Everyone knows what 1080p is, right?

It never ceases to amaze me that advertisers assume that everyone knows every technical term there is to know. For instance, last night while watching my beloved Green Bay Packers lose the NFC Championship game, I saw a local ad for an electronics store trying to drum up interest in new widescreen televisions just in time for the Super Bowl. The gentleman in the ad proclaimed, “We sell televisions with full 1080p.”

Now how many of you reading this know what 1080p means? Unless you have participated in Noobie’s Are You Ready for the Transition to High Definition Television? workshop, I’m guessing very few of you.

So let me set the record straight. In the simplest form, 1080 refers to the number of lines that make up the picture on the screen and the “p” stands for progressive which means the lines are drawn on the screen sequentially. This is in contrast to 1080i which is interlaced meaning the lines are drawn on the screen by first drawing all of the odd lines and then all of the even lines.

Clear as mud

During my high definition class I provide this exact same explanation which is usually met with a lot of blank stares from my participants. Which is why I always end up telling my participants to just know that 1080p is the best high definition picture, sometimes referred to as true HD or native HD.

If you still feel left in the dark and don’t live in the Indianapolis and surrounding area, be patient. Noobie will be soon be offering an online version of its high definition class that you can take from the privacy of your own home.