Considering all the new hype about HD DVD and higher resolution 1080p displays from virtually all TV manufacturers, it’s a good time to get a clear understanding about what HDTV resolutions are available and what they mean to you as a consumer.

When we look at recent history, the first high definition signal we received was DVD 480i. So what does that mean? It is 480 lines of resolution entwined. The next advancement in DVD was the introduction of 480p or 480 lines of progressive resolution, and this made a big impact on viewing quality. This resolution matched up with digital video displays i.e. plasma, LCD flat panels and new rear projection formats such as DLP, and LCD. All of these process video signals progressively showing every line of information. The main difference is that with 480i, the display is showing every other line of information, while with 480p every line of information is shown thus effectively doubling resolution and enhancing viewing quality, again.

A plasma TV, LCD or other display is now named an EDTV (enhanced definition TV) if it displays a standard 480 progressive lines of resolution or usually a total resolution of 853 X480. EDTVs will down convert an HD signal and show it in the displays native pixel resolution. While not a high enough resolution to display HDTV (high definition TV) programming in its intended 1080i or 720p resolution, the terminology “EDTV” was invented to distinguish the older 480p resolution TVs from their higher resolution and higher priced “HDTV” counterparts. TVs are therefore not really HDTV or EDTV – those terms are merely used for convenience sake to distinguish between TVs that have a static, non-changeable standard resolution of lower or higher resolution.

Recently, the next big advancement was high definition programming and displays. HDTV has been a heaven-sent for the media and ideal for consumer demand. It also replaced analog TV. Some HDTV broadcasts are 1080 interlaced lines of resolution or 1080i, and some are 720 progressive lines of resolution or 720p. To determine which is better is a long debate and basically a matter of opinion and depends somewhat on what type of TV you have and your HD reception.

Display resolutions vary greatly depending upon the size of the display. To truly show all of the 1080i or 720p information, a HDTV must have at least 1280 X 720 lines of resolution. 1366 x 768 is the more common true high definition resolution. Most 50” plasma TVs and most all sizes of LCD flat panel TVs have this resolution. Most HDTV 42 plasma TVs only contains 1024 X768 lines of resolution. They therefore have to convert to 1080i HD signals to display the signal but this does not affect quality too much.

While there have been video displays, especially LCDs that would display a higher resolution than 1080i or 720p, thus far there was only basically gaming to take advantage of the resolution.

The next, and still the most current, development in HDTV resolutions is the introduction of HD DVD players - Blu-Ray by Sony and High Definition DVD by Toshiba. Both of these DVD players displays a new HDTV resolution of 1920 X 1080 lines or 1080p. A blue-violet laser, which will read DVDs with much larger storage capacity, is use. The world of video gaming also enjoys the benefits of the super high-resolution displays that take advantage of the increased resolution. Already there are many DLP, and LCD TVs available with 1920 X 1080 resolution from several manufacturers, such as Samsung, Sharp and Toshiba. Pioneer is due to launch their first plasma television with 1080p resolution soon.

Understandably this new technology comes at a price, since it costs manufacturers a fair amount more to produce plasma or LCD panels with higher resolution. The actual plasma display element or LCD display element are without question the most costly component in these displays. By adding pixels (or resolution) increases the time it takes to produce a panel – thereby increasing costs. Due to the difference in the two technologies, plasma televisions are more expensive to produce as the pixel counts are higher than LCDs or DLPs.

Is there much to gain from a 1080p display? This will partially depend on a person’s viewing habits. In case that HDTV programming from cable, broadcast, or satellite is more important, then a 1080p display may not be worth the extra cost. If HD DVDs and/or HD video gaming are the most important piece of an individual’s viewing pleasure, it might be time to pay up.

Can a HDTV plasma TV accommodate HD DVDs or HD video gaming? Yes, they can but they will down-convert from the 1080p signal to 720p to show it. The choice is yours.