Thread: TV question: 720 vs 1080...does it *really* matter?

Plasma sucks from multiple friends experiences. I have a LCD and it rules. Samsung is amazing. They contacted me because they knew about a problem, came out and fixed it.....amazing consumer service.

yes, 720 is not as "good", but the real issue is that plasma.

Originally Posted by JeffreyJim

Yes, I know the "technical" difference between 720 and 1080 but in real world practice does it matter?

I'm looking at a 42" plasma that is cheap as fuck (450). Picture looks pretty good to me (in person) but it is a 720p TV (and I'm guessing the content at the store is only 720 thus the reason the 1080 TVs look no better??)...

Considering I'm not exactly in a place in my life where high quality TVs matter (or have the budget to worry about it) I'm wondering if I'm better off spending my budget (up to 550) on a smaller 1080 TV or just say fuck it and go with it.

Thoughts?

A few things to think about- first will this only be a TV (and not used for a monitor output from a computer etc.)? Also what is your TV video source- HD input from say a good cable TV provider or satellite TV network? Or will you be using just standard stuff like networks that today may only broadcast in mostly just digital TV and not full HD? What is the lifetime of your TV- do you keep one forever until it breaks (and hence someday wish you had spent some more on the 1080p now?) as some day most all will be HD broadcasting as the digital technology catches up.

Also as others state- how important are Blu-Ray and other higher end video sources for things like movies, same for streaming stuff through a computer or dvr device, now and in the future? If you are shopping at a place that does not even have 1080p running on anything then you have to see 2 TV's next to each other with the same content and one at 1080p and the other at 720p to compare yourself.

Originally Posted by gunit130

1) Plasma sucks, get LCD or LED
2) Go full 1080 or go home

QFT. Sony quit making plasma, like three years ago. running a Samsung 42" LCD 1080p. it's wicked nice!
and what Blunt said is money. a capacitor shit out on mine. they had a guy at my place the next day to replace it. pretty awesome really.

Plasma vs LCD vs LED- do some homework. Plasma is still out there- especially in larger screen sizes (50 plus inch). It has improved from early days- contrast can be better, faster moving image response, but can have some other issues like possible burn issues, higher power and electric bills, harder to see in really bright light roam settings etc.

But so has LCD improved too- faster refresh so better now for sports and action (games, etc.). So match up your needs.

Take a look and read a bit on your requirements and then make a decision:
http://www.ehow.com/how_5043694_choo...led-hdtvs.html

LED is new and more money, so probably out of your price point unless you go smaller screen. Dumpy has a good point about room size being important. Smaller room where you are sitting closer vs larger open room.

For brands look at reliability also, as out of warranty repairs are such that a few dollars more for a better brand can be worth it in the long run. I'd go with Panasonic, Samsung, maybe Hitachi (but have not seen as many of them as others), also if budget is an issue Vizio, LG and Sharp has a few units that are nice for the money. There are a few brands I would stay away from - Polariod and some others out there unless it was a small cheap disposable 2nd or 3rd TV unit in the house. As a tech I see many work orders out there for repair on a few brands, mostly still in warranty stuff.

OK video geeks. Got a new TV for the patio. 26" Samsung 720p.

It's the second TV on my secondary Dish box. I plugged in the coaxial and the picture is not good. Text appears blotchy on the edges and the images just don't have that crisp HD look. The old TV was a little 13" Visio and the picture was pretty good using that same cable.

I've read some stuff on line- some say I need to use HDMI cables out of my Dish box in order to get true HD. If this is true, why did the Dish guy originally set this up like this? Seems like he would of recommended I get some new cables. On some other forums, people said the coax is fine, I just have to 'tune' the TV.

This is a nice TV and I know this thing should be displaying a nice HD picture. Any ideas?

720 is not HD. Get an inline booster. Coax cannot carry above 400 lines of res. Signal is boosted at box, but if distance is long then cable is degraded after 50 feet.

13 will look good due to lines of res vs screen size. 26" is a real cheap solution and odd size. Be sure to adjust aspect ration settings, it will help

Not bagggin, really, tryin to help

Check to see if it is something as simple as hitting the HD zoom button on your remote (if you have one), or checking that the screen size is optimized.

Hmmm. The TV says it's a 720p HDTV. Everything I read says stuff like this: :The difference between 720p and 1080i is minimal but the TV industry is using 720p more than 1080i. So, buying a 720p HDTV is recommended over a 1080i HDTV.

As far as 1080p, there is no doubt that 1080p is the best resolution on the market. However, there is little to no difference in picture quality between a 1080p and 720p at the 32" and below screen size."

It's on my patio. 32" was just too big for the spot. The 26" with very thin frame fits nice. The coax runs maybe 30 feet.

Did you read the last two posts?

I'll look at that CL. Messed with it for an hour or two last night, couldn't find the zoom. But I was getting frustrated. It was electronic shitshow yesterday. Long story, but a big fuck you to Samsung tech support!

Yes. Yes I did.

You should call your cable provider and ask if you have it hooked up correctly for HD. I bet you don't (my guess is you need to be using a hdmi or component cable, not coax)

Originally Posted by Shredhead

Yes, you can get a larger plasma for the money right now. But they use more electricity than a LED. I just put in a 55" Samsung in my basement because it's dark and won't get used that much.

I purchased online and saved hundred's, plus no sales tax.

Shredhead, how's that 55" Samsung treating you. I bought a 55" 3D LED from Samsung and the Black scenes suck. As in really bad. The dark colors and scenes kind of pixelate. Other than that the TV has been good.

The Samsung Blu ray player is a piece of shit though. It will not play half the Blu ray titles out there due to Piracy software issues which Samsung cannot seem to correct.

My advice is that if you do not need a super thin tv, think of going with the thicker traditional LCD tv. The thin LED LCD tvs are cool, but not really worth the extra money. This is based on my Samsung experiences only

Seriously, as everyone else has said, 42 inches and below it doesn't matter and larger it does.

Don't listen to the plasma haters. Old tech vs. new tech has nothing to do with it. I have a 42" Pioneer Elite Plasma in 42 inch and it's amazing. I was actually depressed the day Pioneer announced they were pulling out of the plasma market. Black levels are on par with CRT, which is still IMHO the best picture. And burn-in is not a huge problem on most of the newer plasmas. LCD has come a long way, but it just doesn't have the black levels that a good properly set up plasma has. Panasonic still makes some quality plasma displays. As for 720p vs. 1080p, it depends on how far you're sitting from the TV. If you're pretty far back it won't make any difference.

Also, which version of the Apple TV are you using? Could be wrong, but I think the new one does 1080p but the previous version only outputs 720p. If you're only outputing 720p, unless the TV you get has a better scaler than the Apple TV the 1080p won't make much difference.

Originally Posted by GiBo

OK video geeks. Got a new TV for the patio. 26" Samsung 720p.

It's the second TV on my secondary Dish box. I plugged in the coaxial and the picture is not good. Text appears blotchy on the edges and the images just don't have that crisp HD look. The old TV was a little 13" Visio and the picture was pretty good using that same cable.

I've read some stuff on line- some say I need to use HDMI cables out of my Dish box in order to get true HD. If this is true, why did the Dish guy originally set this up like this? Seems like he would of recommended I get some new cables. On some other forums, people said the coax is fine, I just have to 'tune' the TV.

This is a nice TV and I know this thing should be displaying a nice HD picture. Any ideas?

Step 1: take tv closer to dish box. Plug in short HDMI cable. Did it solve the problem? Yes: Your coax sucks and the TV is fine. Run new cables. No: You got a busted ass TV. Return for exchange and repeat step 1.

Step 2: http://www.monoprice.com/products/pr...seq=1&format=2
Don't listen to the bullshit about cable quality and don't bother with the booster (better bang for your buck with HDMI), either the 1's and 0's get there or they don't.

edit: and as far as why the dish guy set it up this way: 1. Coax is cheap, HDMI isn't typically included in their install, and 2. it was a 13" TV. HD doesn't really come through on something that small.

If you were to look at 2 tv's seperately with the same contrast ect settings you are probably not going to tell which one is 1080. Alot of people think some thing is better because some one, or some marketing department told them so, or they only buy the best and spent more money so 1080 is better. And this:

because dvd & sd will be super grainy on a screen that size

is bullshit.

Without getting into the whole 1080p vs 720p / Plasma vs LCD debate to far, 1080p, while being the ideal HD resolution format has been largely marketing hype. Cable and broadcast HD is either 1080i or 720p which ends up being scaled to what ever resolution your set is or is set to scale it to. On a 50 inch or smaller screen at comfortable viewing distance, 8 -12ft, assuming it is a good quality monitor, you can not tell the difference between 720p or 1080p even with blue ray source material. A bad 1080p set can look worse than a good 720p set or vice versa depending on the scaler and the settings. I have a last generation Pionneer Elite 1080p Plasma and I have yet to see a set that matches even its 3 year old technology in terms of picture quality. That is not because it is a 1080p set. Pionneer stuck with 720p until the year before and still won 1st place in consumer tests against all other comers, plasma, LCD of LED. I watch a lot of Apple TV, 720p and Blue Ray 1080p and can see a slight edge in the Blue Ray Picture quality, but not because it is being played on a 1080p set, because of the source resolution and compression. My friend has the older 720p model and from a comfortable viewing distance it is in distinguishable from my 1080p set. Picture quality is more a factor of the monitor's ability to process picture information via a combination of software and hardware than it is advertised resolution. 1080p was largely marketing hype to sell more TV's. The manufacturers made everyone who had a 720p or 1080i sets trade up or those who were first time buyer pay more for a "better picture." The same is being attempted with 3D. Now that everyone has a 2D HDTV, they want us all to upgrade to 3D, just as we all had standard def DVD's then had to go to Blue Ray to match our 1080p monitors.

Regarding Plasma vs LCD or LED, it is like anything else, there are good ones and bad ones. Plasma used to have a fair lead in terms of contrast and refresh rates and subfield drives and as a result could render fast action sports and dramatic material better. It wasn't long ago that if you looked around any decent sports bar, all the TV's were Plasmas, for the above reason and that the off angle viewing was far superior. Plasmas can alter their refresh rates and give a true 24 frame playback via 48, 72 or 96 hz as multiples of 24 giving a 2:2, 3:3 or 4:4 pulldown and then have a 400mhz or now 600mhz subfield drive to smooth out action. LCD's have to go to 120hz or 240hz to do the same and cheat the pull down, but as they have no subfield drives and the refresh rate is so high, the 24fps look of the original capture is lost and replaced with an awful video look which simulates 30fps 60i that sitcoms and the evening new is shot at. This works fine for sports action where plasmas had traditionally been better with their sup field drives as sports is usually shot at 30fps anyway, but for dramatic 24fps material, the 120 240hz LCD's don't do justice to the source material. I'm not knocking LCD's as there are some very good ones out there, and when left at 60hz with a 3:2 pull down for drama, and set for 120 or 240hz for sports or standard video frame rate material some look very good. They tend to be brighter than many Plasmas and don't suffer from the reflection issues the glass plasma screens often have had, but a good plasma with a good anti reflective coating still gives a better picture in my opinion, but the gap truly has narrowed.

I am a professional cinematographer and on set we have $10,000 plus LCD monitors to display what the HD cameras shoot at 24fps proving that the LCD quality potential is there. I have friends with good LED's and LCD's that have picture quality close to my plasma. I see the little flaws, but they don't so what does it matter if you can't see the difference? It all depends on what you are watching, how particular you are and how much you want to spend. These days a poor plasma looks just as awful as a poor LCD or just as good depending on the quality and features of the monitor.

Originally Posted by DJSapp

Step 1: take tv closer to dish box. Plug in short HDMI cable. Did it solve the problem? Yes: Your coax sucks and the TV is fine. Run new cables. No: You got a busted ass TV. Return for exchange and repeat step 1.

Step 2: http://www.monoprice.com/products/pr...seq=1&format=2
Don't listen to the bullshit about cable quality and don't bother with the booster (better bang for your buck with HDMI), either the 1's and 0's get there or they don't.

edit: and as far as why the dish guy set it up this way: 1. Coax is cheap, HDMI isn't typically included in their install, and 2. it was a 13" TV. HD doesn't really come through on something that small.

Thanks DJ. These are the steps I kind of figured out on my own. Been busy but will try the HDMI tonight and see what happens...

Dismounted the new TV from the wall. Took it into the garage where the box is and plugged in the HDMI. Same picture. Called Dish. Turns out the second TV from a Dish box is NOT HD! WTF!? So since the garage TV is an old crappy TV, I need to move the box to the patio and make the new TV the primary device. I'll be damned...

I just purchased a Samsung 1080 LED TV yesterday. After reading a bunch of articles about it, I had actually set out to purchase a plasma before walking into the store. The main factor that influenced my change of heart while in the store was the lighting feature that has been discussed. The LED is significantly brighter and lighter. The nicer plasmas looked to have just as sharp or good as a picture, but were much darker. My living room is consistently filled with CA sunshine so it was a bigger considerations. The 720s did seem to have a noticably lower quality picture - but maybe that's also a function of those models just being older? Who knows.

Originally Posted by Driver

but maybe that's also a function of those models just being older? Who knows.

Yeah, that or the store screwing with the display settings to make the more expensive TVs look better. But I'm sure they would never do such a thing.

Ok, just to repeat for future info for people looking at this thread: THE SECOND TV ON A DISH NETWORK HD BOX IS NOT BROADCAST IN HD.

This is stated all over the web and was answered after my dumbass finally called Dish. Now you all know.

Got the new TV switched over to be TV #1 on that box last night and the picture is amazing. Don't know if I'll ever leave the patio again!

Originally Posted by zombinate

I'd say if you are super into movies, and are planning to hit it with a blu-ray player more often than not, then the 1080p does make a difference. However, if we are talking TV (in any form), dvd playback, or gaming, then the 720p will treat you better than most. IMHO blu-ray is the only format that actually has a visible difference everything else being equal

This is the correct answer. The reason it's the correct answer is because blu-ray is the only thing that actually outputs 1080p at the moment. The new AppleTVs do, but I'm not aware of any cable or satellite that goes higher than 1080i/720. Some PS3 games probably output 1080p, but that just makes poor texturing more obvious.

The person who mentioned size is also correct. 42 is right on the border.

Necessary? not at all. Noticeably different? With the right source, yes.

As for the lighting... Yeah Plasmas are darker when using cinema quality settings, but that's the appeal. The Panasonic ones have insane black levels. If you want to watch midday sports you can just flip the setting over to gaming mode for that super pumped up obnoxious brightness level.