High definition just got higher
Over the last few years High Definition TV (or HD TV as it’s usually known) has taken television to another level. Now things are about to change again with the arrival of 1080HD– the latest, greatest form of HD TV. Once you’ve experienced the richer colours, razor sharp images and incredible detail 1080HD delivers there’s no going back.
All the help you need - 1080HD explained:
All the help you need - 1080HD explained:
Basically it’s an even higher definition version of the HD format that’s been around for acouple of years. Most current HD TV screens have around a million pixels. The latest 1080HD screens pack over two million pixels into the same space - making the picture noticeably sharper, with stunning definition and amazing clarity.
A 1080HD TV is the perfect partner for a Blu-ray player, HD DVD or a PS3 console. If you’ve either bought or you’re planning to buy one of these systems then 1080 is definitely the way to go. And because 1080HD is ideal for home cinema, anyone who’s mad about movies should seriously consider a 1080 set.
Plenty of HD broadcasts and discs come with 5.1 sound, so a full home cinema system meansyou’ll get the most from your 1080HD TV. As you’d expect, Comet has a huge range of home cinema systems that bring the magic of big screen entertainment to your living room.
You’ll need a special cable called a HDMI to connect your 1080HD TV to a Sky HD box or a Blu-ray player. In fact, just like hi-fi, cables are surprisingly important – if you want to enjoy the ultimate in picture quality then it’s worth investing in top quality cables, such as Monster Cables
View our full range of Monster cables View our ful range of Monster cables

To really appreciate what 1080 is all about it’s useful to understand HD in general.

Three Types
Basically there are three types of HD available today: the current 720p format,with 720 (or more commonly 768) lines of resolution displayed progressively, and 1080i, with 1080 lines of resolution displayed interlaced. 1080p has 1080 lines of resolution displayed progressively.

The Difference?
So what’s the difference between progressive and interlaced? It’s to do withhow a TV creates the image that appears on the screen. An interlaced TV builds the picture in two passes – first it displays all the odd number lines, then it goes back and displays all the even number lines. A progressive set builds the picture in a single pass, making the image that little bit more stable and less prone to flicker.
While we’re talking about interlaced signals it’s worth mentioning that 1080i (and not 1080p) is the highest quality signal currently being broadcast by providers like Sky HD. This won’t cause you any problems - if you watch Sky HD on a 1080p HDTV it automatically switches to 1080i mode, so you don’t have to lift a finger.

Performance
1080p’s astonishing performance really comes into its own while playing Blu-ray discs and HD DVDs. Because the picture from a Blu-ray disc or HD DVD exactlymatches the resolution of a 1080p screen, every pixel is shown precisely as it should be. In other words, the TV doesn’t need to scale the picture to make everything fit the screen.

Scaling
On the subject of scaling, if you watch a 720p program on a 1080 TV the picture is scaled up to take advantage of the extra pixels. Similarly, if you watch a 1080 program on a 720 TV the picture is scaled down to make it fit. In both cases you may notice a very slight loss of picture quality.



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