Philips Talks HD TV

We checked in with Philips’ UK headquarters to talk about ClearLCD, and ended up fanning the flames on the ‘full HD’ debate instead.

It seems that every prospective TV buyer today, from technology-obsessed bachelors to someone whose current television is made of mahogany, is wandering into Harvey Norman asking about pixels. The recently-established ‘HD Ready’ badge is already in danger of becoming distrusted because of the confusion that abounds.

Are 1366×768 TVs really HD? Should we wait until 1920×1080 displays become more readily available and affordable? Unfortunately, the answers are complex and varied, and can be beyond the grasp of the average shop assistant, let alone us consumers.

Danny Tack, who gives his title as Product Marketing and Strategy, Philips Flat TV UK, believes that 1080p sets are a gift from God for the retailers: “In 2006 and 2007, 1080p TVs are going to be at the very top of the range. For guys who sold washing machines last week, 1080p is a gift from heaven. It’s two million pixels versus one million pixels. Bang – every consumer will fall in their trap.

“However, it’s more complicated than that,” he continues. “Take one step back and wonder about the picture processing. Does it have Pixel Plus 3 HD? Is there ClearLCD inside? Does it have the Digital Natural Motion Engine? If all of that is not there, but you have 1080p, I tell you, you’ll not like the picture. But that’s too complicated for the sales assistants to explain so, from a marketing point of view, 1080p makes sense, but from a picture quality point of view it can be better with a 1366 x 768 set.’

Ironically, it’s Philips’ own 37-inch LCD TV, the 1920×1080 37PF9731, that has been cited by the antagonists as one of the few displays available

capable of ‘full HD’. But Tack is keen to stress that irrespective of resolution, the company’s next wave of HD Ready sets are better. “It’s three times more important to have good picture processing behind the panel than having a greater resolution,” he argues.

“1366 x 768 screens are HD. We know that 1080p is more ‘full’ than 720p – that’s a fact – and I would say that 1920 x 1080 progressive screens are definitely better if they feature the same picture processing. However, if you look to the US, where HD sources have been available for quite some time, using 1080i and 720p, these guys, so far, have been working, more often, with a 768p resolution. And up until now it’s been a good display resolution that nobody’s had issues with. Essentially, there’s nothing wrong with a conventional HD Ready panel, 1366x 68. It can have great picture quality.”

HD snobbery

Of course, some HD snobs will be hard to convince, especially with forthcoming Blu-ray players being an ideal source of 1080p signals. But Tack, at present, seems unfazed: ‘The 768p TVs will cope with 1080p signals by scaling them. To input an SD source we have to upscale, so now they’ll downscale. You’ll lose a bit of picture quality and, of course, with Blu-ray a 1080p panel will give a better picture quality – more pixels, if you have good picture processing behind, can enable a better picture – but even with lower resolution, better processing on a HD signal can do a better picture. Downscaling doesn’t always mean worse.”

He’s also not convinced about the quality of 1080p displays. Will they really be able to show true, unbridled 1080p in its purest form: “As a technology guy I say, which 1080p are you talking about? 24fps (frames per second) or 50? There’s not much difference. But if you’re talking about 1080p/50 native, then, yes, that’ll make a difference. But most of the sources won’t be native, they’re going to be 50i upconverted. Then it’s about the quality of your upconverter.” He also stresses that some 1080p displays won’t be able to receive a 1080p/50 signal, just a 1080p/24 one.

Finally, while he’s convinced that you’ll be more than happy with the pictures on Philips’ latest HD Ready LCD TVs, regardless of the resolution, Tack concedes the ‘Full HD’ debate is set to continue for some time: “More confusingly, the next step after 1080p is coming too – it’s quadruple the resolution. I know suppliers that are going to make it available by the end of this year. We’ll not see it on the market yet, but we’ll see brands like Philips being supplied these displays to design with.”