What's the difference (if any) between 1080i and 1080p resolution for HDTV?

Question

Thank you all so much for your for informative answers. There are several very good answers and cannot decide which one to pick for Best Answer. So I am putting it up for voting. Thank you all again.

Answer 1

1080p is the original spec of HDTV.

Resolution is 1920x1080

vesus the resolution of 1080i which is 1366x768

As of today, the Bluray, HD-DVD and HD broadcasts provided by Dish Network(called TurboHD for the 8-psk turbo coding technology used to increase the possible bandwidth in each satellite stream) are 1080p.

Answer 2

To put it simple the difference would be the same as an average DVD player in comparison with a progressive one. There is not huge difference when you take into consideration the majority people don't know what progressive scan means.

Answer 3

While others above have explained the difference between 1080p (progressive scan) and 1080i (interlaced scan), you should realize that

1)  No broadcast HDTV is 1080p.  It is either 720p (Fox, ABC, ESPN-HD) or 1080i (almost all the rest).

2) No flat screen fixed-pixel display (LCD, plasma or DLP) is interlaced; they all display either 1080p or 720p (all the pixels on the screen are active all the time).

TV sets take the 1080i (or 720p) source and convert it to its "native" resolution which is either 720p or 1080p.  Depending on the source and the quality of the TV, a 1080i source can result in a 1080p picture almost indistinguishable from a 1080p original.

Blu-ray DVD players will provide a true 1080p signal, but until recently, most TV sets (even those with 1080p display resolution) could not accept that as input.

Answer 4

1080i is interlaced which means that there is a split second difference in the lines of color that show up but the human eye can't see it. 1080p is progressive which means all the lines of color show up at the same time on the screen. progressive is a better picture but both are widescreen and have 2,073,600 pixels so it just depends if your willing to spend the extra money for a better picture.  

Answer 5

1080i means interlaced--that is it is broadcast with gaps between the lines.

1080p means all the lines are broadcast all the time.  It displays at the same resolution of 1080i (1920x1080) but you don't get that "flicker" of 1080i.  This is the resolution of Blu-Ray.

720p is half the resolution of 1080i and 1080p (1280x720), but some people think that 720p is better than 1080i because of the flicker.

Answer 6

Oooh, this is complicated to really explain.  Both formats have the same resolution.  But 1080i is interlaced scan while 1080p is progressive scan.  Theoretically progressive scan is better, especially for fast motion, like sporting events and action movies.  But whether you would actually be able to tell the difference depends on a lot of things including how big the screen is, how good your eyes are, how much of a perfectionist you are, how much money you have to spend, etc. etc.

We just bought a new TV and I looked at both and I couldn't tell the difference.  But then the video place was showing this vacation documentary of beaches and speedboats and underwater shots of coral and busty women in bikinis.  I would like to have seen test patterns and fast-moving dots, something like that.

Answer 7

1080i and 1080p are both High Definition display formats for HDTVs. 1080i and 1080p signals actually contain the same information. Both 1080i and 1080p represent a 1920x1080 pixel resolution (1,920 pixels across the screen by 1,080 pixels down the screen). The difference between 1080i and 1080p is in the way the signal is sent from a source component or displayed on an HDTV screen.

In 1080i each frame of video is sent or displayed in alternative fields. The fields in 1080i are composed of 540 rows of pixels or lines of pixels running from the top to the bottom of the screen, with the odd fields displayed first and the even fields displayed second. Together, both fields create a full frame, made up of all 1,080 pixel rows or lines, every 30th of a second.

In 1080p, each frame of video is sent or displayed progressively. This means that both the odd and even fields (all 1,080 pixel rows or pixel lines) that make up the full frame are displayed together. This results in a smoother looking image, with less motion artifacts and jagged edges.

Tom Masters