720p or 1080i (noob question)

Im not really good with tv's but i've been hearing that 720p is better than 1080i. Is that true?

thanks in advance

Im not really good with tv's but i've been hearing that 720p is better than 1080i. Is that true?

thanks in advance

Gamester108

Anyone who says 1080i is better doesn't understand how this stuff works.  The i in 1080i stands for interlaced.  This means that not all 1,080 lines are displayed at once, but rather half are displayed, followed quickly by the other half.  So, at any given time, a 1080i picture will have 540 lines on the screen.  The p in 720p stands for progressive, which means that all lines will be rendered.  So at any given time, a 720p picture will have 720 lines on the screen.  More lines means a better picture.  720 > 540.  That's why 720p came after 1080i.  CornellAdamO

1080p is True HD, hence the only way to play.Bleach_is_basic

Anyone who says 1080i is better doesn't understand how this stuff works.  The i in 1080i stands for interlaced.  This means that not all 1,080 lines are displayed at once, but rather half are displayed, followed quickly by the other half.  So, at any given time, a 1080i picture will have 540 lines on the screen.  The p in 720p stands for progressive, which means that all lines will be rendered.  So at any given time, a 720p picture will have 720 lines on the screen.  More lines means a better picture.  720 > 540.  That's why 720p came after 1080i.  CornellAdamO

False.  You're only talking about vertical lines.  720p is 1280 x 720 pixels; 1080i is 1920 x 1080 pixels (interlaced). 1080i owns as far as horizontal pixels go (1920 vs 1280).

Reason why 720p came out after 1080i is because in order to do 1080i properly you need a screen with more pixels (again, 1280 x 720 pixels for 720p and 1920 x 1080 pixels for 1080i). Its obviously cheaper to manufacture the screen with the fewer amount of pixels.

BTW, most tv's that do both 720p and 1080i can ****not**** do 1080i properly because their screen NATIVE screen resolution is not high enough.

Also, with the arrival of 1080p, the whole argument about which is better (720p or 1080i) is moot. It all comes down to what your TV's native resolution is. If the resolution is 1920x1080 then you might as well just watch movies/game in 1080p.

Look at these hdtv's that support 720p/1080i, their native resolution is waaaaaay below 1980*1080 so they can't do 1080i properly.

Native resolution is only 1366 x 768: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16824007068

Native resolution is only 1366 x 768: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16889102046

You are going to get alot of replies by pseudo-intellectuals on the subject that only know half the truth. Some people seem to have accurate information here after that first guy ranted nonsense about how 720p is better than 1080i.

Fact of the matter is, just try it yourself. If you have a TV that supports both, I highly recommend playing the movie Crank on 1080i. When the action gets really intense, you can see it chop a little bit. That's the problem w/ interlace with fast action. Progressive scan wouldn't cause that.

Basically, as someone previously said, in terms of resolution 1080i is better since it is 1920x1080. In terms of fluidity of motion, 720p would be better (assuming it's a high action game). If you are playing a game like Silent Hill, Resident Evil, Onimusha, where it isn't insane chaotic action on-screen at all times, i'd say that 1080i would be better. If you are playing FPS' that are really crazy where the image is constantly changing, 720p would probably be best.

This leads to the issue why developers are having a hard time w/ 1080p. For 1080p they must make the engine capable of displaying the 1080 resolution WHILE maintaining the progressive scan. That's why people like Bill Gates say it is impossible to make truly 1080p games this generation without sacrificing particle effects or the such, since 1080 would have more texture work.