Thursday, August 15, 2013

Full HD vs HD Ready - HDTV Buying Guide

High Definition TeleVision (HDTV) is a digital television broadcasting system with higher resolution and better sound system than standard television systems (NTSC, SECAM, PAL). The most obvious difference is HDTV uses a widescreen aspect ratio of 16:9 as compared to standard TV which uses a aspect ratio of 4:3.

To enjoy HDTV programs, you need to get a HD Ready or Full HD TV set as well as a DTV-T setup box.


How to Choose your Ideal HDTV
Full HD vs HD Ready, 1080p vs 720p

HD signals
720i - 1280x720 interlaced
720p - 1280x720 progressive scan
1080i - 1920×1080 interlaced
1080p - 1920×1080 progressive scan

HDTV types
HD Ready - HDTV set capable of accepting HD signals (may not be able to display at full resolution 1920x1080)
Full HD - HDTV set capable of accepting HD signals and able to display full resolution at 1920x1080
720p HDTV - another name for HD Ready HDTV
1080p HDTV - another name for Full HD HDTV

Most of the HDTVs today are able to support 720i/720p/1080i/1080p signals. So the single most important spec that we should be looking for when choosing a HDTV is the screen resolution (pixel resolution).

For HD Ready HDTVs which have screen resolution less than 1920x1080, they are less than ideal. This is because if you feed a 1080i/1080p signal to a HD Ready HDTV, this HDTV will scale down the signal resolution to fit its smaller screen resolution. That is to say, you will lose resolution if you use a HD Ready HDTV to display a 1080i/1080p signal.

For Full HD HDTVs, they have screen resolution of 1920x1080, thus, when a 1080i or 1080p signal is feed to it, it is able to display the picture in its full glory at 1920x1080 with no resolution loss.

So it is not difficult to conclude that if money is not a problem, always go for Full HD 1080p HDTVs with 1920x1080 resolution instead of HD Ready 720p HDTVs which has lesser resolution.


How to Choose a Good HDTV at a Budget 
HD Ready vs Full HD, size does matters 

For the same screen size, Full HD HDTVs cost much more than HD Ready HDTVs. If you are on a budget, buying a HD Ready set instead of a Full HD set will save you quite a substantial amount of money.

As a general guideline, if you are getting a HDTV set which is less than 42 inch, you won't be able to notice the resolution difference between a HD Ready set vs a Full HD set. Thus, you will be able to get almost the same visual enjoyment at a lower budget if you buy a HD Ready HDTV (720p) instead.


For screen size 42 inch or greater, going for a Full HD (1080p) will be a better choice as at such big screen size, the pixel difference will be more visible.

Popular HDTV Brands


Samsung HDTV Advert with Chelsea Players 



LG HDTV Commercial


Sony Bravia HDTV Commercial

Too many HDTV choices? Can't decide which brand of HDTV to buy? Well, according to this commercial, you should get Sony HDTV if you like to watch sports.


Panasonic HDTV Commercial


Sharp Aquos HDTV Commercial



Philips HDTV Commercial


Toshiba REGZA Commerical


Pioneer Kuro Commercial