A question that confuses many when going out to buy an HDTV, be it LCD or Plasma, and is not accounted for by others who don’t know about it, like me at the time. So what the hell is 1080p and 1080i? Well, the 1080 is a display resolution (1,920×1080 pixels) in both. OK, so what’s with the p and i then? the p stands for progressive-scan, while the i stands for interlaced or non-progressive scan.

So, for now it should be clear that in terms of resolution, both types are of same image quality, i.e. they have the same resolution. And in most cases, when watching movies, you will not be able to tell the difference. But if you are a gamer, you may see some difference then. Why is that? Well, this is where the p and i come to picture. The thread over here gives good links and explains it in most easiest way for all to swallow. Basically, the progressive-scan p refreshes the whole screen once every 1/60 seconds, while the i refreshes the whole screen once every 2/60 seconds (half refreshed once every 1/60 seconds).

Since movies and TV shows are mostly shot at 24 frames per second only, the i and p usually will not make notable difference. For video games however, and this is where it hurts me, the frame rate could be 60/second, and thus the non-progressive scan will be 1/60 second behind, half screen updated only. This is what I didn’t know when I bought my Sony LCD, which I will review separately as promised, but this is like a preliminary post. Having played some games with the 1080i option, such as Assassin’s Creed, I did not really notice anything. But it’s just the bad feeling that the game could be played better elsewhere.

Some argue that the interlaced is a fallback, and a 720p screen is better than 1080i because of the frames per second refresh rate. Technically his argument is valid, but practically, I tried PS3 on 720p and 1080i, my friend told me the same, we both didn’t feel big difference.

Hope that was helpful, and for more information and sources used for this post, please visit the below links:

1080p Brief (Wikipedia)

1080i Brief (Wikipedia)

Progressive Vs Interlaced

720p Vs 1080i (Forum discussion on the topic)

1080i Vs 1080p (Cnet- You should not care so much)

1080i Vs 1080p (Home Theater Mag - Technical explanation)

1080i Vs 1080p (About.com - Similarities and Differences)

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