Toshiba blu-ray player!  Nice fact checking!

You’re hired. The previous paragraph had been edited out where it noted Toshiba as an HD DVD player.

thanks for the catch.
Cindy Davis

I think the guy is trying to convince himself that 1080P is the way to go.  Since no broadcast company has any plans of broadcasting a P signal anytime in the near future, and the only way you will see any difference in a 720 and a 1080p is if the screen is over 42”.  There is a write up in this months Sound & Vision about this subject, and they say the same thing.

Broadcast of 1080p is irrelevant. For 1080i /60 content, which is de-interlaced for display, and 1080p/24 content on HD DVD and BD, a 1080p display is a better fit - literally. And those who say you can’t see any difference either need glasses or are just parroting what they hear elsewhere.

I have installed a lot of 1080P LCD and Plasma screens.  You really have to hunt for content.  The Blue Ray is probably the best test as long as you are conected via HDMI Ver 1.3 to the screen or AV Router, but it is sure pretty.
I know it is a marketing deal, but I advise my clients to buy the latest and 1080P is it as is LCD’s at 120hz and 4MS refresh rates.

All you have to do is look at any wording in s sceane or just onscreen to see the diff

You’re info comes from industry execs, hardly an unbiased source.

More importantly, technically there isn’t any such thing as 1080i on a fixed pixel display as fixed pixel displays are inherently progresive.

Unlike tube TV’s, fixed pixel TV’s like Plasma, LCD and DLP are progressive in nature. If you feed it a 1080i signal it converts the interlaced signal to progressive, and shows you 1080p. So with the exception of certain plasma sets by Hitachi and Fujitsu that use ALiS technology, all 1080i capable sets are really outputing a 1080p picture.

So, if you are spending the extra money on a “true 1080p” set the only benefit you will recieve is that your set will not have to upconvert for Blu-Ray or HD-DVD as they are the ONLY 1080p sources. Is that worth the extra $500 or $600 when:

a. Through the miracale of upconversion and fixed pixel technology you already are seeing 1080p on 1080i capable sets.

b. Blu-Ray and HD-DVD are probably destined to become the Betamax of the new millenium. 1080p50 and 1080p60 will be the “next big thing” and current 1080p devices will not be compatible

c. who is clmckenney and why are they pimping your site on all the boston.com message boards?

I’m the executive web editor for Electronic House. I prefer the term promotion. I also appreciate your passion for the industry.

and I appreciate your quick wit and honesty.

One aspect of the 1080p that I feel was not covered is a lot on manufactures, offer up-converting A/V units that will take a analog signal and up-convert it to the 1080p, taking advantage of the full-HD TV display you just purchased, When you run your broadcast signal through these amplifiers it too and be converted to this new spec.

This was a good article. One thing that is certain is these issues will continue to be issues. No one wants to find out that they have chosen and committed themselves to the next betamax! I think there are a lot of people still waiting for the bandwagon to jump onto.

Concise and informative article. I am impressed how you were able to condense so much information. I talk about these issues on a daily basis as I am a sales specialist (home theater) at Circuit City and to be honest I wish every customer that walked into the store would read your article first. Only a couple of issues were left out that i hope you could have elaborated more on, such as the difference in technologies of DLP, plasmas and LCD. Also you could have incorporated the prototype Sony OLED that currently was displayed in Las Vegas, and how the contrast ratio is greater than a 1000000 to 1 (not a misprint). This organic light emitting diode technology is supposed to be a giant leap in terms of technology as it surpasses the picture in detail on anything in the market today not to mention it is only 3 ml thick. Amazing isn’t, wonderful article by the way looking forward towards your next.

This new technolgy from sony sounds like what i read in an article in nov..06. The article was saying a new technology would be released in the retail stores this nov..07 They were advising not to buy a new HDTV untill about nov..07 if you wanted a rock bottom deal. This technolgy went way futher than tv’s. They predicted huge sales on tv’s for christmas 06 and would get bigger sales as the year went along as the stroes are empting thier enventory. I believe we have been seeing this as i have been seeing email offers 75% off of 6’7'8 months ago. They claimed at that time in 06 thier was already 1000’s of tv’s in warehouses waiting for the reduction of inventory and thier would be a big press release in Nov.07 revealing this technolgy and at the same time already shipped the product for it to be put out on the stores shelves. They predicted you should beable in Nov 07 a very good 1080p lcd for $1000 50” tv’s. I believe we will be seeing this shortly. For an example geeks.com sent me an email for a 750gb 16mb 7200rpm hard drive for 149.99.. Just how long ago was this same hard drive 400+.. Not long.. I look forward to the furture of Home Theaters.. Take Care… Miles

I intend buying samsung 1080p lcd.  is it worth now cause the set will be with me for the next five years or so.  by this time hdtv signals will be common.  what should i do.  any comments