Hi is it true that if you do not have 1080P, you will not get Blu-ray picture but, will get HD picture?

Question

Hi I heard that if you have 1080P HDTV & with Blu-ray player, you will get true Blu-ray picture. If you have 720P or 1080i HDTV & with Blu-ray player, you will only get Hi-Def picture but, not Blu-ray picture? Is that true? No wounder the picture it looks little grainy. Thank you.

Answer 1

Blue ray discs look as good as:

(1) The resolution that the movie or tv show was filmed or recorded with in the first place -- This you cannot fix.  So buy only movies and shows shot in HD.

(2) The line doubling applied to make the old not HD content look better -- This you cannot fix.  So buy really great new HD movies and HD TV shows only.

(3) The resolution setting you have your HDTV set to or the capability of the type of connection you are using -- Set to the highest resolution your set is capable of displaying.

Use HDMI cable (single cable digital connection) or Component Video and Stereo Audio Cable (5 RCA plugs on each end).

S-video or Composite Video with Stereo Audio (1-S Video and 2 RCA or 3 RCA on each end) is not as good.  S-video can do widescreen in some cases but it is not HD.  Composite Video is never HD.

(4) The maximum resolution your HDTV can display -- 1080p is best, 1080i or 720p is still HD

(5) Distance you sit from the set -- Don't sit too close.

Answer 2

native resolution of blu-ray is 1920x1080 pixels - or about 2.1 million pixels.  Regardless of whether or not your television is 720p/1080i or 1080p - look at the spec that is listed as either "native resolution" or "number of pixels".  if the native resolution is not 1920x1080 or number of pixels is not 2,073,600, then the TV cannot match blu-ray's resolution pixel for pixel.

You can have a "1080p" television that does not have 1920x1080 pixels and it still will not match blu-ray pixel for pixel.  When you see 1080p - all that means is that the video processor in the television is capable of processing 1080p.  You could have a TV that has 10x10 pixels and still have a 1080p processor - it doesn't matter.  

For example, I have a Samsung that is 1366x768 and only does up to 1080i.  I also have a Philips that is only 1440x900 and does 1080p.

Another thing to note is that LCD and Plasma flat panels convert interlace signal to progressive, anyway.  Therefore, any content that is interlace coming in (for example, 480i from standard def broadcasts) will be de-interlaced and displayed progressively.  Therefore, even if your TV's processor can only handle 1080i from an input signal - frame memory buffering in the set will convert it to display 1080p and then scale it to fit the native resolution.