Nowadays, most consumers who buy new TVs are realizing it makes more sense to buy an HDTV rather than a SDTV (standard definition). Given the continuing drop of HDTV prices, it seems more and more likely that in the next one to two years, we could see the inevitable death of SDTV. Most HDTVs support two resolutions that are considered to be "high-definition", 720p and 1080i. Recently announced HDTVs are star [...]HDTVLogoSmall Nowadays, most consumers who buy new TVs are realizing it makes more sense to buy an HDTV rather than a SDTV (standard definition). Given the continuing drop of HDTV prices, it seems more and more likely that in the next one to two years, we could see the inevitable death of SDTV. Most HDTVs support two resolutions that are considered to be "high-definition", 720p and 1080i. Recently announced HDTVs are starting to support 1080p - but we'll skip that for now to keep things simple. The numbers preceding the letters are supposed to identify the number of lines that are displayed on the screen, so you would assume based on rudimentary math that 1080i is better than 720p - but this is where you would be partially wrong. 1080i (interlaced): In this mode, the HDTV displays half of the total lines (1080) or 540 lines per refresh. The best way to think about this is that for each frame of video the TV refreshes twice - once for the odd 540 lines and once for the even 540 lines. Since this happens so fast, to us mortals it looks like one image comprised of 1080 lines. Most HDTVs have a 60Hz refresh rate or can refresh themselves 60 times each second. Since with interlaced mode, the HDTV has to refresh at least twice per frame, the maximum frames/second it can display is 30.
  • 1080i is good for: Still images or scenes with little movement
  • 1080i is bad for: Fast moving images like watching Monday Night Football, playing a fast paced video game or watching action movies
720p (progressive): In this mode, the HDTV displays the whole frame (all 720 lines) at one time. Each frame in the video is refreshed on screen once, so doing the simple math, the HDTV is able to show 60 frames/second in this mode.
  • 720p is good for: Fast moving images like watching Monday Night Football, playing a fast paced video game or watching action movies
  • 720p is bad for: When viewing stills or scenes with little movement, the 720p will sacrifice some visual quality against watching the same thing at 1080i. The difference between the two is dependent on your particular HDTV - sometimes it is drastic and sometimes it is almost the same.
Summary: I recommend people try both and see what best suits you or perhaps even switch modes depending on what you're viewing - but definitely give 720p a chance, in this case you can't trust the numbers alone. Here's a great Link to a site with illustrations which explains how some consider 720p to be better than 1080i