Thank you for being a valued part of the CNET community. As of December 1, 2020, the forums are in read-only format. In early 2021, CNET Forums will no longer be available. We are grateful for the participation and advice you have provided to one another over the years.

Thanks,

CNET Support

General discussion

Help! questions about plasma resolutions - 480p720p......

Mar 31, 2006 2:26AM PST

Hey everybody. I've got a Pioneer 50" 5060HD plasma. I just need some info on the different resolutions and how to get them. When I play any DVD from my Progressive Scan dvd player, it comes up as 480p. Can't I get higher than that? Like 720p? And what does it mean when there's an I after the res. Like 1080i vs. 1080p? Any and all info is much appreciated. Or a link to something that describes all this would be great!
Thanks
Tim

Discussion is locked

- Collapse -
Resolutions
Mar 31, 2006 4:02AM PST

Your DVD player will output 480i (interlaced) when it's not connected via component, and it will output 480p (progressive) when connected via component and you have your DVD player set to use progressive. The 480 progressive is much better and it is the max resolution that you can get. Your TV will self-adjust to whatever the input signal resolution is. If you get HD cable or satellite, some product is produced in 720p and some in 1080i, but your cable or satellite box will probably be pre-set to output everything at 1080i. If you have HD service, this is why you see 1080i on your TV. For a technical explanation of these resolutions, skim thorugh some of the older posts here. There have been some very good links posted about this. Most HDTVs these days use both 720p and 1080i, but a few newer ones can take 1080p, but this won't be a broadcast resolution for a very long time (if at all) because it requires twice the bandwidth as 1080i (ouch!), so 1080p will first be seen in game consoles and one day in the Blu-Ray or HD-DVD players.