Are HD titles in 1080P or 1080i?

[Taveanator]

I'm talking about the VuDu titles obviously, I know that HD DVD & BlueRay are both 1080P. And I was under the impression that to be called an 'HD Movie' the movie needed to be in 1080P not i. I believe that I am mistaken though?

[Nded]

Re: Are HD titles in 1080P or 1080i?

This can get rather complicated if you aren't careful.

1 - There is no HD Police Force out there enforcing the cutoff line between SD and HD. If your friendly Best Buy Blueshirt or Circuit City Redshirt tells you that a clearance 480p monitor is HD, then it is HD. Many, many, many, HD sets have been sold that are 720p (and will be sold on Black Friday), and yes Virginia, they are HD TV's. Just to complicate matters, many computer monitors are capable of resolutions beyond the HD ceiling/limitation of 1080.

2 - Lots of consumers are not connecting their HD monitors to HDMI sources, so even if they are capable of running at the 1080 levels, they never are used in that mode. It still looks good to them.

3 - Your Vudu currently supports 480i, 480p, 720p, 1080i and 1080p(at 24fps). Support for other modes may be a simple matter of programming in the future.

4 - If you sat a 1080i monitor next to a 1080p monitor and watched the same movie side-by-side, most viewers cannot see the difference. Go to one of the TV stores and ask them to show you the difference.

[RonV]

Re: Are HD titles in 1080P or 1080i?

If you sat a 1080i monitor next to a 1080p monitor and watched the same movie side-by-side, most viewers cannot see the difference. Go to one of the TV stores and ask them to show you the difference.

I tried that trick at ABT Electronics here in August. They are one of the premier electronic vendors in the Chicago area. They had two Sony's next to each other playing HD content from Blu-Ray players. I switch one player to 1080i and the other to 1080p. Both TV's were 40" and LCD.

One was XBR and the other wasn't. They had the color temps turned up all the way so everything was really over saturated. I turned off image enhancements and couldn't see any difference. I set both panels to as close as possible on the color and sharpness and still could not see the difference.

I asked a sales person to explain why there was no difference in a display comparing 1080p vs. 1080i. He had no clue and called one of his co-workers. This bozo stated that 1080i was being phased out for 1080p and that all sets that are HD are to support that standard. I then asked why are they selling up-converting DVD players that only do 1080i if 1080i was being phased out. He then stated that regular DVD players are also being phased out for High Def and Blu-Ray.

Another sales person came over and offered a more plausible answer to my question. He stated that if you have a 60" or higher display the progressive display would be shaper that the interlaced display.

Oh well I am still waiting for real answers....I can say if I couldn't get them from ABT I really doubt that BB or CC could answer them either.

[MaxH]

Re: Are HD titles in 1080P or 1080i?

I'm talking about the VuDu titles obviously, I know that HD DVD & BlueRay are both 1080P. And I was under the impression that to be called an 'HD Movie' the movie needed to be in 1080P not i. I believe that I am mistaken though?

I think you're thinking of the standards for movies released on those disc formats, even though I don't think even that's official. I found this on engadget (bold is mine):

DVDActive has posted the fronts and backs of several soon-to-be-released (or not so soon) Blu-ray and HD-DVD titles so you know what color boxes to look for when they hit stores. The most interesting development is that despite rumors to the contrary, all the HD-DVD movies posted state they are formatted in 1080p.

Even though most of us don't have 1080p TVs yet and the initial HD-DVD players will max out at 1080i, those concerned about "future proofing" their next generation DVD collection may still have an option in HD-DVD.

[cmunguia]

Re: Are HD titles in 1080P or 1080i?

Oh well I am still waiting for real answers....I can say if I couldn't get them from ABT I really doubt that BB or CC could answer them either.

I have a 72" Toshiba DLP that supports 1080P and i

I have compared both and I have to say that 1080p looks slightly better thatn 1080i but not enough for me to say I'm only buying 1080p.

they both look great and my wife and kids cannot tell the difference.

[bqmeister]

Re: Are HD titles in 1080P or 1080i?

My display is 119".

It's a 720P display that can be fed up to 1080i sources.
I sure don't feel like I'm missing anything by only going 720P.

In fact, I feel like I've gained something. Like several thousand dollars in savings.

[Taveanator]

Re: Are HD titles in 1080P or 1080i?

I tried that trick at ABT Electronics here in August. They are one of the premier electronic vendors in the Chicago area. They had two Sony's next to each other playing HD content from Blu-Ray players. I switch one player to 1080i and the other to 1080p. Both TV's were 40" and LCD.

That's the kicker - if you switch only the player to 1080i a good Sony should upscale that signal to 1080P, which means you wouldn't detect a noticeable difference (keep in mind - the only noticeable difference between p and i is that p does action/fast movement better) since you are going from 1080P, down-converting to 1080i, then up-converting to 1080P again.

Which begs the question: what's the point of the VuDu having 1080P if there's no 1080P content? I just assumed that that setting was going to be for HD movies but it appears I'm incorrect since VuDu's HD content is 1080i.

I'm by no means an expert but that's what I think is going on.

It never ceases to amaze me how complicated SD vs. HD vs. HD DVD/Blue Ray can become.

-T

[RonV]

Re: Are HD titles in 1080P or 1080i?

That's the kicker - if you switch only the player to 1080i a good Sony should upscale that signal to 1080P, which means you wouldn't detect a noticeable difference (keep in mind - the only noticeable difference between p and i is that p does action/fast movement better) since you are going from 1080P, down-converting to 1080i, then up-converting to 1080P again.

Yes but why couldn't the sales folks at ABT articulate the difference? Most folks on this board fully understands what 720, 1080, progressive and interlace means why can't the sales people explain this in terms that average person can understand.

When my father-in-law got his Sony Panel he was still using the RCA composite's to hook up his DVD instead of component. There is definitely a education gap out there. I really can't wait to see what happens when the good ol' analog signals get turned off and folks need an external tuner or a new panel with OTA HD...

HD is defiantly a fun ride so far...

[AndrewAZ]

Re: Are HD titles in 1080P or 1080i?

I was told between 1080i and 1080p the only way you could tell was during a high action part of a movie or a flowing river.. I notice on larger TV sets you can indeed tell a 1080i from a p set in the instance of a flowing river.. you will notice the i set has some digital pixilation and distortion and the p set does not suffer from this.. Other than that its near impossible to tell.

So 2 easy ways is to play either flowing river up close or a flock of birds taking flight.

[cmunguia]

Re: Are HD titles in 1080P or 1080i?

My display is 119".

It's a 720P display that can be fed up to 1080i sources.
I sure don't feel like I'm missing anything by only going 720P.

In fact, I feel like I've gained something. Like several thousand dollars in savings.

now this I have to disagree with, from 720p to 1080p on a 119" screen there should be a big difference. when I watch tv I can tell right away when a channel is only @ 720 vs 1080.

there is no way you can say that 720 is ok, because even if your feeding 1080i your max display is 720.

[NA9D]

Re: Are HD titles in 1080P or 1080i?

Vudu content is available in 1080p at 24 frames per second. So yes, I believe that everything is in 1080p.

Now, to go back to Nded's statement on HDTVs - a 480p set CANNOT be called HD. 480p is ED-TV. HD sets by definition are 16:9 format and are a minimum of 720p. There is also a 540p standard that is also ED-TV.

[bqmeister]

Re: Are HD titles in 1080P or 1080i?

now this I have to disagree with, from 720p to 1080p on a 119" screen there should be a big difference. when I watch tv I can tell right away when a channel is only @ 720 vs 1080.

there is no way you can say that 720 is ok, because even if your feeding 1080i your max display is 720.

I can say 720 is OK because my pic is gorgeous through my projector at only 720P on a 119" screen.

I don't have 1080p to compare it to, but I'm not left wanting when I turn my projector on.

[NA9D]

Re: Are HD titles in 1080P or 1080i?

I can say 720 is OK because my pic is gorgeous through my projector at only 720P on a 119" screen.

I don't have 1080p to compare it to, but I'm not left wanting when I turn my projector on.

For once I have to agree with bqmeister!

If you don't have anything to compare pictures with, 720p looks great. You really can't tell much difference. Maybe at 119" inches, but is it worth the cost to find out.

My first experience with 1080p was the water flowing over the rocks thing on 50 inch plasmas. Yeah, it looked better but not double the price better (at least at that time). You had to look really, really close to see the improvement. It's not something you'd notice sitting 10 to 15 feet away on the couch...

[cmunguia]

Re: Are HD titles in 1080P or 1080i?

For once I have to agree with bqmeister!

If you don't have anything to compare pictures with, 720p looks great. You really can't tell much difference. Maybe at 119" inches, but is it worth the cost to find out.

My first experience with 1080p was the water flowing over the rocks thing on 50 inch plasmas. Yeah, it looked better but not double the price better (at least at that time). You had to look really, really close to see the improvement. It's not something you'd notice sitting 10 to 15 feet away on the couch...

well like I said 720 is fine but trust me, on a 72" 1080 is much better.
O.K., I 'll leave it at that.

[NA9D]

Re: Are HD titles in 1080P or 1080i?

well like I said 720 is fine but trust me, on a 72" 1080 is much better.
O.K., I 'll leave it at that.

I'm sure you're right. But ignorance is bliss!

I just bought my 720p set a year ago and right now, I'd rather stay ignorant!