OTHER TECH

Q. I have a Sony Qualia 005 LCD HDTV that accepts a 1080i video signal through its HDMI inputs but not 1080p. Now I'm interested in Sony's upcoming BDP-S1 Blu-ray Disc player, which has a 1080p video output. Are these two components compatible? If not, how can I view a 1080p video signal on the set? Chris Strigos Beacon, NY

A. Al Griffin, Senior reviews Editor, says: Sony's 1080p-resolution Qualia 005 HDTV will indeed be compatible with the company's forthcoming Blu-ray Disc player. But your set won't be able to display "native" 1080p-format programs stored on Blu-ray Discs without some signal manipulation on the way from disc to screen. That's because the Qualia 005, like many other 1080p HDTVs, doesn't accept 1080p signals through its HDMI inputs. Most of these HDTVs were designed well before the specifications were finalized for high-def discs, which can carry movies encoded at 1080p. Thus it's understandable that they weren't equipped to accept signals in that format. So, if displaying a native 1080p signal is out of the question for your TV, will you be missing out on anything? Maybe, maybe not. The new high-def disc players can also provide a 1080i signal that your TV's HDMI input can accept. The 1080i and 1080p formats provide equivalent video resolution. The key difference is that 1080i is an "interlaced" format, in which the video frames that make up the image are divided into two separate fields containing odd and even lines of picture information. As long as your 1080p HDTV does a good job reassembling the interlaced fields into full progressive-scan video frames (deinterlacing) - something your high-end Qualia ought to be able to do - you probably won't see much, if any, difference. But we'll have to get back to you after we get our hands on a Blu-ray player and plug it into a few 1080p-compliant TVs.

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