The HDTVexpert not too long ago wrote an article about 1080p. It was a cautionary tale, pointing out, among other things, that there is no 1080p content being broadcast anywhere. Rather a bummer when it comes to getting a 1080p display, no?

Well, Mr. Putman received a lot of e-mail because of his interesting article, and responds to much of it in a new article. Both these articles are great reading, but I’d like to discuss the second one.

First of all Mr. Putman goes to great lengths to point out that “there is no 1080p acquisition, production, and broadcast formats using a fast picture refresh rate (50 Hz or 60 Hz) equivalent to the 720p standard. None.” And he’s right. But there will be, and he even mentions a Sony camera. But there’s one true 1080p source coming down the pike that will be sold to millions of homes worldwide - the PS3! And for those of you out there planning to get a PS3, then 1080p sets are something you should be looking at. Well, you should if these sets could actually import a 1080p signal, which most of them can’t.

Also, he points out that the new 1080p DLP sets aren’t really native 1080p devices. They’re really 960 x 1080 devices that shift the tiny little mirrors slightly to produce the other 960 x 1080, which together makes 1920 x 1080. Just a factoid to keep in mind when buying these sets. Investigation is still underway to see if this makes any real-world difference over a theoretical 1920 x 1080 DLP device.

HDTVexpert - 1080p - Time for a Reality Check!
HDTVexpert - 1080P - A Follow-Up