What is Screen resolution?
An LCD or Plasma TV is made up of millions of dots or pixels. This determines how much detail it can display and is expressed in terms of the number of pixel columns by the number of pixel rows (i.e 1280 x 720). Common resolutions include 1280 x 720, 1366 x 768 and 1920 x 1080. Screens with a resolution below 720 lines are not suitable for High Definition. This resolution is fixed by the screen, so for example if a screen with a resolution of 1366 x 768 pixel resolution attempts to show a broadcast in 1080i format then the screens internal technology will convert the image to fit the screen. This is still in HD, although you’re not seeing the full 1080 line image as it was intended. Also if the screen is not up to scratch on the processing side then unwanted picture glitches will occur.
The screen resolution indicates the amount of detail that the picture displays. Resolution is identified by the number of display lines on the screen. The techniques that an HDTV uses to “paint” the picture on the screen are referred to as progressive and interlaced. For example, a resolution of 1080i indicates that the screen shows 1080 lines in an interlaced display, and 480p means that the screen shows 480 lines in a progressive display. Note: The screen resolution (1080i, 480p, etc.) is sometimes referred to as the scan rate. The terms are interchangeable. With the progressive method (top photo), every pixel on the screen is refreshed simultaneously, whereby the interlaced method (bottom photo) involves refreshing pixels in alternation – first the odd lines and then the even lines.
