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What is the best HDTV format?

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HDTV is a high definition television which makes objects look much clearer than they are on traditional televisions. Picture quality is so high that even minute objects can be easily spotted on the screen. The viewing experience in HDTV is incredible when compared to that of a normal television. You can feel the realism as if the characters on the screen are really acting in front of you. Even 3D (3 dimensional) HDTVs have entered the market to make the viewing experience even more realistic. You need to wear 3D glasses to view the picture in 3D. Viewing picture in 3D strains the eye, so it is not preferred generally. HDTVs are available in various formats in the market such as 1080p, 1080i, 720p, 720i etc.

The most popular HDTV formats are:

  • 1080p
  • 1080i
  • 720p

You might have wondered what these numbers actually mean, they are simple to understand. First lets see what these alphabets represent. “p” stands for progressive scan and “i” stands for interlaced video.

In 1080p HDTV, pixels are laid down just like writing on a paper, where one sentence flows into the next and the next and so on, until the screen is filled with all the pixels. This is generally called Full HD in the market. Some times 1080p is followed by numbers like 1080p30. 30 followed by “p” represents 30 progressive frames per second. The bigger the number after “p” the better the quality of the picture. 1080p60 is the latest format of HDTV available in the market. It has a screen resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels, i.e 1920 lines wide by 1080 lines from top to bottom of the screen. This makes a total 20,73,600 pixels on the screen. The more the number of pixels the more the clarity of the picture. Viewing experience is incredible due to the huge number of pixels on the screen.

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In 1080i HDTV, pixels are laid on the screen in alternating sequence starting from the top. As it reaches the bottom of the page, the odd numbered frames are filled, then it comes back and fills in the even numbered frames starting again from the top. It does this at a speed of 30 frames per second. The higher the number of frames per second the better the quality of the picture. 1080i HDTV also has a screen resolution of 1920 × 1080 pixels which makes the viewing experience amazing.

720p has a resolution of 1280 × 720 pixels, which means less number of pixels compared to the 1080p version of HDTV. So the clarity of picture is lower compared to that of 1080p HDTV. 720p HDTV also provides a good picture quality, but the clarity of the picture is not that great when compared to that of a 1080p HDTV. They are a bit cheaper when compared to the 1080 format HDTVs.

Now you have to choose between 1080p and 1080i HDTVs. The fields in 1080i are composed of 540 rows of pixels or starting from the top to the bottom of the screen, with the odd fields displayed first and the even fields displayed after that. Both fields create a full frame which is made up of 1080 pixel rows, every 30th of a second. In 1080p, each frame of the video is sent progressively. This means that both the odd and even fields are displayed together making a full frame. This results in a smoother picture which has less motion artifacts and jagged edges. So going for 1080p would be a better option even though both have 1920 x 1080 pixels resolution. HDTVs are of various kinds, like LED HDTV 1080p, LCD HDTV 1080p, Plasma HDTV 1080p, LCD HDTV 1080i,Plasma HDTV 720p etc.

LED HDTV 1080p is the best format available in the market as it has higher performance when compared to a LCD or a Plasma HDTV. LED HDTVs are ruling the market right now. LCD and Plasma HDTVs also provide a great viewing experience, you may opt for them if you cannot afford a LED HDTV. There will be minute differences when it comes to picture quality among LED, LCD and Plasma HDTVs. So you have a huge choice when it comes to choosing a good HDTV as various brands are available in the market in various price ranges.

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