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Full HD has become standard in almost every living room. Only a few TVs are still sold with HD-ready. We explain what both terms mean.
What Full HD and HD-ready are: What you need to know
The terms HD-ready and Full HD indicate the resolution of a television set.
- HD-ready means “ready for HD.” TVs with this resolution have a sharper picture than old tube TVs. “HD” stands for high definition and means “high-resolution television.” The packaging often also says “720p.”
- Televisions that have the HD ready symbol have a full screen resolution of 1,280 x 720 pixels. Older tube televisions, on the other hand, only achieve a resolution of 720 x 576 pixels. This makes the picture on HD ready devices appear significantly sharper.
- Today, the term “HD ready” is hardly used anymore and usually only appears on very small or older devices. If you have such a device, you can watch public broadcasters (ARD, ZDF, etc.) in HD. Provided you have an HD receiver. The resolution of HD channels is usually 1,280 x 720.
- Full HD stands for “Full High Definition.” The packaging often also says “1080p.” This stands for a resolution of 1,920 x 1,080 pixels.
- The resolution is therefore significantly higher than HD-ready. This means that smaller details in the image do not lose their sharpness as quickly, and the entire image appears better and more detailed than on HD-ready devices.
- However, even with a Full HD TV, you can only enjoy ARD and ZDF HD with a resolution of 1,280 x 720 pixels. A higher resolution is not possible because these broadcasters only transmit the signal in this resolution.
- However, you can enjoy the full HD resolution with Blu-rays. To do this, you need to connect a Blu-ray player to your Full HD TV via an HDMI cable. This allows you to watch movies and series in 1,920 x 1,080 pixels. Streaming services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime also support Full HD.
Full HD: Now the minimum standard
Most televisions are now equipped with Full HD resolution.
- HD-Ready TVs are now only sold in very small sizes. However, at a size of 30 inches (0.76 m) or less, you will hardly notice any difference between HD-Ready and Full HD from a distance of 1.5 meters. The difference in quality is only noticeable on larger devices.
- In addition to Full HD, higher standards such as 4K or Ultra HD and 8K have now become established and are increasingly replacing Full HD.
- With 3,840 x 2,160 pixels, Ultra HD offers four times the resolution of Full HD and ensures even sharper and more detailed images. 8K devices with 7,680 x 4,320 pixels are still rare and expensive, but they represent the next level of television technology.
- Devices larger than 60 inches (1.52 m) benefit particularly from Ultra HD, as the higher resolution significantly improves image quality. An Ultra HD TV may therefore be recommended for larger models.
