South Carolina ETV
Digital TV 101: Screen Resolution
In this segment, we'll talk about those new numbers assigned to every TV set. 480, 720 and 1080, otherwise known as screen resolution. Before you panic, you should know you've probably made this choice before without knowing it - if you've ever bought bed sheets.
There are low-quality sheets and high-quality sheets. These are 200-thread count, functional but a little rough. These are 1000 thread count sheets, and they feel like silk.
Buying a king-size sheet doesn't mean better quality. A 200-thread count sheet is rough whether it's for a twin or a king-sized bed. It's about the thread count.
The picture on your TV is made up of threads. Threads of light. Lines of light, if you will. Top to bottom, the TV you've had for years has 480 lines. It doesn't matter if your TV set is the size of a truck or the size of your wristwatch, it's 480 lines top to bottom. That's the thread count of the TV picture since television began. Your old TV set is 480.
Digital TV is improving the thread count of your picture. You'll need a digital set to see the difference.
Here are two numbers you're going to hear lots about: 720 and 1080. They're the two new choices in digital TV -- they're called HDTV. That's the thread count of your new digital TV picture -- and just like sheets, "less is less" and "more is more". More lines top to bottom, more detail, better picture.
720 and 1080 are both HD quality pictures.
So that's it. Screen resolution. 480, what you've got now. 720 and 1080, HD. That wasn't so tough, was it?
For more information about ETV's Digital Television Services, contact:
Hap Griffin, Vice President, Engineering
Voice: (803) 737-3500
E-mail: hgriffin@scetv.org
ETV Administration Building
1101 George Rogers Boulevard
Columbia, SC 29201-4761
Phone: 803-737-3545
ETV Telecommunications Center
1041 George Rogers Boulevard
Columbia, SC 29201
Phone: 803-737-9959