Comic: 720p vs. 1080i – The Great HD TV Debate EXPLAINED and SOLVED

December 7, 2005 · by Chris · in General, HDTV

I bought an HD TV a few months ago, and it’s made my life very complicated. With my old piece of crap TV, I just plugged it in, turned it on, and watched 90210 reruns until I was sated. Now I have to screw with component cables, industry standards, and manuals that are so thick you’d think Tolstoy had written them (that is, in Korean which was then translated to English by an Eskimo with a Korean/English decoder wheel that he found in a box of cereal (and, yes, Tolstoy was fluent in Korean, and he did write technical manuals, and you’re wrong if you say I’m wrong, and, anyway, he’s dead now so it’s not like you can ask him)).

The biggest issue so far arrived along with my Xbox 360. In case you aren’t familiar with the 720p vs. 1080i issue, there are two main resolutions at which HD TV is currently meant to operate, and the 360 supports both of them. The point of contention is over which is better. Some people say 720p, and others say 1080i. 720p, they say, is better for motion, while 1080i is better for looking at photographs.

If the argument ended there, then my decision would be made. Unfortunately, it doesn’t end there. If you just do a little internettin’, you’ll find debates all over the place, mostly conducted by nine year olds who got hold of the password to mummy’s AOL account and regurgitated the arguments they’d read elsewhere

While I’m fairly technical, I realize that some of my readers aren’t as intellectually sharp as I am, so I’ve taken it upon myself to distill the meat of the debate and present it in comic form in layman’s terms.

I hope this helps you when it’s time to make the Big Decision.