On Thu, 08 Feb 2007 13:41:59 +0000, Resident Drunk wrote:

Also whats 'Full HD' as compared to 'HD Ready'? If your TV is HD ready
and for example you connect a £400 HD DVD to it (or your Sky box),
press play do you get an the full HD experience?
I'm relatively new to this so please bear with me - the more I look
into it the more complicated (and expensive it gets).

HD Ready = able to display a HD feed but may downscale it (i.e. show
less pixels than available).

In order to be awarded the label “HD ready” a display device has to cover the
following requirements:

Display, display engine
The minimum native resolution of the display (e.g. LCD, PDP) or display engine
(e.g. DLP) is 720 physical lines in wide aspect ratio.
Video Interfaces
The display device accepts HD input via:
Analog YPbPr. “HD ready” displays support analog YPbPr as a HD input format to
allow full compatibility with today's HD video sources in the market. Support of
the YPbPr signal should be through common industry standard connectors directly
on the HD ready display or through an adaptor easily accessible to the consumer;
and:
DVI or HDMI
HD capable inputs accept the following HD video formats:
1280x720 @ 50 and 60Hz progressive scan (“720p”), and
1920x1080 @ 50 and 60Hz interlaced (“1080i”)
The DVI or HDMI input supports copy protection (HDCP)

Full HD = A display with a minimum of 720 horizontal lines (or even
better 1080 lines) which can display a HD feed without downscaling.

No. Full HD is 1920x1080p



From what you've said it sounds like there'll be lots of Comet
salesmen telling discruntled customers
'Ah MR. Gullible, what you actually bought from us last week was HD
Ready TV but in order to get the crisp picture you see here in our
showroom you should have bought the Full HD Model, that'll be another
£2000 please. The HD Ready just means you get a sticker saying HD
Ready'

I would imagine that 90% of the people who bought the sets believing
that will plug a HD source in and convince themselves that they are
getting full HD. Not all HD ready sets are only 480p, some are 720.

See above all HD Ready sets are capable of a minimum of 720p below that they
cannot be described as HD Ready.

There are actually some broadcasts is the US that are 720p but the vast
majority of transmissions including those from Sky & the BBC in the UK are
1080i.

--
Nigel Barker
Live from the sunny Cote d'Azur