Differences Between FULL HD And HD READY?
 

So I'm looking for a new tv, been out looking today in different stores. I think I want a Samsung LCD. Stuck between 42inch 46 inch and 50 inch. My girlfriend thinks 42 inch is big enough but I wanna go for the 50 inch.

Prices in the UK for tv's are insnae compared to the US. I see a lot of very good priced TV's that are HD Ready and then you obviously have the Full HD ones.

Whats the main differences between both? I personally wanna get the Full HD one but I just wanna know the big difference in price.

Full HD is when your TV supports 1920x1080px
HD Ready is when its only 1300x756... or something like that.

But the thing is, HD Television will only begin broadcasting in 2011. While currently its not anywhere near. So untill then, and especially untill Full HD era you still got about 10-15 years.

That's wrong. Both 1080px and 720px (not 756) are valid HD standards.

So what you're saying is there's no point in getting a Full HD tv just yet? The difference is around £600 between HD ready and Full HD on the TV I want...

720px is progressive and 1080px is not.

Here is a good link that explains everything:
http://www.cnet.com.au/tvs/0,2390352...59529-3,00.htm

Yep I know that, but 1080 is the highest form of HD you can get from what I've been reading.

My question is, do I REALLY need it right now or should I just go with an HD ready tv for now?

- Full HD usually means your TV comes with an HD tuner to pick up local HD channels (via antenna).

- HD ready means.. you have to have an HD STB (cable box, satt.. etc)

HD ready is all you really need.. as most people will be connecting to a cable/sat provider.

Generally.. HDTVs are identified as 1080p or 720p (1080p being the latest n greatest). You'll only need 1080p if you intend to buy/view a lot of the latest Blu-ray or HD-DVD movies.

HD ready just means it has a screen capable of displaying the resolution but no built in HD tuners.
Full HD set will have ATSC and/or QAM tuners for decoding over the air and cable HD channels with out the addition of a separate box.

1080 px has a better resolution but it's interlacing. On the other hand, 720px is progressive so it has a better quality. I'd take 720px because I don't care about additional couple of pixels. The picture quality is more important thing IMHO.

They're both progressive. That's what the p stands for. 1080i is interlaced.

Just get a HD ready set - seeing as DTV is only going to get worse in quality as they keep squeezing more and more shitty quiz channels on, the chances of HD coming anytime near the analogue switch off are slim.

On another note, fancy flogging your old TV to me, a poor struggling student who'll be moving into a house this September? :winkwink:

I have 2 28inch widescreens right now. One broke last week so I swapped it with the exact same one which I had in the spare bedroom in my house.

When I get my new TV I'm giving one of them to my gran and another to my cousin who just got a flat. He can have the broke one as its only gonna cost around £30 to get it fixed from my friends dad.

If I hadn't said to my cousin earlier today then I would have gave it to you for the cost of getting it fixed and delivered. Sorry man :(

its a i and p thing

No problems at all - I'm flattered that you would have considered me anyway.

Anyway, the way I plan for this term, there hopefully won't be much time to watch TV. :thumbsup

Yep, that's right. But as far as I know all 1080 are "i" and all 720 are "p". Correct me please if I'm wrong.

Here is a good link that explains HDTV. Its from the FCC. You have until 2-17-09 before the US turns off analog TV and is 100% HD.

We have a 42" 1080i with Dolby 5.1 and its like being their. Its amazing.

http://www.dtv.gov/

There are 4 HD standards in use:
720i (1280x720 pixels interlaced)
720p (1280x720 pixels progressive)
1080i (1920x1080 pixels interlaced)
1080p (1920x1080 pixels progressive)

Interlaced means it updates only half the lines at each update, progressive updates all lines.

Full HD term is used for monitors/TVs that have at least 1920x1080 pixels and support 1080p. Full HD works on PS3, Blueray and HD-DVD. Pretty nice with a computer connected aswell.

That's wrong. there are 1080 i and p & 720 i and p

I would take a 720p over a 1080i. You want progressive.

Aslo, whoever said that hdready sets only require a cable box. That's not necessarily true either. In some cases you need the box and a seperate and very expensive box to up convert the signal.

Just spend the extra money now and get a nice 720p set and you will have no regrets. Anything less and you will end up wishing you got the better set. If you intend to get a HD player or Blu Ray, those max out at 1080p so you may want to spring for that but they will still look pretty damn good on a 720p.

Here's a bump for more opinions.

So far its looking like I wanna get a 720p minimum... I'll take a look over the weekend and then decide.

I would see if you can compare the 2 side by side. Go with whatever looks the best for you. We went 1080i because of resolution.

It all comes down to how the encoding is done. Sports are encoded at about 10megs. Talking heads use less bandwidth because the picture doesn't change as much as sports. They encode around 6megs.

Like I said, Go to a store and watch sports on both. Go with what looks the best for you. We are very happy with 1080i.

Just hurry up and get a big TV and a PS3 so i can kick yer ass at Fifa... :pimp

You wish boy!! As soon as the new TV comes, first thing we're doing is a FIFA comp!

Easy money !!!!!!!! :banana

Most channels are 720p or 1080i just because of bandwidth limitations. Uses a lot more to send a 1080 progressive signal. HD-DVD's and Blurays are 1080p. PS3 and xbox 360 can both do 1080p aswell. If you don't use any of those then a 720p set would be fine until you get to the bigger sizes. 50" and up 1080, even interlaced will usually look better then 720p on larger screens.

To use an analogy:

Full HD is like a professional bodybuilder
HD Ready is like a guy who just joined up at the gym

... he may be Arnold some day, but not without some hard work and serious sweat.

Thanks guys for all the input. I picked the tv I want. 52" Samsung LCD 1080p

Its a real nice tv :)

I'm mousing the market also - saw the sony 40X series (40X200 I think it was, but can't remember) - it's a winner hands down in all I've seen so far.

Full HD is what you should go for if the budget stretches - the resolution is by far superior. But then a low-end full HD is nowhere near as good as a high-end HD ready.