OK - firstly - are scan lines vertical lines of resolution?
Secondly - VHS outputs 240, DVD outputs and HDTV 1080, right?
Thirdly - if that is correct, then how can plasma monitors be HDTV when most have resolution of 1024 x 768 or 1024 x 1024? How many scan lines does that have?

Scan = Horizontal

"Regular TV" resolution = 525i but only 480i is viewable.

HDTV can be 480p 720p or 1080i

DVD is 480i or 480p and some at 720p

480i & 480p = 640x480 pixels
720p = 1280x720 pixels
1080i = 1920x1080 pixels

(Example: 640x480 means 640 pixels per line(horizontal) and 480 lines of (vertical)resolution.

LCD monitors display thier picture progressivly not interlaced. The 1024x1024 has no relation to scan lines. The 1024x1024 tells you how many pixels per line the monitor has. The greater the number the better the detail your monitor has. A plasma/lcd monitior is a HDTV just like any other.

I personally don't like them because the don't render colors very well.

Hope this helps.


Edited to change inch to line and added some more info.

[Edited by palebluedot on 02-13-01 at 08:22 AM]

I must disagree about the 1024 being pixels per inch. I believe it is total pixels across one dimension. For instanced, a 1024x768 resolution will have smaller images when displayed on a 15" monitor as opposed to a 17" monitor. Same number of pixels spread over a smaller space. There's no way any monitor I've seen has 1024 pixels per inch.

You are right, I was thinking of something else when I wrote that. I apologize...it is pixels in one line not inch. Thanks X for the correction.

I'm still a little confused on this. If I'm looking at a plasma monitor that is advertised as follows:
Number of Pixels: Horizontal 852 x Vertical 480 -
So that means that for every scan line (horizontal line) there are 852 pixels?? So then what does the 480 mean? What is a vertical line?

How can 852 x 480 tell you the number of pixels per line as a previous post indicates? Since a line is one dimensional, I don't see what the second number means.

I'm looking at this as a grid with the intersection of a horizontal and vertical line being a pixel. Is that incorrect?
And does anyone know the number of scan lines a plasma has?

Thanks

852 x 480

852 = The number of pixels in one horizontal scan line.
480 = The number of scan lines vertically.

Any number of plasma screens could have any number of scan lines. It depends on how it is manufactured.

If a plasma screen is manufactured to 1024 x 1024 then it applies to the above fromula.

Also I think you are confused on scan lines for plasma/lcd. When you are talking about resolution on a lcd/plasma screenyou talk in terms of pixels which does not directly relate to resolution on a tube or a RPTV.

[Edited by palebluedot on 02-20-01 at 02:24 PM]

So then just as an example - If this 852 x 480 monitor were being given a 1080i source, then there would be 1080 horizontal scan lines and 480 vertical scan lines. Each of the 1080 horizontal lines would have 852 pixels. Then what about the 480 vertical lines - how many pixels would they have?

The reason that I'm having such trouble visualizing this is because I thought of the screen as a grid and a pixel was the intersection of a horizontal and vertical scan line. I don't see how there is no correlation between vertical scan lines and horizontal resolution.

Does anyone know of a webpage that explains this with illustrations? I know there are a couple that explain anamorphic, so maybe there are some for this too.

No, you would still have 852 x 480. You are confusing monitor pixel resolution with TV resolution. The 852 x 480 is telling you how much detail a display can give you. The 1080i is the resolution of the TV signal coming in. A 852 x 480 plasma TV will display 1080i but it wont be as sharp as 1080i on a 1280 x 1080 display.

OK - I think I finally get it. Thanks.