If 720p TV's could display 1080p quality what would be the point of even differentiating the two? :) (sorry if I misunderstood what you said
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Why differentiate the 2???? It's because the manufacturers were able to come out with new products and people bought into the hype and decided to upgrade their existing sets. And people walked into a store and wanted to ensure that they would be more "future proof", so they spent the extra and got the 1080p for good measure.
What it boils down to is the source itself. Meaning that obviously a 1080p bluray disc itself contains more data and thus presents a far superior picture over a DVD. If you take this outstanding picture quality source (blu ray disk) and play it back on a 1080p display that is properly calibrated or a 720p display which is properly calibrated, the human eye doesn't really have the ability to discern the difference between the two from any reasonable viewing difference. Thus, they end up looking the same.
Now, the opposite isn't true with lower source materials. A standard DVD for example is 480 lines of resolution...so when played back on a 720p display it has to upconvert a fair amount and when upconverting to 1080p it has to upconvert quite a bit. Therefore, if you watch lower quality source material more often, there is an actual advantage to having 720p over 1080p...because there are simply fewer lines to have to upconvert into and generally speaking the results are better.
So, I classify the 1080p "True HD" or "Full-HD" malarky as a bunch of bologna when it comes down to the television display itself. It's the quality of the components within the television that make the most difference and not simply that resolution. For this reason, I choose and still would choose a higher end 720p display over a lower end 1080p display because I am getting more quality for the same amount of money, rather than a higher specification which doesn't amount to something that the human eye can perceive.
So, I hope that's clear. It's the source material that matters...not the # of lines of resolution in the display.
. Oh it's 720p because I've made up my mind spending the extra money on useless resolution that is barely noticeable is stupid, now I have money left over for Sony 6ft. HDMI cable and GTA4, let the battle begin in a week and half!
but still want a PS3
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