be converted from some other resolution. 1080p is a perfect match only for a few rare Blu-Ray discs now. Even with a 1080p TV, most HD is 1080i requiring de-interlacing, the rest is 720p requiring upconversion, and you'll still watch some 480i, requiring both. Also, 1080p is a magic number, and manufacturers like Westinghouse are gonna skimp big time on other espects to be able to afford to do 1080p. Contrast ratio, color saturation and accuracy, grayscale linearity, etc., can all make a 768p display look way better than that Westinghouse.

At 10 feet away from my 50" Panasonic plasma (1366x768), I can't quite see the pixel structure. Don't fret the 1080p business just yet.

Does 1080p offer much more than 720p? On paper it may offer a minor improvement but in reality, not much. It is however, a terrific marketing ploy. 1080p allows for increased profit margins and that is really the bottom line. There are many ways to improve PQ in a 720p display (better deinterlacing, better video processing etc) but that doesn't have the hot bang effect of touting something like 1080p. It won't be long before 1080p is topped by the next great new marketing candy. These people are pretty shrewd. They know we'll lap it up.

Come to think of it...the Sammy was playing a Blue Ray disc at the time....and it was REALLY superior to all the other displays. Making the decision to accept 720 would give me a lot more choices.

If you're going to settle for 40"-42", a 768p or 720p set should suffice unless you are for some reason sitting very, very close. However, 50" or larger will benefit from the higher 1080p resolution. Samsung, Sony and Sharp are all coming out with 52" models late this month and October and the "1080p is not that much different" arguments will start to fade. The only valid debate will be whether you can afford these newer sets.

Having said that, you should not hesitate to seriously consider the 768p/720p sets if you know your seating distance is far enough to avoid SDE.

To be sure, 1080p, all else being equal, is better than 768p. Specifically, 1366x768 is 1,049,088 pixels, and 1920x1080 is about twice as many at 2,073,600. Question is, at a given viewing distance, and with a given size screen, can your eyes resolve pixels any smaller than those on the 768p display? If not, the difference will be less than satisfying. There's some geometry and math one could do here, but I was too lazy to do it in college, so... ya know...

Also, as inazsully touches on, with all the resizing an HDTV has to do nowadays, the digital processing (tuner, scaler, de-interlacer) is probably more important than the difference between 768p and 1080p. For instance, the picture from my Motorola HD cable box is better than the built-in tuner in my TV on the same channel. Weird.

In the future, virtually all TVs bigger than, say, 26" will be 1080p so the point will be moot. But in 2006, unless I was sitting VERY close to the screen, or was looking for a VERY big flat panel (or a projector screen), I wouldn't stress about it. There are some stunningly beautiful 768p screens waiting for you and your wallet right now. ;-)

i called sony the other day and they had no idea of one. i know one has been released outside the USA, but what about here? how do you guys know one is coming?

To be sure, 1080p, all else being equal, is better than 768p. Specifically, 1366x768 is 1,049,088 pixels, and 1920x1080 is about twice as many at 2,073,600. Question is, at a given viewing distance, and with a given size screen, can your eyes resolve pixels any smaller than those on the 768p display?

Thanks for these words of wisdom. To all the 1080p haters, what could possibly be wrong with better resolution? I know alot of you out there want to feel good about your current 720p sets so you bash 1080p relentlessly.

Does 1080p offer much more than 720p?
Yes.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/42/Resolution_chart.png
I'm ready to buy. Brand and size yet to be determined although the new set needs to be between 42 and 50 inches.
Getting into LCD TV's over 42", makes the price shoot right up. Since your not interested in a rear projection tv like the Sony KDS-50A2000, what do you think of the SCEPTRE X42GV (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16824112180)
http://images10.newegg.com/NeweggImage/productimage/24-112-180-02.jpg

i called sony the other day and they had no idea of one. i know one has been released outside the USA, but what about here? how do you guys know one is coming?Check out the flat panel threads at AVS...

That graphic is way, way wrong. A 1080i signal is 1920 x 1080, just like a 1080p signal.