PLASMA resolution..1024x1080 (or 1024x768) ..surely isnt widescreen?

[snadge]

Ive been looking at PLASMA vs. LCD (as seen in my other post)
Im already convinced after research that LCD is far surprerior
ALSO...
I notice that 42" Widescreen Plasma resolutions seem to be a bit odd...
they seem to be1024x768 and 1024x1080
as seen here -> http://direct.tesco.com/q/R.202-0545/btnResultSort.x%3d500/btnResultSort.y%3d214.aspx
surely 1024x768 and especially 1024x1080 isnt widescreen resolutions? these are resolutions suited to 4:3 screens arent they?
If you had a widescreen TV with either of those resolutions the image clarity would be poor wouldnt it?

[TimA-C]

Personally, I've never seen a big(ish) LCD screen give a better picture than a plasma screen. Plasma can at least show truer blacks than LCD. At the end of the day it's a personal preference - go and have a look at the screens you're interested in and pick the one you like the most (in your price range). Happy hunting!

[edDV]

1024x768 and 1024x1080 are still wide screen. They use display pixels with wide aspect ratio. Some large plasmas use square pixel 1366x768. Collectively they call these 720p sets but actual 1280x720 is seldom used. Everything is scaled in the TV.

Does it matter? You be the judge for picture quality. Plasmas are usually used as a large room TV where people aren't sitting too close. In the past, plasmas have been superior for black level, width of view, motion response and color accuracy but premium LCDs are closing in on all specs but not quite there yet. LCD advantages are brighter picture, higher resolution (e.g. 1366x768 or 1920x1080) and lower power consumption*.

IMO the resolution differences are mostly important for computer text display and close viewing. LCD has advantage for dual computer/TV use. For large room large screens this is less important until you get to HD/BD DVD player sources. Broadcast sources don't have more than about 1440x1080 real resolution although more could be sent in theory.


* When LCD starts using LED for backlight instead of CCFL (fluorescent tubes), power consumption will drop far more. This can be important for long term costs of running a TV. Mid size plasmas draw ~400W where similar size CCFL LCD runs about one third less.

[snadge]

thanks for the info...
If pixels with Wide Aspect Ratio are being used... doesnt that mean that the pixels in the feed (e.g. DVD) are being 'stretched' to fit the 'wide' pixels...
if so wouldnt this still create a 'wide' picture..?

[edDV]

thanks for the info...
If pixels with Wide Aspect Ratio are being used... doesnt that mean that the pixels in the feed (e.g. DVD) are being 'stretched' to fit the 'wide' pixels...
if so wouldnt this still create a 'wide' picture..?

That is the way DVD works for wide vs standard aspect ratio as well. DVD (also DV, ATSC, DVB, MPeg2, MPeg4, etc.) have non-square pixels. DVD is 720x480 typ. For 4:3 display these get squeezed to 640x480. For wide, they get horiz stretched to 854x480. The TV upscales these to "native resolution". For a plasma the 720x480 pixels would be upscaled to 1024x768 and would then display as full screen 16:9.

[snadge]

thanks for the info...
If pixels with Wide Aspect Ratio are being used... doesnt that mean that the pixels in the feed (e.g. DVD) are being 'stretched' to fit the 'wide' pixels...
if so wouldnt this still create a 'wide' picture..?

That is the way DVD works for wide vs standard aspect ratio as well. DVD (also DV, ATSC, DVB, MPeg2, MPeg4, etc.) have non-square pixels. DVD is 720x480 typ. For 4:3 display these get squeezed to 640x480. For wide, they get horiz stretched to 854x480. The TV upscales these to "native resolution". For a plasma the 720x480 pixels would be upscaled to 1024x768 and would then display as full screen 16:9.

What if I wanted to watch 1080p through HD-DVD/Blu-Ray DVD (at 1920x1080) these resolutions are almost 2:1...How would these fair on a PLASMA @ 1024x768

[edDV]

thanks for the info...
If pixels with Wide Aspect Ratio are being used... doesnt that mean that the pixels in the feed (e.g. DVD) are being 'stretched' to fit the 'wide' pixels...
if so wouldnt this still create a 'wide' picture..?

That is the way DVD works for wide vs standard aspect ratio as well. DVD (also DV, ATSC, DVB, MPeg2, MPeg4, etc.) have non-square pixels. DVD is 720x480 typ. For 4:3 display these get squeezed to 640x480. For wide, they get horiz stretched to 854x480. The TV upscales these to "native resolution". For a plasma the 720x480 pixels would be upscaled to 1024x768 and would then display as full screen 16:9.

What if I wanted to watch 1080p through HD-DVD/Blu-Ray DVD (at 1920x1080) these resolutions are almost 2:1...How would these fair on a PLASMA @ 1024x768

First check to see if the Plasma even accepts 1080p over HDMI. If it does it is more likely to be a 1366x768 model. In your example 1920x1080p (or 1080i) would be downscaled to 1024x768 and that would fill the screen. In otherwords, the TV is capable of accepting 1920x1080 but can only display 1024x768.

"Full 1920x1080p" plasmas exist and are coming down in price. Panasonic is considered tops in this range. This set can match HD/BluRay resolutions.
http://www.crutchfield.com/S-pJmpeVcKohn/cgi-bin/prodview.asp?I=13350pz700&cc=01&wm=cl
Note the power - 695 Watts!!!

Panasonic probably have this in a PAL model.