1080p May Not Be What It Seems

1080p May Not Be What It Seems: "Many of us are confused about 1080p, the highest resolution in the ATSC spec book for high-definition TV. TG Daily talked with Bill Whalen, Senior Product Manager at Hitachi, who explains that while lots of TVs can take in 1080p, by the time that video is displayed it's down-rezzed to either 720p or 768p. Whelan says 1080p LCD panels are still too expensive to produce and might be more practical in 2007 or 2008. He adds that it's important to consider how you'll be using such resolution:'If you watch TV in a distance that is less than three times the screen height of your TV, then 1080p is worth the wait. If the distance is greater than three times the screen height, then today's [720p/768p] HDTVs, such as 42' units, offer an incredible value.'Whalen wisely concludes that you should depend on your eyes when buying an HDTV set, not a bunch of numbers that often don't mean exactly what they seem."