Hd Tv Questions

[Army_of_One]

When buying a flat screen LCD/HDTV is it worth it to spend the extra $$ on a 1080I or 1080P as opposed to getting a 720P?

I'm looking at getting a 42 inch for the living room and a 32 inch for the bedroom. Will it make THAT much of a difference. My dvd players are not blue ray.

[Bandit]

For the 32", I think 720p is good enough. But for the 42", I'd spring for the full hd 1080p. The reason why is that even if you don't have a blu ray now, in the life of that tv you probably will. And who knows, sometime in the life of that tv maybe cable and satellite will start broadcasting in full hd. It is hard to tell what the future holds. It is still very difficult to find a 32" other than 720p. The full hd is kind of working its way down.

What brands are you looking at? I have a 32" 720p Samsung and am extremely happy with it. In my opinion from reading reviews and seeing them in person, the best LCD's are Samsung and Sony, but a person has to pay for those. There are quite a few other nice ones out there, though. Best Buy here in Wichita has a wall with about a hundred of them all lined up, it makes comparisons pretty easy. Ultimate Electronics is a nice place to comparison shop also. Even if you don't buy one there, it is nice to be able to compare them all right there in person. There are some deals right now too, as they are getting rid of some of last year's models and coming out with some new stuff.

[Army_of_One]

Originally Posted by Bandit

For the 32", I think 720p is good enough. But for the 42", I'd spring for the full hd 1080p. The reason why is that even if you don't have a blu ray now, in the life of that tv you probably will. And who knows, sometime in the life of that tv maybe cable and satellite will start broadcasting in full hd. It is hard to tell what the future holds. It is still very difficult to find a 32" other than 720p. The full hd is kind of working its way down.

What brands are you looking at? I have a 32" 720p Samsung and am extremely happy with it. In my opinion from reading reviews and seeing them in person, the best LCD's are Samsung and Sony, but a person has to pay for those. There are quite a few other nice ones out there, though. Best Buy here in Wichita has a wall with about a hundred of them all lined up, it makes comparisons pretty easy. Ultimate Electronics is a nice place to comparison shop also. Even if you don't buy one there, it is nice to be able to compare them all right there in person. There are some deals right now too, as they are getting rid of some of last year's models and coming out with some new stuff.

THis is what I am looking at for the 32 inch...


Olevia 32" LCD HDTV - 532H : Target

ConsumerReports.org - LCD TVs - Olevia 532H

[Army_of_One]

THis is what I am looking at for the 42 inch. It's actually 1080i.

Olevia 42" 1080i LCD HDTV - 542I : Target

[whoknows]

What's the difference between the 1080i and 1080p? Is one more expensive than the other and is it worth the difference?

[Army_of_One]

Home Theater: 1080i v. 1080p

[ksgrainman]

I would go with whichever is compatible with VHS, and can be downgraded to Beta. Also if networking with a home theater you might really take time to consider something that will in time work with 8 track.

hope this helps you without loading you down with too much to think about.

[Army_of_One]

Originally Posted by ksgrainman

I would go with whichever is compatible with VHS, and can be downgraded to Beta. Also if networking with a home theater you might really take time to consider something that will in time work with 8 track.

hope this helps you without loading you down with too much to think about.

8 Track...lol, you are really dating yourself big guy.

[aft_lizard01]

At 42" the difference at ten feet from the screen is negligible between 1080p or 720p, including 1080i.

[DC Mike]

Aft_Lizard is right. The difference between 1080 and 720, other than viewing closely, is negligible. In addition, the majority of HD programming is produced at 720p, even though the cable and satellite companies talk about 1080i. As I recall, ABC, FOX, ESPN are 720 while CBS and NBC are 1080i (notice 1080i, not 1080p). All networks scale the source to their spec. The article Army referenced had a couple of errors, the most glaring is that Blu-Ray and HDDVD are 1080/24p. In fact they can be any supported resolution from 480i to 1080P at 24, 30 or even 60 fps. My advice is to consider the video source. If primarily TV, 720p is fine. No one is currently broadcasting a 1080p signal anyway. If you're getting a Blu-Ray player and you really want the best, 1080P may be the way to go. More programming will be produced at 1080p, but right now there's not much available. If you save the money by going 720p, you can spend what you save on a PS3 for Blu-Ray playback, great upscaling DVD player, internet device, and a game platform to boot.