Full HD LCD TV vs HD Ready LCD TV
Full HD lland HD Ready LCD TV are among many of the jargons you hear with the television sets. With so many varieties to choose from, buying an LCD today has become difficult. Manufacturers compound the misery of the consumer with technical jargon such as HD ready and full HD which makes it very confusing for the consumers. This article is intended to make clear the differences between the two and to help you in arriving at a decision.
The prices of different LCD TV’s vary much making you wonder the real difference. You get to see models that are HD ready and then there are models that are full HD. The real difference between the two is the number of pixels which decides the resolution of the screen. This explains the terms 1080p and 720p.
There is no doubt that with 1080p, you will get a better and sharper picture, but to actually get to see such picture quality, you need to get the right equipment. To be honest, there are not many consumers who are aware of the technicalities involved and have no idea of the supporting equipment. To tell you the truth, the difference between 720p and 1080p is barely noticeable to human eye and both look equally good to human eye.
To support HD TV with 1080p, what you need is the TV, correct leads, and the high definition source which could be HD satellite, HD cable box, Blu-ray, or HD DVD player.
HD ready TV’s use specifications of 720i and 720p, whereas full HD use specifications 1080i and 1080p. Both have high resolutions with 720 and 1080 horizontal rows of pixels when you compare them with analogue TV which has a resolution of just 480 pixels. You may think that 1080 is better than 720, but higher resolution is not necessarily better for a couple of reasons.
What do they mean by ‘I’ and ‘p’?
I and p in HD TV mean interlaced and progressive scanning. If the TV has a refresh rate of 100Hz, it means that the image will be refreshed 100 times per second. With progressive scanning, every row of pixels is refreshed 100 times per second, whereas in interlaced scanning, only alternate rows are refreshed ever second. This means the 1080p has a better picture quality than 1080i, and 720p has obviously better picture quality than 720i. But honestly, the difference between progressive and interlaced scanning are not noticeable on small screens and you feel the difference with screen sizes of 40” or more. This is precisely the reason why smaller TV’s are mostly HD ready rather than full HD.
Buying a full HD with 1080p does not mean you will always get video output in 1080p. It depends upon the program you are watching. If the input source is not HD, what you will see on your TV is 720p and not 1080p. It only means that your full HDTV is not being utilized to its true potential.
Last and most important of course is your budget. If you have a low budget, it is better to stick with HD ready rather than Full HD.