How can Blu-Ray be higher def than HDTV?
I have HDTV and the images are very nice- my question is technical- it can’t have higher definition than 1080p (or i), which I receive digitally
It's not higher-def in the number of pixels, but those who transmit your HDTV use high compression to save bandwidth, and that hurts picture quality. HDTV is also broadcast at a maximum 1080i (interlaced), while Blu-Ray is 1080p. You do need a big, high-speed TV to notice the difference though.
You're getting 1080i (interlaced) on HDTV - and the cable companies are sometimes cheating and delivering lower quality feeds. Blu-ray is 1080p non-interlaced, and it's perfect.
To me the big problem with Blu-ray adoption is not the player, it's that too many of the greatest movies haven't been released on Blu-ray yet - the catalog is skewed toward more recent releases. Unless you're the kind would rather see classics like "Alien vs. Predator" instead of "Ben Hur". ;)
HDTV is 1080i, BD is 1080p. the "i" stands for interpolated- it "guesses" 1080 lines. BD is a true 1080.
The difference is you can go right up to the screen and it looks like a photograph. On my 52" LCD, I could see that Dave Matthews needed to floss his teeth.
HDTV is pixellated if you walk right up to it. Not with BD.