I have been researching new HD TVs with 1080P displays.  One thing that really stood out for me after carefully reading the reviews is that the vast majority of theses TVs do NOT accept 1080P as an input (the only TVs that are available today that I found that do are the HP MD6580n and the Brillian 6580iFB).  Now at first this may not seem like a big deal since there are currently no 1080P sources.  But in a few months the first Blu-ray and HD-DVD players will be available and will have 1080P as native source and output.  When I raised this as a concern to a Sony rep at CES, he looked at me with "what's the big deal expression" stating that you can simply scale down to 1080i on the player and then scale back up on the TV.  Well, I don't know about you, but I am not going to pay $1000 for a player and $1000s on a TV that are 1080P "capable" only to scale up and down.  With the pending HD-DVD/Blu-ray format war, maybe I should not be that concern.  I just don't want to buy a TV today that will not directly support a format that may be prevalent in two years (I plan on keeping the TV much longer than 2 years).  The other consideration is that the new DVD-HD /Blu-ray players and higher end DVD players will scale existing DVDs to 1080P.  I have heard that the next crop of 1080P TVs will support 1080P on their inputs.  Just something to keep in mind if you are in the market for a new TV.

What about the Sony KDS-R50XBR1 SXRD?

The Sony XBR doesn't take a 1080p source directly.

The new XBR2 coming this September will take 1080p on its inputs. I saw these at the HE show in June.

I don't understand... could someone help elaborate? How can a TV be promoted and badged as 1080P if it doesn't show 1080P? I have a Samsung HLS-5087 1080P DLP, and my PS3 is playing BluRay videos in 1080P output via HDMI. Am I missing something?

Hi Dane,

A 1080p display is in reference to its capabilities. This thread is discussing how these sets are unable to RECEIVE a 1080p signal, even though they are capable of displaying it... meaning, these sets would have to receive a 720p or 1080i signal and then upconvert internal to the display to 1080p.

This thread is a little out of date, many of the 1080p units released in the last quarter are capable of receiving 1080p input, usually on the hdmi connection.

Hope that makes sense.

-James

Wow, the thread's nearly a year old. A lot of change in terms of 1080P since then. Thanks for the info James. As always, an excellent resource. Dane

One more year gone by and see the difference. Almost all new HD TV's are 1080p capable.

James,

It's insane to think that last year this time the premiums we were paying for  1080p capable sets.  I for one sprung for the Sony KDS-R60XBR2 at  over 4K.  That set can now be had easily for  $2200-$2500.  I just sold it and got a Pioneer PDP-6010FD 60" 1080p plasma a few weeks ago.  It's amazing to think that last year this time a 60" plasma could cost in upwards of 7K.  I got this thing for right under 5K. 
 

Lewis,

4 years ago I was an early adopter by buying a 40" 1080i HDTV. It is a Sony tube TV weighing 350 lbs. I really like the quality of the tube because it doesn't have any of the issues plasma or LCD have. But it is a bit small for HD gaming or watching sports. My living room is not big enough for a 60". I probably would go for 50-52". Consumer Reports has just reported that a Panasonic plasma model is the best flat panel they have seen. I have seen that model in Costco and it was good. They price as I remember was around 2.5K. Not bad for a high quality 1080p plasma TV.

Hey James, 

We've just purchased that Panasonic display for our second sound room here at Aperion, and it is indeed amazing.  If I was in the market for a flat panel (and I may be soon,) that's the display I'd purchase, hands down.   

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