720p v 1080i - HELP ME PLEASE!!!

[admin_exported]

What are the pros and cons. I dont plan to use Blue Ray, dont have Sky, but am thinking of Panasonic P37X10 (720p) or L37X10 (1080i) teamed with Humax Freesat/Freeview+ plus

I just want a damned good picture without spending more than I need to on unnecessarily high-spec products, but I do want to be reasonably 'future-proof'

But I am going round in circles..... so any practical advice would be welcome

 

[D.J.KRIME]

Can't find any referance on Panasonics website regarding the L37X10(LCD) you have mentioned but from what you have said both models apear to be HD Ready and not Full HD models (P37X10 is definatly HD Ready with a pixel count of 1024x768)

Basically if you are only watching SD source the whole 720p/1080i/1080p is somewhat redundant as your TV will scale the incoming signal to fit the native resolution of the panel, so with the P37X10 you will allways be watching a 768p picture matching the vertical resolution of the screen. So inturn if you were to feed the TV a HD signal of 720p/1080i/1080p the TV scales this incoming information up or down to match the screens 1024x768 pixel count.

Generally SD content does look better on a HD Ready set over a Full HD (1080p) as there is far less need for upscaling which can start to cause picture problems such as excessive picture noise and digital artifacts, these also can become more apparant the larger the screen size.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks so much for your help. In fact I meant the L37S10 (not X10) which is a 1080 lcd.

But from what you say I would probably be better off with the plasma P37X10 - which is a good thing as John Lewis have that at a very good price with their 5 year guarantee.

 

[D.J.KRIME]

patsyH:

Thanks so much for your help. In fact I meant the L37S10 (not X10) which is a 1080 lcd.

But from what you say I would probably be better off with the plasma P37X10 - which is a good thing as John Lewis have that at a very good price with their 5 year guarantee.

Right so both models will accept a 1080p source if ever you go Blu-Ray in the future but the L37S10 will be able to display it at its native resolution giving more picture definition as where the P37X10 will have to downscale the image loosing some picture detail.

Personally I prefer Plasma to LCD as I find the picture far more natural as where I often think LCDs look over-procesed and almost compter like. I strongly recomend going and compareing both sets with your own eyes and picking the set you prefer. Try if possible to do this off the shop floor as the brightly lit retail aera is not ideal for really seeing how good a TV is.