Quote:
Originally Posted by alan1476  Thanks UTR: I already read that but here is the point that stumps me. After reading this it almost seems as if 1080p would be over kill at this time. |
Massive overkill, and something of a scam being perpetrated on consumers. It's a way of using numbers to make people think they are getting "more" and paying more. In fact, a 720p image with high bitrates can look far better than most of the 1080p material that's available. It's the bitrate, in other words, that determines whether you perceive a sharp image or not. There's certainly more than a few examples of 1080 material out there that looks worse than 480 with a high bitrate. Anyone who watches HD on satellite or cable has seen abundant examples of that. And let's not even get into the various codecs, and how one with a low bitrate can look better than another with a high bitrate.
And last but not least is the question of viewer preferences. Some folks will choose 720p over 1080i in blind tests for picture "quality". The same is true of 1080i vs 1080p, although here the vast majority of people will see no difference.