Any major advantages for either of these?

Non technical answers appreciated!

Cheers

Full HD is higher resolution – probably worth it if you are buying a huge TV to play BluRays, otherwise you won’t notice the difference.

…except that you might if you are not feeding the set a decent signal. Most HD TV feeds will be 720p and if you are watching SD channels they will be 576i, and both will have varying levels of compression.

If there is a mismatch between the signal and the native resolution of your screen (which there always will be as 720P screen actually 768 vertical pixels) then the TV will have to apply processing to ‘upscale’ to the native resolution of the tv.

Even if your viewing distance is such that the difference between 720P and 1080P can’t really be seen, you may well see the effects of the tv electronics upscaling the picture.

So unless you really need 1080P I would go for a 720P screen.

It is a bit like how plasma screens were held for a long time to have the best pictures, at a time when most of them were 480P screens.

Depends how good the upscaling algorithms the particular TV uses though doesn’t it?

Cheers both. So just HD ready?

One more question….(the inevitable) plasma, LCD or LED. It’ s for a 40/42″ TV to replace the Panasonic Viera 37″ plasma in the living room – the 37″ will go into the bedroom.

Used for normal telly, occasional PS3 and even more occasional films. Usually repeats of Come Dine With Me.

Cheers

Just be aware that some manufacturers (Samsung) market their TV’s as LED but they are no such thing – simply LCD TV’s with LED backlighting. There is no such thing as a consumer LED TV on the market.

I would also say that for most viewing at 42 inches or below you dont need 1080 (though most are thesedays), and you wont do much better for most general viewing than the 37 inch Panasonic plasma that you already have!

Cheers – it seems that 37″ TVs are more expensive than 40/42″ – we can find better deals on (for instance) Samsung 40″ LCD…

Very happy with the panasonic, but would like a telly in the bedroom.

just because a tv is bigger doesnt mean its better, some of the now more common 40/42 inchers around that are cheap have a reason for it, usually shit sound or features or not full hd etc
no way i’d have a tv in the bedroom..wish i never bought one in the first place

Depends how good the upscaling algorithms the particular TV uses though doesn’t it?

nope – having to upscale to fill in a load of missing detail (getting from 720P to 1080P) will never look as good as showing 720P natively.

As long as you are far enough away from the screen the upscaling can make a fair stab at making the picture look acceptable, but it breaks down if you examine it more closely.

Minefield.

“HD Ready” is a certification programme. “Full HD” isn’t. The correct term for “full HD” is “HD Ready 1080p” and this is usually what Full HD means, but there’s no guarantees. If you want a “full HD” set, read the tech specs carefully or you may get stiffed.

A “HD Ready” certified set must be able to display 720p and 1080i signals. “HD Ready 1080p,” as the name suggests, must additionally be able to display a 1080p image.

As for whether you need “full HD” (1080p) or not, it depends what you’re watching. Blu-ray can provide a 1080p source, as can some PCs. The PS3 and Xbox 360 can both provide a 1080p signal but whether they do or not depends on what you’re playing – ie, it’s up to the game developers what they put out. From experience, most don’t bother, presumably for performance reasons.

1080p is the best home reproduction you can get for all practical purposes. 1080i and 720p are inferior to 1080p but comparable to each other. Whether you would notice any real difference depends on a number of factors; size of set, viewing distance, how good your eyes are and how much you care, to name a few.

One more question….(the inevitable) plasma, LCD or LED

TBH, I don’t think it really matters a great deal either way these days.

Bought THIS ONE from Richer Sounds yesterday. Very impressed so far.

Source is more important than screen resolution. What are you going to feed it? We have an HD Ready Pioneer 42″ plasma with what can only be described as a reference standard image – 720P and fed BBC HD from Humax box. We also have a Full HD 32″ Samsung LCD showing Freeview (not HD) and Bluray (full HD). When adjusted correctly, both show an excellent picture.

Personally, I’m impressed with the LCD and have not been so impressed with the (pseudo) LED screens – other than thickness, they don’t offer any benefits. I’d go HD Ready if there is a good difference in price.