I wish everything sent down was 1080p/24. Smaller bitrate needed for better quality than the hogging 1080i.
elwaylite said:
From a marketing standpoint 1080 has more wow appeal than 720, even if the average buyer doesn't understand the significance of the "P" vs. the "i'. It wasn't that long ago that 720P was the highest resolution available. Then the LCD folks saw a marketing opportunity to one up plasma because manufacturing LCD at 1080 was pretty simple but very difficult and expensive for plasma to do the same. So suddenly 720 was bantered to be inferior to 1080 by many sales people and for the most part the consumer drank the 1080 Koolaid. Plasma saw that they had to offer 1080 so after a couple of years they also hit the market place with 1080. You can still find new plasmas in the 42-50" range offered at 720P. They get a great picture and offer tremendous bang for the buck. From 10-12 feet most won't be able to see a difference in anything 50" and under, especially with a plasma.
In truth, 1080i has been available longer than 720p. Pioneer introduced their first 1920x1080 Kuro Plasma six years ago!.
Show me at least three 2011 models that offer native 1280x720 matrices. The budget Samsung plasmas are 1024x768 as are the low-end Panasonic and LG models.
SD also looks better on a smaller screen. The proof of the PQ is when viewed on a 60" or larger screen. There's a dozen reasons why the PQ has gotten worse over the years and the tide was slowed a bit with the introduction of Mpeg4. But the bottom line is $$$$$$. If they can decrease the PQ and increase the number of channels that puts more $$$$ in the bank. That would be their bank, not our bank. So, as long as the subs don't oink and complain too much the status quo will remain the same.
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