The next generation in hi definition is upon us 1080P, the newest and highest resolution of the hi-def video formats.  Today’s conventional HDTV is 720P or 1080i, which are similar in the number of active scanlines.  1080P doubles this by offering true 1920 x 1080 resolution to your TV set.  Texas Instruments released its newest DLP processor capable of 1920x1080 (or 1080P) hi definition at last year’s Cedia.  The chips are already released in a variety of TV sets including Samsung’s 56inch pedestal model and will also include models by LG and Mitsubishi.  Other manufactures have released their high end 1080P set including Sony’s high end QUALIA line and Toshiba’s 57HLX82 1080P Rear Projector featuring LCOS (liquid crystal on silicon) technology.

For those who’ve already invested in 720P or on the bubble about whether or not to spring the extra cheese for 1080P technology, don’t hold your breath.  If you own an HDTV and a cable subscription using a digital HD terminal you already know that full implementation of current HD technologies are still a long way off.  An overwhelming majority of what you watch on an HDTV is not HD, and much of what is in HD is simply not nearly as good as the HD-preview demo that made you fall in love with the technology in the first place.  1080P isn’t going to make your DVDs look any better, nor will it do a thing for any HD programming available today.  In fact 1080P is really just theoretical, a prediction that video technologies are going to take the step in that direction.  But be warned, the ones honking the loudest about 1080P are the ones who have developed the, no doubt, marvelous display technology.  Until you begin to see cable providers, networks and movie studios enthusiastic about the new format don’t get too excited.

There are several technological hurdles 1080P will have to overcome before it’s considered viable.  The bandwidth required to transmit video at 1080i or 720P in a digital camera’s output is around 1.5 Gigabits per second, the requirements of 1080P are roughly double.  Cable and satellite TV providers use a single video compression format, Mpeg2 to transmit video across the continent which is limited to 19.4Megabits per second.  Mpeg2 worked fine for the DVD technology that originally popularized the compression format.  But 720P and 1080i already suffer at the hands of the 19.4Mbps ceiling of Mpeg2.  Macroblocking is the name given to the degradation of video suffered by movies seen in HDTV, it’s a common problem on HD movie networks and pay-per-view stations.  Macroblocking is a sort of pixilation that happens to video when images are moving quickly and you see tiny squares blotting out details.

The only possibility of 1080P taking off will be the advancement of more advanced codecs.  Mpeg-4 and Window’s Media Player 9 show promise in keeping up with hi def video’s demanding resolution and frame rates.