High Definition TelevisionsHigh Definition (HD) refers to the resolution that a television is able to display. The image on your television is made up of many small dots, called pixels. Standard Definition, which is the TV that you watched growing up, comes in at a resolution of 480 pixels from top to bottom and 640 pixels from left to right. High definition, as the name suggests, increases the number of pixels that form the image.The terms used to describe high definition refer specifically to the number of lines on pixels that can be displayed from top to bottom. The different formats of high definition TV signal are known as 720p, 1080i and 1080p. The first refers to content with 720 lines from top to bottom and the latter two to content that has 1080 lines from top to bottom. The "p" and "i" refer to progressive scan and interlaced scan respectively, see our article on 1080p for a more in-depth discussion of the difference between progressive and interlaced. The High Definition standard also defines the aspect ratio of the content. In order to be considered high definition the content must have an aspect ratio of at least 16:9, which is generally referred to as widescreen content. As such any High Definition content will be widescreen. The High Definition standard also supports even wider aspect ratios, but none that are more narrow. TV shows filmed in the 4:3 aspect used in standard definition TV can either be stretched to fit the screen, or presented with two black bars on the side to fill out the screen. Currently both content and displays max out at 1080p, however more High Definition standards with even higher resolutions are being worked on. The next expected resolution of high definition will be 2160p, which has a resolution of 2160 lines from top to bottom and 3840 lines from left to right in standard 16:9 aspect ratio. The Japanese have also been experimenting with a format called Super Hi-Vision, which has a resolution of 7680 by 4320 pixels. This next iteration of HD is not expected to be commercially available for some years yet. Another commonly used phrase with HDTVs is Full HD. Although this phrase does not have a formal definition, it usually refers to a display that has enough pixels to represent every pixel of a 1080p signal. The majority of medium and high-end LCD and Plasma HDTVs on the market at the moment are Full HD models, but some rear projection and low-end models claim to be 1080p, but do not have enough pixels to represent every pixel in the signal. There are also still some lower-end models that support a maximum resolution of 720p, although these can generally downsample higher resolution content to fit on the screen. |
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Home > Reviews > High Definition
The Sony XBR-52HX909 is Sony's top-of-the-line 3D HDTV and it shows. The TV had incredible picture quality overall, and while it's 3D experience wasn't perfect, it was definitely better than other Sony TVs we've seen and compared very favorably to other manufacturers' high-end 3D models. Lastly, as with all Sony HDTVs, you'll also get an incredible line-up of online content providers.
The Samsung LN46C650 is a basic internet-capable LCD HDTV with some decent picture quality. If you're just looking for a solid TV with an ethernet port and not a lot of superfluous extras, the LN46C650 is a good pick at $1300. 
The LG 47LX6500 ($2699 MSRP) has a lot of intriguing features, most notably the 3D display. It's LG's first attempt at a 3D TV (along with the LX9500 series), and we're sorry to say that it's a poor result. Sure, it's a very good 2D performer, but who wants to pay the "early adopter tax" if the 3D effect is a headache-inducing mess? 
