720p Resolution Question?

Question

Okay, to my understanding, 720p means that a TV can display 720 horizontal lines of picture in progressive scan format, while 1080i can display 1080 lines interlaced, however, the other day I saw a 720p HDTV that said it's native resolution was 1680x1050, and it was only 22 inches. Shouldn't it be 1280x720 if it's 720p...?

My 22" LCD monitor also has a native resolution of 1680x1050. I thought these were in a category by themselves (something like "1050p"?) but does this mean my monitor is 720p, since it had the same native resolution...?

Answer 1

Your resoning is basically correct. The set is 1050P. However, HDTV signal resolutions are either 720P or 1080i. Generally, sets that are 720P or greater in resolution, but less than 1080P are referred to as 720P, since they can't display a 1080i signal with full resolution.

In fact, most 720P sets are actually 768P.

Note that the set in question has fewer horizontal pixels than it should for a 16:9 aspect ratio.

Either the set is not 16:9 or the pixels are rectangular.

Answer 2

ur tv only says that because ur screen is so small that the 720p lines seem like 1050 lines

Answer 3

Many LCD TVs also function as PC monitors.