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We are at the Georgia Home Theater in Atlanta and if you are in the market for a new high definition or HDTV, it's easy to get overwhelmed by the letters and the numbers in the sales picture, so we are gonna arm you with some knowledge to impress those sales people. And joining us now to help us with that is Brian Cooley, editor-at-large with CNET.
So Brian, if people are shopping for an HD or high definition TV, resolution becomes a big issue (yeah). What does that mean, exactly?
It's a whole new spec you probably never had to deal with before, because the last time you bought a TV, if it's a regular CRT television, there was no discussion of resolution, now with modern TVs, we get into it. Here's what it means. Let's say a set is called a seven-twenty-P resolution TV (OK), that means 720 lines from top to bottom of picture detail, compared that to a DVD, which is only 480, so you can see why HD looks better (well, almost twice as good),almost twice(OK).
Now the, the P at the end of that, means progressive, that means every one of those lines is repainted if you will, many times a second. The other version of that is I or interlaced. You'll see that sometime at the end of a number, and that means every other line is repainted every time the picture is flashed on the screen which is how TV works. P is better than I. It tends to look smoother, you'll see fewer jaggy edges and a less blurring or smearing of fast action on a progressive signal going into a progressive set, permitting us to match.
Interlaced is a little less desirable but still looks fabulous. And the bottom line is you're gonna see the most sets are called 720 P sets, but that doesn't mean they can only show that, they can also show 1080 I signals which are also fairly common (so 1080 being 1080 lines vs 720 or so) right, more lines, (ok) but the 720 set can show it, it does some math internally that makes it all fit and look great. So don't feel like there is any incompatibility. The main line of sets are 720s, and they can show all the pictures, but the ideal set for the future, if you're a connoisseur, would be a 1080 P, the most resolution and the best scan, and that's if you really wanna spend some big money, those are pretty rare.
Right, the money goes up for the better resolution (a lot) and the P. Yes.
All right, well, thanks for defining high definition, Brain Cooley with CNET. We appreciate it
Happy to do it.
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