Can You Tell the Difference Between Standard Def, 720p and 1080p?

I use a projector that is 720p, the image is about 110" and I sit about 8 feet away, HD still looks spectacular and since it's the PT-AX200U there is no screen door effect and it is all very smooth but I can't help wondering if 1080p would look better at that size. That said, on a normal TV in a normal living room 720p and 1080i are pretty indistinguishable, with 1080p being only a little bit better.

I think the main thing that allows me to tell the difference between the two is upscaling artifacts without those it would be a much harder task

I bet you 90% of ppl tht claim they can tell difference between full and normal hd simply thinks they can,

if there was no comparison between the two, it would be pretty hard to tell..

720 is really great, unless you have a screen over 55" you will not be able to tell the difference and even then its not that much, so stop lying. If you are going to buy a new set, go ahead and get a 1080p set. Otherwise don't spend any money just because you want to upgrade your current 42" plasma to 1080p.

Better to spend the extra money upgrading your audio system; your ears will notice the difference of better audio much easier than your eyes will notice the difference between 720p and 1080p and that will make for a better overall home theater experience.

1080p on anything smaller than 40 inches is kinda useless, 720p and 1080p look the same on these "tiny" displays. at 50+ inches though on decent source material the resolution is very noticeable.

To Mike Jenkins-I've been selling A/V for over 7 years, so take my advice for what you think it's worse. I'll use a company I sell (not to be named) as an example. They prefer that we use 720p projectors only up to 106" diagonal, and 1080p is basically the standard for anything up from there. They are a high end projector company (no, not optoma, or infocus, I'm talking real high-end), and all of their research said that when 720p was displayed on screens larger than 106", the performance was not to their standards. So in that sense, I would say that most anyone can tell the difference given the right conditions.

To everyone else: I think the biggest benefit of a 1080P television is when they get 1080P right, they usually get everything else done right. What I mean is, a 1080P plasma (my preference) with an excellent scaler and processor not only looks beautiful on 1080p material, but looks significantly better on 720p and 480p material. I would argue that what most people see as a difference between 720p sets and 1080p sets has a lot to do with the better processor, rather than just the extra pixels. Think of it as having a 120hp engine in a motorcycle as opposed to a car. They both are using the same amount of power, but the motorcycle has a lot less to haul you around, thus it's faster. (insert your own metaphor if you have a better one, I'm sure there's plenty out there!)

My son is asking us to get him a HDTV this Christmas. Would a 720p work? He will be using it for the 360 Xbox, Play Station 3 also Wii. The HDTV size would be up to a size 32"(not decided yet).I guess what I want to know is would a 720p work for the above gaming stations? I was told 1080p for gaming. He's a medium gamer. Any comment would be a help.....Thanks

I would go with a 1080p for gaming but thats in my opinion. The XBOX360 and PS3 both can deliver up to 1080p depending on the source. For example if you were playing lets say NBA live 09 the inside with supports up to 1080p,a 1080p tv i guess would be more worth it. My friend has a 32" thats 1080p and he plays PS3 and also has HD channels, and it looks amazing.

hello, I agree with alexander comment.