Looking at TVs, some say 1080p, which I thought was the best, but then others say 1080p Full HD.....and cost more than their 1080p equivalent. Whats the real difference??

1080p is full hd, as its the biggest hd resolution. basically there are 3 types of hd:
720p
1080i
1080p

What it might be is that some HD tvs can take a 1080p input, but their resolution is only 720p, so it scales the image down.

Oh right, I see. So the TVs that say 1080p might not pump out 1080p. But the ones that say 1080p Full HD do pump out 1080p?

Yes, while youre looking at them make sure you get a screen that does 1:1 pixel mapping so that images that arnt in a native resolution dont end up looking stretched and distorted.

There is also the 1440p standard, but it may be a while before we see that in action.

lol, thats gonna make things more complicated adding another one!

Just on this web site for example, it says most the tvs are 1080p, but only some have the Full HD 1080 little gold image thingy!! So does that mean the ones without the gold labels arent proper 1080p?

http://www.cheapelectricals.co.uk/acatalog/Sony_46_LCD_sony_46_lcd_sony_46_lcd.html

I think what they are trying to say is that "Full HD" = 1080p. This is because some consumers know that 720p HD, although by its own definition is HD, its not HD enough!

I know my 32" LCD is HD, but only 720p, so its not "Full" HD.

Although what they fail to tell you is that when the 1080p market is saturated, 1440p will probably start filtering out.

Your probably confused, a TV can say 1080, like mine but it only goes up to 1080i, not 1080p

Quote from: CheuleI think what they are trying to say is that "Full HD" = 1080p. This is because some consumers know that 720p HD, although by its own definition is HD, its not HD enough!

I know my 32" LCD is HD, but only 720p, so its not "Full" HD.

Although what they fail to tell you is that when the 1080p market is saturated, 1440p will probably start filtering out.

Your correct as well

1080p is full hd for big stickers to make it clear becuase tvs have stickers saying "hd" on them and only 720 and sneaky a lot actually do not list what they are and only say hd on the display stats etc and you got to ask a store oddbod what it actually is and you got to take their word for it. Seen a few people be caught out on tv sites with stories of people getting hd etc and why 1080p has full hd on them all the time

Ok since I disagree with everyone elses post above me take this with a pinch of salt as its possible Im wrong and everyone else in heres right.  But... afaik...

A tv is either 1080p capable or not.  Putting 1080p Full Hd doesnt make it any different to a 1080p HD tv.

Full HD is just a marketing ploy with no meaning.  Im not sure where the guys in this thread have got the full HD sticker meaining its better at handling the signal or can cope with more inputs etc from...  A tv saying full HD should include all the 1080p stuff but if the tv next to it says 1080p as well then theyre both 1080p.  Clockd and Nexus seem very up on the consumer HD stuff so since theyre both saying something different to me Im thinking I may be incorrect but I really think it was simply a marketing stunt.  It certainly doesnt mean anything at the manufacturing/system end.

The tricks theyre talking about with the scaling hacks exist in several full 1080 systems as well from what I know.



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Slightly off topic but may be useful:

Unfortuntely the 1080p badge on tvs only means the resolution of the screen and is no guide for anything else (or in fact that the tv can actually show real 1080p). A lot of "full 1080HD" tvs simply cant process 1080i/p signals and can only display them.  They have the resolution, but little else.  Youd hope the full HD means they dont use hacks to show the 1080 but some do.

Example: Some 1080 tvs reuse the same processing chips as their 720p solutions.  In many 720p solutions the processors just throw away half the vertical resolution of a 1080i signal leaving a 540p stream.  They then process this much smaller picture and do a quick scale back up to 720p.  The tv can be sold as 720p as it is indeed showing 720 vertical pixels, just not 720 different pixels since some will be repeated/blended in the scaling.

Put the same chip in a 1080 tv and youre basically taking a 1080 signal, making it 540 and then displaying it back as 1080 again through scaling.  As long as it has 1080 vertical pixels it can be sold as 1080HD tv/full HD/ super mega HD 1080/whatever.  Theyre not lieing.  Theyre just not showing you something that has 1080 throughout the whole signal.


Full HD would be a great label for tvs not doing this but afaik this isnt how its being used.  Its meaningless fluff to make you buy that tv over another one.  And unfortunately customers are influenced by things like the word full...

In this day and age you cant include a processing chip with more than a couple of milliseconds delay in it.  You could make a tvs picture much much better by spending more time on the processing and simply showing the picture a few moments after the signal arrives in the tv.  It doesnt affect the cutsomer seeing the image 0.2 seconds later tbh (can be turned off for games where you cant have delays) and the picture quality would go up.  You know why its not done?

Because when you put two tvs side by side in a shop showing a satellite feed.  If one tv shows the picture after the other one, the customer will often buy the tv that shows the picture first because its "faster".  The worlds gone mad tbh.

So this is just for marketing?

Steves right. Theres plenty of Full-HD screens on the market which have the resolution but little else. You just have to look at the likes of the Sharp XD1E range to know that.

End of the day you get what you pay for - weve all seen super cheap 1080p screens but theyre virtually all plagued with problems. Hell even supposedly half decent screens like the Sony W2000 series have ghosting issues.


Pioneers 428XD and 508XD are excellent when viewing SD or HD, cost an arm and a leg and dont even have 1080p panels - their native resolution is 1024x768.

Resolution isnt everything, its how the screen uses the pixels.

Is the Sony KDL46V3000  ok?

This is usually a good place to start, theyll have threads discussing virtually every screen you can think of :

http://www.avforums.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=155

Do you have a size/budget in mind?

Well its for a friend really. Hes been messed about by currys. He was getting £300 off any Philips, but they arent getting the TV in for aaaaaaaaages, and hes just pissed off.

So this afternoon he was looking at Sony LCDs which he could order online and have this week! and just came across the KDL46V3000. He was going for Sony now to match is home cinema hes just got as well. Hed found the Sony KDL46V3000  for around £1350 with 5 years warrenty.