1080p, But No 1080p
This article’s title may be confusing, so let us put forward a bit of clarification. 1080p, in television and display parlance, is the shorthand name of a set of video modes or resolutions that are usually marketed as “full” or “true” high definition. 1080 stands for the lines of vertical resolution (think of the “768″ in your usualy XGA monitor’s 1024×768), while “p” means “progressive mode,” or that the video displayed is non-interlaced.
1080p displays usually folllow a form factor of 16:9, (width x height), meaning this is a wide-screen type display. Resolutions are commonly at 1920×1080.
A while back, it was reported that Hitachi was releasing a 1080p-capable 32-inch television set that would retail for only US$ 2,200. This came as quite an exciting news to expectant consumers and TV enthusiasts, because true 1080p displays came at a steep price, usually upwards of US$ 3,000. However, the concept of an affordable 1080p-capable set might be too far away into the future after all, as Hitachi clarified their product’s processor could handle 1080p (and also 1080i–or “interlaced”), but the screen itself could only display at a lower resolution, hence the processor still has to down-sample into that native screen resolution.
Bill Whalen, senior product manager at Hitachi, [said] that while the chip can create and convert the highest resolution, the TV itself cannot. In fact, the chip may take a 1080i (interlaced) or 1080p source, convert it to 1080p (in case of 1080i sources) - and then render it back down to a resolution the TV actually supports. In the case of the four new Hitachi LCD TVs, which will be introduced later this year for prices between $2200 and $3000, that would be 768p (1366×768 progressive).
And we thought 1080p was just within our reach. Ah, too bad.
No Comments »
No comments yet.
RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI
Leave a comment
|