High-definition television (HDTV) provides a resolution that is substantially higher than that of standard-definition television.
HDTV may be transmitted in various formats:
- 1080p - 1920×1080p: 2,073,600 pixels (approximately 2.1 megapixels) per frame
- 1080i - typically either:
- 1920×1080i: 1,036,800 pixels (approximately 1 megapixel) per field or 2,073,600 pixels (approximately 2.1 megapixels) per frame
- 1440×1080i: 777,600 pixels (approximately 0.8 megapixels) per field or 1,555,200 pixels (approximately 1.6 megapixels) per frame
- 720p - 1280×720p: 921,600 pixels (approximately 0.9 megapixels) per frame
The letter "p" here stands for progressive scan while "i" indicates interlaced.
When transmitted at two megapixels per frame, HDTV provides about five times as many pixels as SD (standard-definition television).
Read more about High-definition Television: History of High-definition Television, Inaugural HDTV Broadcast in The United States, European HDTV Broadcasts, Notation, Contemporary Systems, Recording and Compression
Famous quotes containing the word television:
“Television ... helps blur the distinction between framed and unframed reality. Whereas going to the movies necessarily entails leaving one’s ordinary surroundings, soap operas are in fact spatially inseparable from the rest of one’s life. In homes where television is on most of the time, they are also temporally integrated into one’s “real” life and, unlike the experience of going out in the evening to see a show, may not even interrupt its regular flow.”
—Eviatar Zerubavel, U.S. sociologist, educator. The Fine Line: Making Distinctions in Everyday Life, ch. 5, University of Chicago Press (1991)