[jpj]

Always confused me a bit.

[-GONZO-]

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

[emptybox]

To be described as "HD ready" a television must be able to accept a 720p and a 1080i signal and have an HDMI or DVI (HDCP) connector. It should also have at least a 1280 x 720 resolution.

A "Full HD" television must be able to also accept a 1080p signal and have at least a 1920 x 1080 resolution.

Obviously a "Full HD" telly can also be described as "HD Ready", as it also fulfills those minimum requirements.
In fact the latest trend seems to be to call Full HD tellys "HD Ready 1080", just to be confusing.

Some HD Ready tellys can accept a 1080p signal, but not be "Full HD", because they have a lower panel resolution.
But if "1080" appears anywhere in the heading of the advert (rather than buried in the specs), then you know the television is a Full HD one.

[jpj]

Thanks for replies which helped, what do you think of the new LED tv's i have recently seen ? They are only about 1" thick !!!

[emptybox]

Originally Posted by jpj

Thanks for replies which helped, what do you think of the new LED tv's i have recently seen ? They are only about 1" thick !!!

They seem very good.

The ones on sale now from Samsung, LG etc, are still actually LCD TVs, but have an LED backlight.
This allows them to be much slimmer than a normal LCD, and they have very vivid colours and good viewing angles.

True LED TVs, like the ones using OLED technology, are still a bit too expensive for the domestic market.

[frasera]

Originally Posted by jpj

Thanks for replies which helped, what do you think of the new LED tv's i have recently seen ? They are only about 1" thick !!!

led by itself means nothing. there are plenty of regular lcd/plasma that look superior. led is just a type of backlight. edge light leds allow for thinner panels but side lighting is not optimal, as you might guess its not even lighting. its advantages in laptops where power saving is a top consideration is not relevant to tvs. led array backlights are a different thing all together. especially if they support local dimming,but even thats not magic, it can lead to artifacts, and the density of the array depends on price. and even thats not so simple, the best led backlights are RGB leds, only that produces the widest range of color. and that comes at a heavy price. most advertised led is side lit, and style over substance.

[d'@ve]

Originally Posted by emptybox

To be described as "HD ready" a television... should also have at least a 1280 x 720 resolution.

I don't think that's right.

My Panasonic 42 incher (last year's range) is "HD Ready" and has a maximum display resolution of 1024 x 768. The picture is excellent from 576, 720p and 1080i sources and I have no quibbles with its description.

The 37 inch version (which I considered at the time) has a maximum display resolution (from memory) of 1024 x 720 and was also described and advertised as HD Ready.

[_ben]

Originally Posted by d'@ve

I don't think that's right.

My Panasonic 42 incher (last year's range) is "HD Ready" and has a maximum display resolution of 1024 x 768. The picture is excellent from 576, 720p and 1080i sources and I have no quibbles with its description.

The 37 inch version (which I considered at the time) has a maximum display resolution (from memory) of 1024 x 720 and was also described and advertised as HD Ready.

I think they set the minimum native resolution as 720 lines rather than 1280x720 pixels for this very reason.

[grahamlthompson]

Originally Posted by _ben

I think they set the minimum native resolution as 720 lines rather than 1280x720 pixels for this very reason.

That's correct the spec calls for a minimum of 720 lines and to able to display a 720p 1280 x 720 signal.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HD_ready

[d'@ve]

Originally Posted by grahamlthompson

That's correct the spec calls for a minimum of 720 lines and to able to display a 720p 1280 x 720 signal.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HD_ready

...and of course to be able to display a 1080i input signal.

[grahamlthompson]

Originally Posted by d'@ve

...and of course to be able to display a 1080i input signal.

That info and other stuff is in the link

[emptybox]

Originally Posted by _ben

I think they set the minimum native resolution as 720 lines rather than 1280x720 pixels for this very reason.

Thanks.
I wasn't certain about that bit of my explanation. That's why I put "must" for the first bit, and only "should" for that bit.
I forgot about weird Plasma resolutions.

[d'@ve]

Originally Posted by grahamlthompson

That info and other stuff is in the link

Your comments made it look like you needed a full HD TV not an HD ready TV to watch Sky HD and BBC HD etc. in HD. But you don't.

I thought it best to clear that up for anyone who doesn't know, and who reads threads, doesn't click on and read all the contents of links, or who doesn't trust Wikipedia.

[grahamlthompson]

Originally Posted by d'@ve

Your comments made it look like you needed a full HD TV not an HD ready TV to watch Sky HD and BBC HD etc. in HD. But you don't.

I thought it best to clear that up for anyone who doesn't know, and who reads threads, doesn't click on and read all the contents of links, or who doesn't trust Wikipedia.

Why ?. I was simply cofirming the previous poster who thought that the minimum display line count for HD ready was 720. I made no comment whatsoever about acceptable signal standards it had already been posted ie 1080i and 720p.

[martytoo]

With all this confusion it seems to me that new definitions are required. Something like the following.

HD Ready Ready - HDTV set capable of accepting external HD signals but not having internal HD source.

Full HD - HDTV set capable of accepting external HD signals and incorporating Internal HD source (e.g. FREESAT or the Forthcoming HD FREEVIEW with HD Decoder.

This would simplify things but I don't expect it will ever happen

[bobcar]

Originally Posted by martytoo

With all this confusion it seems to me that new definitions are required. Something like the following.

HD Ready Ready - HDTV set capable of accepting external HD signals but not having internal HD source.

Full HD - HDTV set capable of accepting external HD signals and incorporating Internal HD source (e.g. FREESAT or the Forthcoming HD FREEVIEW with HD Decoder.

This would simplify things but I don't expect it will ever happen

It wouldn't help at all because whether it has an internal HD source is meaningless when determining whether it's a full HD TV or not.

People also get too obsessed by resolution (presumably because it's easy to understand) when there are other more important factors determining how good a TV is especially when showing SD which is much harder than showing HD.

[technologist]

Originally Posted by martytoo

With all this confusion it seems to me that new definitions are required. Something like the following.

HD Ready Ready - HDTV set capable of accepting external HD signals but not having internal HD source.

Full HD - HDTV set capable of accepting external HD signals and incorporating Internal HD source (e.g. FREESAT or the Forthcoming HD FREEVIEW with HD Decoder.

This would simplify things but I don't expect it will ever happen

It has .... the HD xxxxxxx was invented by Ecita now DIGITALEUROPE who has the "TV" see http://www.digitaleurope.org/index.php?id=657

But it does not totally cover the UK situation where DTT will be DVB-T2 and HD.

[Nigel Goodwin]

Originally Posted by martytoo

With all this confusion it seems to me that new definitions are required. Something like the following.

HD Ready Ready - HDTV set capable of accepting external HD signals but not having internal HD source.

Full HD - HDTV set capable of accepting external HD signals and incorporating Internal HD source (e.g. FREESAT or the Forthcoming HD FREEVIEW with HD Decoder.

This would simplify things but I don't expect it will ever happen

No, it would greatly confuse things - HD Ready and Full HD are both already in use, so you can't redfine them to mean something else.