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TV images are composed of dots of light called pixels. Resolution is the number of pixels a TV screen can display horizontally and vertically. The highest resolution any consumer television can display today is 1920 x 1080 — that’s an array of about 2 million pixels in a grid 1920 across by 1080 down. |
 | Interlaced vs. Progressive Video
When you shop for HDTVs, you’ll notice i’s and p’s at the end of the resolution numbers. These stand for either “interlaced” or “progressive” video format.
Progressive video presents one complete frame, or picture, to your eye at a time. Interlaced video builds each frame from two fields that are presented in sequence — first the even, then the odd pixel rows.
Which Is Better? Progressive video is better. With the entire screen updating for each frame, moving images are sharper and more fluid. This is why sports broadcasters have adopted progressive video format as standard.
So, why would anyone want to settle for interlaced if progressive is better? Because interlacing cuts the amount of data traveling over the connection at any given time in half. That helps make it more economical to transmit programming and to build electronics that can manipulate and display the picture. |
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 | | 1080p, 720p, 1080i, Oh My!
Though it may seem complicated at first, it’s really not so bad. Your content sources will utilize five common video standards.
| Known as ... | Actual Resolution (in pixels) | Is It HDTV? | Typical Content Sources |  | | 480i | 640 x 480 or less,
interlaced video format
| No | Standard-definition broadcasting | | 480p | 640 x 480 and 720 x 480,
progressive video format
| No | DVDs | | 720p | 1280 x 720,
progressive video format
| Yes | HD broadcast television | | 1080i | 1920 x 1080,
interlaced video format
| Yes | HD broadcast television | | 1080p | 1920 x 1080,
progressive video format
| Yes | Blu-ray Disc, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 | | | | |
The good news is that all modern HDTVs can accept the input of all five of these video formats. Depending on the native resolution of your HDTV and the quality of the content source, your HDTV will downscale or upscale to create the best possible picture. That simply means it will throw out extra information when the incoming signal is of greater resolution than the screen can display, and upscale — or interpolate additional pixels — if the signal is of lesser resolution.
Lookin’ Good, HDTV
Don’t worry. And don’t make this harder than it really is. It’s true that HDTVs at 1080p resolution are designed to provide the absolute best picture available today because they do not have to downscale a thing.
Keep in mind, however, that to take full advantage of all those pixels, you need a content source that has the capacity to deliver 2 million pixels per second. Only Blu-ray Disc, HD-DVD, and some game consoles can do so today.
If you want your home theater to offer the best video experience possible, and if you want to future-proof your HDTV purchase as much as possible, you’ll want to get one with a native resolution of 1080p.
But if you decide to save a few bucks and go with an HDTV at less than 1080p, no worries. Compared with standard-definition TVs, all HD content looks fantastic on HDTVs —regardless of their resolution. Get the best you can afford, get some good high-definition content sources, and have a blast in your home theater.
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