I'm considering buying a used 55" Philips rear projection HDTV. The TV appears to be 1080i/480p. What does this mean for quality? I thought 480p was just like normal TV display mode and you needed 720p to take advantage of HD content. I'm planning on hooking up the TV via DVI to my computer and then watching 720p Blu-Ray rips (my own backups of course). Will it look awesome? Can anyone lend some advise on if I should buy this TV? Thanks a lot
I believe 720p is better than 1080i this is an older tv (better get a great price) or not worth it as new 1080p tvs are pretty cheap now adays bTW, you are welcome for the advice
There is no difference between a 720p tv or 1080i tv. All digital tv's are progressive meaning that the tv is 720p capable of displaying 1080i. You have three resolutions to choose from when buying a tv 480i (crt) 720p or 1080p. As 1bonehead said I hope you are getting this tv for very cheap. I just had my 2 yr old 720p rear projection replaced for a new 1080p flat panel for at the same price that I had bought the original tv. In my opinion the 720p was a decent improvement over standard def but couldn't compare to the 1080p with a tv size over 50 inches. Also my rear projection had a horrible contrast ratio which degraded the picture substantially. So I hope you are taking contrast into consideration with this purchase. How much is the tv?
No, normal TV is 480i. Panasonic had EDTV plasmas for a while that were only 480p. Here in Chicago NBC, ABC, PBS, WGN and FOX all transmit in 720p as does ESPN Sports over cable. Also note that many cable systems in an effort to squeeze more out of aging systems are further compressing HD programming. True original 1080p is very hard to find.
Hey, sorry for not responding. I didn't think anyone would respond. I ended up buy this TV with the stand for $275 total. I think I got a pretty sweet deal!: http://reviews.cnet.com/projection-tvs/sony-kp-46wt500/4505-6484_7-20688347.html It's hooked up to my PC via DVI. It's max resolution seems to be 1920x1080 whereas my PC monitor is 1920X1200. I always have to fiddle with it to get movies and/or games to look right.
I thought 1080i and 720p were kinda the same. This TV is billed as "HD ready." Am I missing out on something?
If you read my earlier post. From the link you furnished: Unfortunately, incoming 720p signals are converted to 480p rather than 1080i. Which for me with my antenna, would be the deal breaker.... no OTA HD. For cable folks it should be fine, assuming the box offers 1080i.
