Not all 1080p Screens are created equal.

At the moment it appears as though everybody wants a new flat screen TV, unsurprisingly since we the public have been bombarded with marketing spiel surrounding this new technology for the last 3 years or so. Perhaps more surprising is how this technology has evolved over those 3 years. From the beginning we have been told that these new screens will accept 720 lines of progressive scan loveliness or up 1080 lines interlaced, these being the maximum resolutions for HDTV. Early adopters then handed over small fortunes for these sets, safe in the knowledge that they could now watch TV with the best possible picture quality around (never mind how poorly some of these sets rendered the standard definition free-to-view broadcasts).

A mere eighteen months later though a new breed emerged - the 1080p screen. The self-satisfied expressions worn by everyone who had rushed out to be the first to own the biggest and best screen on the block, turned overnight into fixed grins and the blood drained from their faces (probably) as they quickly realised that their state of the art goggle box was rapidly becoming an also ran. 1080 line progressive scan screens are capable of almost double the resolution of the 1080i counterpart and the latest high definition sources (blu-ray and HD DVD) can deliver images to match. (Although it may be some time before broadcasting technology catches up, so dont hold your breath there).

You might think therefore that we’d reached limit HD technology could go no further? Well give your head a shake my friend, has history taught you nothing! 1080p is not the be all and and end all. Most of the 1080p screens on the market <i>only</i> work in 50 or 60 hz or whole numbered multiples of this (ie 100 or 120hz). Why is this important, well thats up to you but hertz are the defined frequency at which a specific number of frames are cycled to create the impression of a moving picture. Most movies are filmed at 24 frames per second (which is another way of saying 24 hertz) and since 24 doesn’t divide easily into 50 or 60, some technichal jiggery pokery occurs which is best described using the 50hz screens as an example. 24hz is almost 25hz which in turn is half of 50hz. European TVs typically operate at 50hz, so when mastering a european DVD the movie is transferred at 50 frames per second, which naturally should mean that the film would end up being half as long, with the action played out at speed and with everyone speaking in queaky voices. To get around this problem each frame is repeated twice - so if you were watching Denzel Washington in Deja Vu on a European Tv and thinking you had seen the film before, well, um you had - kind of.

However a new breed of next generation high definition disc player is looming on the horizon, which surprise surprise, can output movies in the native 24fps, but to take advantage of this you’ll need a screen capable of rendering this frequency, such as the SONY Bravia D3000 series. By all accounts the results are impressive, but unless you are a home cinema videophile you’re unlikely to notice to much difference - even so the urge to upgrade your now obsolete 50hz 1080p screen will undoubtebly prove overwhelming in the long run.