THE FRONT LINE — JUNE 22, 2006
1080p: A Year Later
A year ago, I sat down and pounded out an article about all the hyperbole, buzzwords, and fallacies surrounding the push for 1080p imaging. It’s time to revisit the subject!
That article might be the most-read piece I’ve ever posted on this site. It has accounted for tens of thousands of page views, lots of email (negative and positive), even requests from other media outlets for my perspective on the issue.
My reasons for writing the original piece were motivated by a lot of misinformation being circulated on the Web, in print, and by over-zealous product managers who wanted to sell a bunch of HDTV products. The imminent arrival of Blu-ray and HD DVD only fanned the flames.
Have things changed in the past 12 months? In some cases, yes. In other cases, no. But there is a move to 1080p that isn’t going to slow down — in fact, it’s picking up momentum, although not for the reasons you might think.
PRICE PRESSURES
To best understand the migration from 720p and 768p resolution to 1080p flat-panel and rear-projection displays, you need to consider market economics above all. The main reason any manufacturer would want to sell a 1080p rear-projection TV is that they can charge more for it than a 720p or 768p. Simple as that!
Sure, having 1920x1080 resolution is a wonderful thing with the right content and screen size, but manufacturers aren’t really playing an image quality game here — they’re trying to maintain profit margins in a tough, competitive business segment.
Given the rapidly falling prices for rear-projection TV sets (a quick online check while writing this showed some 50-inch DLP models for well under $1,800) and continued pressure from cheaper, larger-screen plasma TVs, 1080p resolution is a must for companies who derive a large part of their business from RPTV sales.
That group, which includes Samsung, Sony, Toshiba, HP, JVC, and Mitsubishi, is also facing the fact that worldwide market demand for MD RPTVs either has peaked or will peak by the end of 2007, depending on which display analyst firm you believe. Indeed, one of the best-known rear-projection TV manufacturers (Hitachi) opted not to migrate to 1080p for its 2006 sets, but will walk away altogether from RPTV technology after 2006 to concentrate on plasma and LCD TV sales.
When you consider that some 2006 1080p RPTV models have MSRPs or SVPs close to last year’s same-size 720p/768p offerings, you might wonder why the RPTV industry doesn’t simply abandon 720p/768p imaging devices altogether in favor of an all-1080p lineup.
For a good example of aggressive RPTV pricing, look at Mitsubishi’s new WD-52631, which has the new six-primary color wheel. The current SVP is $2,799, while the 57-inch version is just $3,099. You’ll likely see further retail discounts of 10% — 15% by Q4 2006 on both items.
Market share and pricing is also forcing some changes in technology. The half-resolution (960x1080) DLP RPTVs sold by Samsung, Toshiba, Mitsubishi, and HP came up short in the fourth quarter of 2005, when Sony zoomed to an impressive 54% market share with its competitively priced, full-resolution (1920x1080) 50-inch and 60-inch SXRD rear-projection sets, leaving Samsung (13.6%) and Toshiba (6.8%) in the dust. (All data courtesy DisplaySearch)
JVC, another company with full 1920x1080 LCOS imagers, grabbed fourth place with 6.3% of the market, edging out once-dominant Mitsubishi (5.5%). Six months into 2006, we are seeing full 1920x1080 DMDs appearing in front projection systems and they’ll migrate to rear projection sets soon enough, if the half-resolution chips appear to have a marketing disadvantage.
FLAT PANEL FORCES
In the flat-panel LCD HDTV business, screens as small as 37 inches can be made with 1920x1080 pixel matrices. And those products sell for lower prices than you might think. We’ve already seen sub-$2K prices for 37-inch sets, and Westinghouse Digital recently announced a 47-inch 1080p LCD monitor for $2,999. Even Sharp’s 45-inch LC-45GX6U integrated LCD HDTV can be bought on-line for $3,600, plus shipping.
As newer LCD “fabs” come on-line, the motherglass size increases. This allows for more cuts of popular LCD screen sizes like 26-inch and 32-inch, but it can also mean new sizes, such as Sharp’s 57-inch and 65-inch cuts. Both of these have 1920x1080 resolution, and both are potential threats long-term to same-size microdisplay sets. That is, if Sharp and others can get their costs and wholesale prices down.
Over in the plasma world, Panasonic and Pioneer are coming to market this summer with 65-inch and 50-inch plasma HDTVs that feature 1920x1080 resolution. Although the prices for both are a bit high out of the gate at $9,995, you can expect them to drop pretty quickly.
That’s because a recent study by Pacific Media Associates shows that buyers prefer plasma and LCD flat panel TVs to rear-projection models, and want them badly enough to sacrifice a little screen size and pay a little more to get them!
As for the rest of the fold, Hitachi, LG, and Samsung have also shown 1080p plasma HDTVs and plan to have them to market by this fall, leaving lower prices as the only advantage that 1080p RPTVs currently hold.
THE BLUE LASER FOLLIES
As I write this, HD DVD players have been available in limited supply for about two months, and the first Blu-ray players are trickling into warehouses. Home theater enthusiasts have been drooling over both formats with their 36 Mb/s data rates and 1920x1080 resolution, not to mention new HD audio formats.
In fact, I’ve got an HD DVD player (Toshiba HD-A1, $499) here for review, and a couple of 1080p displays coming with which to test it. But it’s not the be-all, end-all format you might expect, particularly since this player only outputs 1080i/29.97 and not 1080p.
At Samsung’s June 15 Blu-ray launch event, I asked one executive if their player (BD-P1000, $999) would be able to output native 1080p, and he said yes. This contradicts earlier reports that Blu-ray players would also deliver signals in the 1080i format. It also raises the question of what refresh rate would be used. 24 Hz? 48 Hz? 72 Hz? Or 60 Hz with 2:3 pull-up? We’ll only know for sure after a review (I’ve requested a unit for testing).
The content on HD DVD and Blu-ray discs can be encoded as native 24p. If the display supports HDMI 1.3, then it should be able to double or triple the frame rate for playback, or handle a high-bandwidth 1080p/60 signal. That’s the word from my sources at Silicon Image. (Don’t look for any displays to deliver video at 24 or 25 fps — event the professional models double or triple that rate to eliminate flicker.)
SCREEN SIZE AND VIEWING DISTANCE
This may come as a surprise to some of you, but 1920x1080 isn’t even necessary for many viewing environments. Over the past year, I’ve viewed a variety of 1080p displays (all showing 1080i content) at several distances. I have seen a noticeable improvement over 720p and 768p when viewing screens that measure 50 inches or larger, viewed at a maximum distance of 3x the screen height.
Sit farther away — or use a smaller screen — and you’re not likely to see the difference. In fact, you might think in some cases that 720p content looks better than compressed 1080i content, given the tendency for the latter to exhibit mosquito noise and interlaced motion artifacts.
At NAB 2006, I visited a representative of Pioneer in their Hilton suite to see the Pioneer PRO-FHD1 50-inch 1080p plasma TV in action. Next to it was a current Panasonic 50-inch 768p model. Both sets were fed the same 1080i content from an HD media server.
We sat about eight feet from both screens and watched a clip of a model slowly walking through a jungle-like setting, with close-ups of flowers, water, and the model’s face. The only time I could really see the increased resolution was in facial close-ups, where a little more skin texture became apparent. The Pioneer rep agreed with my assessment that the average viewer wouldn’t have spotted any difference at all between the two resolutions at that distance.
It appears that the strongest arguments for 1080p imaging apply to screen sizes measuring 60 inches or larger, which would include all home theater front projectors and many rear-projection TVs. Smaller HDTVs seem to work fine with 720p or 768p native resolution at typical viewing distances, no matter the resolution of the HD content.
GOING THE EXTRA MILE
Just having 1920x1080 pixels at your disposal doesn’t mean much if your HDTV doesn’t fully process 1080i signals. That means splitting each frame into two fields with 540 odd and even lines, then integrating them into full 1080 frames with three-axis motion interpolation.
These steps require quite a bit of processing power, but are worth it when you consider that all 1080 HD content transmitted by North American cable head ends, satellite services, and broadcast stations is in the 1080i/29.97 format, even movies that originated as 1080p/24 edit masters.
Movies tolerate the interlacing process much better than live HD programs. Sports in particular have all kinds of interlaced artifacts that must be cleaned up during the conversion to progressive scan. Simple “weaving” together of the odd and even fields won’t cut the mustard on a large 1080p set – you’ll see any shortcomings in the HDTV’s processor pretty quickly.
The other problem with 1080i signals is that they are usually overcompressed, resulting in aliased curves and mosquito noise. Add those MPEG artifacts to an interlaced signal and you’ve got quite a mess to straighten out — one which won’t be as obvious on a 34-inch CRT or even a 42-inch plasma, but one which will leap off a big screen TV. Once again, the display may be too good for the delivery system!
CLOSE ENOUGH FOR GOVERNMENT WORK?
When all is said and done, 1080p isn’t for everyone, even though it will become the default resolution for some segments of the HDTV display market over the next year. For many of you sitting on the sidelines, you haven’t missed much as market and technical realities are finally catching up with all of that early 1080p hype and buzz.
Are you a die-hard sports nut? Watch a lot of ESPN, ABC Sports, or Fox Sports in HD? All three networks cover and broadcast sporting events in the 720p/60 format, so an HDTV with that resolution is more than adequate, unless you are sitting right on top of the screen.
Got one of those new upscaling DVD players? You may also be content to stay with a 720p/768p HDTV for now, given the continued drop in their prices. (Some of these sets are real bargains!) Do you still watch a fair amount of SDTV, like analog or basic digital cable? If so, there’s little benefit to the extra resolution offered by a 1080p HDTV, and you may detest all of the low-resolution flaws you’ll now be able to see in your cable and satellite signals.
On the other hand, if you are going to run out and buy a new blue laser player and start building a collection of high definition DVD movies, or are building the ultimate PC gaming station with high-resolution video output, then a new 1080p flat panel or rear-projection HDTV might be just the ticket for you.
That is; if the screen is big enough, if you are sitting close enough, if the bit rate is high enough, and if the TV’s image processor gives you 100% effort with cable, satellite, and off-air 1080i programming, not to mention scaling of lower-resolution video…
