Blu-ray 1080p and 1080i?

Question

Hi, I have a question. I am thinking of buying a blu-ray dvd player, however I only see them in 1080p format. Why is this? The HD dvd players comes in both. My tv is 720/1080i with HDMI inputs. I want to but the correct player, but I'm thinking that blu-ray is only for tv that are 1080p compatible!?? I want to play my dvd's in true hd, not an upconvert. I'm so confused, please someone help me. Thanks!

Answer 1

Just make sure you get a blu ray player!  The HD companies lost, and blu ray's won the HD battle.  We just got a PS3 with blu ray...and it rocks!

Answer 2

Your TV is the weakest link here ;)

You can go and read all the technical jargon on the different formats, but all you really need to know is 1080p is superior to 1080i.  Your current TV only displays 1080i, so whatever you do, it wont look as good as a 1080p display.  You cant buy a blu-ray 1080i, because the "blu-ray" standard is 1080p, but the bottom line is - dont worry about it!!  If you want a blu-ray or HDDVD, get it, get the best you can afford, and enjoy it!  Then in a few years buy yourself a better 1080p HDTV or whatever the newest standard is.  It all gets updated way too fast and your current stuff will be obsolete in no time!!  The good news is when you wait a year or two, and dont buy the most expensive, newest format of anything, you end up with a great piece of gear for a decent price.  Enjoy!!

Answer 3

First, don't consider Blu-ray (or HD DVD) unless you have a 40"+ HDTV with HDMI input (you won't get any significant benefit over upconverted DVDs). And for full benefit you need both a 1080p model and a good sound system. Considering the cost of players and disks audition a player on a TV similar to yours (size, resolution) before buying to see if the improvement is worth the cost to you.

Blu-ray disks are recorded in 1080p, but players will output lower resolution (set in the menus) including 720p and 1080i. You would probably get best results by outputting 720p.

Blu-ray players will also upconvert DVD to fit the output resolution .. but they won't have the detail of a true 1080p disks. On a 720/1080i TV you will still get a bit sharper picture form Blu-ray disks downscaled as you would from DVDs upscaled.

Re your last sentence, let me emphasize, you can't play your DVDs in true HD. As noted above you can upconvert, but to get true HD you need to play Blu-ray disks on a Blu-ray player (or HD DVDs on a HD DVD player). That means you need new disks ... at premium prices (After all, that's the studios intent ... to get consumers to repurchase their DVD collection!).

Hope that clarifies things.

Answer 4

All Blu-rays movies/players are rendered in 1080p per their specs.  Some HD players output 1080i (A2/A3).  In your case using both players on your TV wouldn't matter which format you buy in.  Also please note: playing standard DVDs in Blu-ray or HD players upconverts them.  It does not output them in HD.