Is 1080p worth the money?

I'm thinking about buying a HDTV in the near future, and I have noticed that 1080p is much more expensive than 720p. I am wondering if 1080p is worth the money when buying a HDTV. Thanks for any help.

 

IMHO, no way. I have a 50" 1080i Panasonic plasma. I can't tell the difference between true 1080p material on a 1080p panel vs. true 1080i stuff on my display. I understand that there's a difference in how it works and that there are twice as many lines laid down in one pass, but I can't SEE the difference, so why pay for it?

That's just my opinion. The best thing to do is to go look at them yourself and see. But don't be swayed by the sales guy whispering in your ear "See the difference?" Some will claim they can see it, but I wonder about them... here's a good analogy... if you can't hear the difference between 192 kbps or 224 kbps MP3 and a CD, you're not likely to see the difference between 1080p and 1080i either.

 

Alright. Thanks for the advice. I think I'll go with a 720p.

 

for most people for 95% of viewing it isn't going to make any difference.

Final size, use and what content you are going to use (and pay for) is the issue.

The HDTV is a device. If you are getting $80 worth of cable per month, subscirbing to Blockbuster or Netflix, you will be spending $6000 on content over five years. This puts the price of the device through which you watch in perspective. You may wish to consider spending more in that case.

On the other hand there is the question of how many places you watch within your home. If you watch all your content from the living room it is one thing, but if you watch say 60% in your living room and 40% in your bedroom you would certainly be better off spending less money and getting 720's in each location.

 

I thought plasmas were fixed pixel progressive displays.

 

They are. Since Panasonic doesn't make a plasma over 720p I will assume they are confusing its input ability (480i/p, 720p, 1080i) with its display ability (native resolution; 1280x720).

Ced

 

I have looked at 720P and 1080i and I find the Progressive to be much smoother and crisper then the 1080i picture, 1080P on the other hand is not much better than 720 IMHO, not worth the money, I think I will wait till the next step comes out and unless you plan on buying into BluRay or HDDVD, regular DVD's and HDTV won't use 1080P it will just be upconverted with no higher resolution to be displayed, a waste of money.

 

Bingo.

 

1080P doesn't cost all that much more anymore. Fry's has the Sony KDS50A2000 LCoS which I think has one of the best PQ around on sale for 1800. So, maybe people just aren't shopping araound?

 

But the 720P capable Tv's are a little over $1000, so there is a huge savings to be had from not much of a difference in picture quality, especially on the smaller screens.

I could see more of a difference going into the bigger screens, 60" and up, as you would then need the extra pixels to give you the cleaner look at closer sitting positions.

 

hmm well i caught the superbowl yesterday @ 1080i via OtherTheAir,
as they say in the Guiness commercial(s)"BRILLIANT!"
sony 60in sxrd...60as2000

 

You're absolutely right... I was referring to its ability to accept 1080i input which then gets scaled to whatever the fixed native resolution is (something like 1368 by 1280 or something on my set).

 

baseballa check out the 1080i VS 720 thread to see some of my comments on 1080p. I have some great links to verify my research.

 

I'll check those out, thanks.