Blu Ray Player Compatible with 1080i television?

Question

I currently have a 32" 1080i vizio television. I am looking to purchase a blu ray player to watch HD movies. If I were to connect a standard blu ray player to my television with an HDMI cable or any other high definition cable, would I still be watching the movie in HD even though the player is 1080p and my television is 1080i?

Answer 1

yes. 1080I and 1080 P are both HD Formats.

Answer 2

You can certainly play them at lower resolutions and they'll look good.  720p, 1080i and 1080p are all considered HD.

You don't have a 1080i HDTV ... it's a 720p model. All flatpanel HDTVs actually display a progressive signal scaled to the native resolution of the panel, so while it accepts a 1080i signal it deinterlaces and scales it to fit the display ... in your case a "720p" HDTV (probably 768x1366 pixels).  

In other words, the potential detail of the Blu-ray movie will be degraded somewhat on your 720p HDTV relative to a 1080p model.

But it doesn't really matter unless you sit within 6 feet of the screen. Anything more and your eye can't resolve the extra detail from 1080p anyway.

However, consider that many experts recommend a 1080p HDTV 40" or larger for Blu-ray. On your 32" 720p display you will get a good picture, but it won't be much better than an upconverted DVD ... and a lot more expensive.

Whether it's worth the extra cost for the player and the disks is your call, but personally I wouldn't be in a rush. Prices will come down, and in the meantime you could experiment a bit (by borrowing a friends Blu-ray player ... and play both a Blu-ray and DVD version of a movie) to see whether there is sufficient improvement to warrant upgrading.

Keep in mind DVDs are not going away anytime soon given that a large majority of consumers have not bought into Blu-ray ... and many don't intend to.

Answer 3

Yes.