Panel Resolution On A 16:9 Plasma Display
Dear Gary: There is so much trash out there concerning plasma TVs and their ability to display a 1080 HDTV signal. Am I wrong to think that most plasma TVs may be able to receive 480p, 480i, 720p, 1080i via a digital tuner, but will down-convert the signal to the native resolution of the set? How can a set that has a panel resolution of 852 x 480 pixels display a 1080i signal? Please clear up this confusion for me and other consumers; i.e., to display 480p, a set must have a panel resolution of ____ x ____. To display 1080i, the set must have a panel resolution of ____ x ____. (I am referring to the 16:9 display sets.)
Nat Rudison,
Video Equipment Review Contributing Editor Gary Merson Comments:
For standard definition, it is very easy. A standard definition 4:3 (1.33:1) panel is 640 x 480 pixels. For widescreen 16:9 (1.78:1) ,it is 853 x 480 pixels. The formula is simply 480 x 1.333 for 4:3 and 480 x 1.777 (1.78) for 16:9. With HDTV,s the issue is a little murky. There are two formats for HDTV: 720p and 1080i. Both are widescreen formats and are rated at 1280 pixels x 720 progressive lines and 1920 pixels x 1080 interlaced lines, respectively. To natively display full 720p HDTV, the fixed display device must contain at least 1280 x 720 pixels (the pixels horizontally will make up a scan line). The Pioneer Plasma is 1280 x 768 (slightly unsquare pixels), so it will do 720p with full resolution and downconvert 1080i to its own 1280 x 768 matrix. For 1080i at full possible resolution you would need a fixed display device of 1920 x 1080 pixels. Currently, only some CRT projection and some CRT direct-view monitors can display this resolution, and no fixed display devices currently exist with this matrix. All fixed display devices (Plasma, DLP, LCD, DILA) “scale” the input resolution to the display devices native resolution. Some manufacturers and industry people feel that since 720p contains a little over 1,000,000 pixels, any display device that can display over 1,000,000 can be called high-definition.
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