Is 1080p Worth $500?

[RWebb]

Looking at 50" plasma HDTV sets and it costs about $500 for 1080p...

thoughts?

[legion]

IMO, yes.

[126coupe]

Wow, prices dropping like a rock.

[Vipergrün]

You mean 500 bucks more than 1080i, correct? Depends on your video source....

[RWebb]

yes a $500 increment -- Panasonic 720p plasmas can be had for $900 locally (Best Buy).

Circuit City is more but claims they will price match for 60 days and will deliver and stick it on a table for another $60.

1080p plasmas start at $1,400...

Sources now are DTV broadcast in HD, and the cheapest digital cable in non-HD. Plus a very cheap DVD player ($35).

I expect to buy a BluRay player in the future - when prices drop to ~~$150 or so.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Television isn't worth that much IMHO. I dropped my TV service a few months ago and haven't missed it a bit.

[Nathans_Dad]

It all depends on what your viewing parameters are. When I bought my flat screen LCD for my family room, I looked at the different sets from my expected viewing distance. Since I only wanted a 42 inch screen, I just looked at those. What you will notice is that if you are looking at a set less than 50 inches and plan to view at the usual distance of 8-10 feet, you won't notice a difference between 720 and 1080, much less 1080i to 1080p. The guys at the store will set you down in front of a 65 inch screen and have you be 5 feet from it and say "Wow, can't you see the difference?" Well, yes you can at that distance. I'm not aware of too many people who sit 4 feet from their 65 inch screen though.

Now my media room has a 118 inch screen and a projection system. I went with the 1080p there because you can absolutely tell the difference with the big picture.

P.S. Take a look at LCDs, plasmas can have issues with burn in. I know, the plasma makers say with the new sets there is much less risk, but just wait till you see that ghost image of your local CBS logo on your screen and it's there for life.

[Gogar]

YES it's worth $500 once your TV gets bigger than about 42"Everything Nathan's Dad said is right on the money.

In addition, all all the HD channels are starting to change from 720 to 1080, and BluRay is 1080, if you care about stuff like that.

I got a 720 Panasonic Plasma, cause the price was right. Maybe when the 1080s come down I'll get one, and put the Panny somewhere else.

Try www.cnet.com, I found it a great resource when I was trying to decide.

[sjf911]

Yes. There is a very noticable difference with digital media that is 1080p. You won't notice it as much with anything that is upscanned from a lower resolution.

[ikarcuaso]

Originally Posted by RWebb

1080p plasmas start at $1,400...

FWIW, you can get a 46" LCD w/1080p for ~$1,000

[Z-man]

Better yet - a 46" 1080p LCD with a 120Hz refresh rate for around $1700. (Samsung)

-Z

[dipso]

If I remember correctly, It's been a few years.
i is integrated, imagine a grid with flashes of picture screen on them. Static but fast and clear.
p is progressive, imagine the same grid but rolling and refreshing upwards. The p screen refreshes faster and provides a clearer picture.

All this happens in a nano second.
If you have earthling eyes, you probably won't notice the difference.
If you are from Jupiter, buy the p.

I have a 1080 p.

[bonkers]

The 'i' is for interleaved, a holdover from CRTs where some birght spark figured out you could get away with refreshing alternating (horizontal) scan lines - 1,3,5,7,.. on one pass, 2,4,6,8,... on the next.

Worked okay so long as the refresh rate was high enough, otherwise you got a flickering image. Not really sure how the concept applies to LCD / plasma but the manufacturers are still bandying it about.

[TerryH]

i = interlaced

[Porsche_monkey]

Is it $500 once? Or $500 once plus $30 per month to upgrade your cable/satellite service to 1080p?

[legion]

Originally Posted by bonkers

The 'i' is for interleaved, a holdover from CRTs where some birght spark figured out you could get away with refreshing alternating (horizontal) scan lines - 1,3,5,7,.. on one pass, 2,4,6,8,... on the next.

Worked okay so long as the refresh rate was high enough, otherwise you got a flickering image. Not really sure how the concept applies to LCD / plasma but the manufacturers are still bandying it about.

Ever notice in older TV shows and movies when they show a computer screen in the background and you can see the lines moving up or down the screen? It's the same kind of strobing effect when car wheels appear to spin backwards or helicopter blades appear not to be moving. A progressive-scan display would not have the same kind of effect.

(IIRC, old console video game displays had 30 hertz interlaced displays. They compensated for the low refresh rate by bombarding the screens with much more energy than was standard for televisions.)

[RWebb]

46" won't do it (see explanation above)

it is $500 once - no sat. and I drop the cable feed every summer (when I should be outside instead of couch potatoing...)

BTW - I have an old GF I'd like to upconvert. She may still be too heavily interlaced however.

Thanks for all your help.

[ikarcuaso]

Originally Posted by Porsche_monkey

Is it $500 once? Or $500 once plus $30 per month to upgrade your cable/satellite service to 1080p?

Just curious, what provider charges this? My provider charges $10/month for HD programming in general and offers select on demand content in 1080p, but there's no additional 1080p "upgrade" charge. You just need a capable receiver/DVR, which they gave me for free.

[jwasbury]

Last time I checked broadcast, sattelite and cable HD was only 1080i. The only 1080p sources were blue ray players and certain video game systems. That was about 2 years ago. Has this changed?

[rick-l]

Originally Posted by bonkers

The 'i' is for interleaved, a holdover from CRTs where some birght spark figured out you could get away with refreshing alternating (horizontal) scan lines - 1,3,5,7,.. on one pass, 2,4,6,8,... on the next.

Worked okay so long as the refresh rate was high enough, otherwise you got a flickering image. Not really sure how the concept applies to LCD / plasma but the manufacturers are still bandying it about.

Interlaced

In the original TV they ony had the bandwidth to transmit a complete image in 1/30th of a second. Unfortunately your eye could see light (electron beam hitting the phosphors) flashing on and off at 30 Hz.

What they did was transmit 1/2 the image (every other line) every 1/60th of a second and weaved them together so each small pair of lines would flash at 60 Hz, not noticeable flicker.