HD Ready v Full HD

[Hopkirk]

Some TVs are marked as HD Ready, while others are Full HD.

What's the difference?

[Old_Geezer]

Half guessing here but : As I understand it an 'HD Ready' TV can display HD as long as you plug in something that can provide an HD signal ? Can not display it by otself.

I'd assume 'Full HD' would be able to do so from the signal it picks up via the aerial.

Something like that.

[hc4361]

Wrong!

HD Ready - HDTV set capable of accepting HD signals (may not be able to display at full resolution 1920x1080)
Full HD - HDTV set capable of accepting HD signals and able to display full resolution at 1920x1080
720p HDTV - another name for HD Ready HDTV
1080p HDTV - another name for Full HD HDTV

[ChuckFickens]

As OG says, then main difference would normally be...

HD ready, Can display HD only when connected to an external box that will supply a HD picture (SKY-HD, freeview HD etc etc)

Full HD will have either a freesat HD or freeview HD receiver built into it so no external receiver required.

You also have to watch out as there are 3 different levels of HD.

720P : only a little better than normal TV, not really worth getting.

1080i full HD resolution with interlacing

1080p full HD, progressive scan (the best one)

It's worth noting that no current HD television is broadcast in 1080p, only devices such as blu ray players can supply this at the moment.

[sherminator]

Full HD is also just a marketing gimmick though!
yes 'full HD' is 1080p but its just something to make sure you buy the top end equipment!
If you buy a tv on 720P I guarantee the difference will be barely noticed from a 1080p screen! (although the bigger the screen size the more noticable it will become!)

[sherminator]

forgot to say on a 32inch screen or less you will be hard pressed to see any difference between 720p and 1080p.

and 720p is a big upgrade from normal tv chuck

[Hopkirk]

My brain hurts.

Thanks all for your advice.

I think I will carry on with my monster CRT TV for a bit longer. It's amazing how quick things change and become old technology.

[ChuckFickens]

576 lines to 720 lines is not a big upgrade by any stretch of the imagination.

576 lines to either of the 1080 line resolutions is a substantial upgrade.

[sherminator]

Yes but any screen size 32" or less will not give significant increase. Also its 720P
as opposed to 576I

take for example 1080i over 720P. 720 P will win hands down every time!
its not just screen lines that count! its how its displayed and a progress image will always be better than an interlaced image!

[Hopkirk]

Stop Stop. I can't cope with this level of techno talk.

[VHG]

>Full HD will have either a freesat HD or freeview HD receiver built into it so no external receiver required.

Sorry Chuck but I think you are wrong.

A Full HD TV means one that can display at 1080p, even if it has not got a digital HD tuner built in.

In fact "HD ready" and "full HD" are nothing to do with the tuner built in to the TV, more about what the TV CAN display when connected to the right input.

So a "HD ready" TV cant show 1080p, even if a BluRay disk is thrown at it, bit it can COPE with it.

But a "Full HD" TV CAN show 1080p if a Blu Ray disk is thrown at it.

[VHG]

Hopkirk, I will try to give you a simple answer.

Televisions display the image in horizontal LINES across the screen. We dont see the lines but they are constantly being refreshed so we see an ever chaning image.

Obviously the more lines on a TV the better the quality. The first TVs many years ago only had 32 lines, then 405 lines, then 625 lines and so on. Current analogue TV is 625 lines.

When HD came out they upped the number of lines, either 720 or 1080. Obviosuly 1080 lines is the best of the two.

But there are two types of 1080, one with a letter i at the end (1080i), one with a letter p at the end (1080p). 1080p is the best and is "proper HD".

So if you buy a 720 lines TV it will SHOW HD but not at the best quality. This will be marked as "HD ready".

If you buy a "Full HD" TV it will be 1080p lines, and will show HD at the best quality (as long as the image coming in is HD like SkyHD or a BluRay disk).

[Old_Geezer]

http://wiki.answers.c..._full_hd_and_hd_ready
Chucked in for the heck of it.
It suggests the term "Full HD" is not well defined.

[Hopkirk]

Thanks for that VHG. That might explain why the HD I saw on a TV recently was hardly any better than the ordinary stuff.

I am old enough to remember the switch from 405 to 625 lines, and we thought that was pretty impressive.

[sherminator]

Like I said old Geezer it was a marketing gimmick to make you buy the top end equipment!