Over on our YouTube channel, we’ve taken a humorous look at the history of broadcast definitions which might help explain the differences between the two a little better – as well as prepare you for the next generation of high definition – but that’s another story. However, 1080p goes even further, racking up the pixel dimensions to 1920 x 1080 – that’s five times more detailed than SD. That’s more than twice the detail of standard definition, which makes for reasonably sharp video playback on a standard TV. In other words, video content came in a 720 pixels wide by 576 pixels tall resolution, also known as ‘standard definition’ or SD.Ī 720p screen is 1280 pixels (wide) x 720 pixels (tall). In the analogue TV days, all UK TVs used the PAL (Phase Alternating Line) broadcast system, which used the standard definition of 576i. So to begin with, we’ll just look at 720p and 1080p and the differences between those. It’s important to note that you can’t actually buy a TV set with a 1080i display, for reasons which we’ll go into a bit later. 720p, 1080i and 1080p HD – What’s the difference?ħ20p, 1080i and 1080p are all versions of HD, but they’re all different. So let’s take a closer look at 720p, 1080i and 1080p here, and what you need to know. HD follows from standard definition (the level of detail in analogue colour TV that most of us grew up with), cramming in even more pixels in order to produce sharper, cleaner images when playing video.Ĭonfusingly there are three different types of ‘HD’ resolution out there, so it’s worth knowing a bit more when shopping around for high definition TV sets and related gear. Just because a TV set or monitor has ‘HD’ slapped on the side, it might not be exactly what you want or need. So what actually is HD? HD, or High Definition, refers to the detail level of a screen or to put it another way, the number of pixels that are packed into a display. A pixel is the smallest visible element on a display, the ‘dots’ that combine to make up the overall picture. Even pretty much every cheap-as-chips entry-level phone that hits the shelves these days has an HD screen, so you can enjoy high-def video on the move.īut what actually is HD, how many different types of HD are there, and what’s the difference between 720p HD, 1080p Full HD, Quad HD and 4K Ultra HD? Here’s our explainer guide. Games consoles play HD games, all of the public service broadcasters (that’s the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5) have dedicated HD channels and streaming services like Netflix and Amazon Prime Instant Video play thousands of movies in HD on demand. HD – short for High Definition – is everywhere these days, but is it really a big deal and what’s the difference between 720p HD and 1080p Full HD when it comes to television displays and video content?

What does 720 mean