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intel iMac screen

post #1 of 13
5/4/06 at 6:51pm
Thread Starter 
I know this is going to sound like a stupid question, but is it HD? lol sorry i forgot
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post #2 of 13
5/4/06 at 7:06pm
No. The iMac screens are 1440x900 for the 17-inch and 1680x1050 for the 20-inch. Full HD (1080p) is 1920x1080, so you'll need a 23-inch/24-inch display, at 1920x1200.

However, 720p will work fine.
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post #3 of 13
5/4/06 at 7:08pm
Thread Starter 
ok thanks. Isn't 720p still considering HD though? Pretty much nothing supports 1080p...not even the 360 lol. Anyways thanks. I was going to say if it wasn't then iMovie HD would be a bit ironic.
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post #4 of 13
5/4/06 at 7:11pm
Yeah, 720p is still an HD resolution. It's just not the high-end, and as such, Apple doesn't consider it HD (their 20-inch display doesn't have "HD" in its name, whereas the 23- and 30-inch ones do).
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post #5 of 13
5/4/06 at 7:31pm
Thread Starter 
any clue what Dells 30inch resolution is?
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post #6 of 13
5/4/06 at 7:36pm
Apple's and Dell's 30-inch displays are at 2560x1600, way beyond any current HD resolution.
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post #7 of 13
5/4/06 at 10:39pm
Don't get too caught up in the marketing. I believe the first thing to be marketed as HD was 720. That was definitely higher definition than 480 which is the standard for digital cable I believe. As screens with more pixels came available, those densities became the new standard for "real" HD. And so it will always go until they come up with Ultra HD. Then UHD will be replaced by "No, really, for real this time Super Ultimate HD". And so on. Basically, HD is a pissing contest between various factions in the broadcast industry. It is a lot of sound and fury signifying nothing. Apple's use of the term is as much marketing as anything else. Don't give it another thought. Your iMac is great.
Apple has no competition. Every commercial product which competes directly with an Apple product gives the distinct impression that, Where it is original, it is not good, and where it is good, it...
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Apple has no competition. Every commercial product which competes directly with an Apple product gives the distinct impression that, Where it is original, it is not good, and where it is good, it...
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post #8 of 13
5/4/06 at 10:44pm
HDTV is, quite simply, 720p, 1080i or 1080p. Most currently-available devices only do the first two, and it depends largely on the content which of the two is preferable in terms of quality. 1080p beats both but is simply not very feasible yet.
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post #9 of 13
5/10/06 at 10:09am
And to make things even more complicated...

I've never seen 1080p at more than 24 frames per second. 1080i at 30 fps (technically 60 fields per second) is actually more information than 1080p.

Furthermore, it is arguable which looks better 720p or 1080i. Some people prefer the higher/progressive frame rate of 720p while other prefer the higher resolution of 1080i.

Either way, it doesn't really matter when it comes to the iMac. The screen's most limiting factor is it's size when viewing HD video at a typical viewing distance. Since there really isn't any HD content other than broadcast TV, the iMac's screen will be just fine. If you're planning on watching HD content on an iMac, the screen will likely not be the week link in your viewing experience. More likely is that the process for getting the full HD resolution content onto you iMac will be so annoying that it won't be worth the effort.
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post #10 of 13
5/10/06 at 4:53pm
Thread Starter 
Thanks, you have given me much more info than I asked for lol. AI really is a great spot for help.
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post #11 of 13
5/11/06 at 2:50am
Quote:
Originally posted by Shadow Slayer 26
Anyways thanks. I was going to say if it wasn't then iMovie HD would be a bit ironic.

Not really. It still plays HD media but it has to scale it down for viewing. That's like saying HDR images (64-bit) are ironic because computers can only display 32-bit. The idea is that it is capable of processing the media.

It'll still look good because instead of scaling the media up like DVD, it has to scale it down slightly. Playing HD on an imac will look pretty much the same (for a given viewing distance) as on a bigger display quality-wise, you just have a more restricted viewing space.

Unless you buy an HD drive, as someone said, the biggest problem will be getting the media onto your machine.
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post #12 of 13
5/12/06 at 8:09am
What about DVDs? Aren't they High Definition?
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post #13 of 13
5/12/06 at 8:49am
Nope, DVDs are just about the lowest res video source available today, 480i. (In NTSC countries)
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