1080p
1080p is a set of HDTV high-definition video modes characterized by 1,920 pixels displayed across the screen horizontally and 1,080 pixels down the screen vertically; the p stands for progressive scan, i.e. non-interlaced. The term usually assumes a widescreen aspect ratio of 16:9, implying a resolution of 2.1 megapixels. It is often marketed as Full HD or FHD, to contrast 1080p with 720p resolution screens. Although 1080p is sometimes referred to as 2K resolution, other sources differentiate between 1080p and 2K resolution.
1080p video signals are supported by ATSC standards in the United States and DVB standards in Europe. Applications of the 1080p standard include television broadcasts, Blu-ray Discs, smartphones, Internet content such as YouTube videos and Netflix TV shows and movies, consumer-grade televisions and projectors, computer monitors and video game consoles. Small camcorders, smartphones and digital cameras can capture still and moving images in 1080p resolution.
Broadcasting standards
Any display device that advertises 1080p typically refers to the ability to accept a 1080p signal and display it with a native resolution of at least 1080 lines vertically. This means that the display is not over-scanning, under-scanning, or reinterpreting the signal to a lower resolution. The HD ready 1080p logo program, by DigitalEurope, requires that certified TV sets support 1080p 24 fps, 1080p 25 fps, 1080p 50 fps, and 1080p 60 fps formats, among other requirements, with fps meaning frames per second. For live broadcast applications, a high-definition progressive scan format operating at 1080p at 50 or 60 frames per second was being evaluated as a future standard for moving picture acquisition, although 24 fps was used for shooting movies. Until the early 2010s, EBU was endorsing 1080p50 as a future-proof production format because it improved resolution and required no deinterlacing, allowed broadcasting of standard 1080i50 and 720p50 signal alongside 1080p50 even in the current infrastructure and was compatible with DCI distribution formats.1080p50/p60 production format requires a whole new range of studio equipment including cameras, storage and editing systems, and contribution links as it has doubled the data rate of current 50 or 60 fields interlaced 1920 × 1080 from 1.485 Gbit/s to nominally 3 Gbit/s using uncompressed RGB encoding. Most current revisions of SMPTE 372M, SMPTE 424M and EBU Tech 3299 require YCbCr color space and 4:2:2 chroma subsampling for transmitting 1080p50 and 1080p60 signal. Studies from 2009 show that for digital broadcasts compressed with H.264/AVC, transmission bandwidth savings of interlaced video over fully progressive video are minimal even when using twice the frame rate; i.e., 1080p50 signal actually produces the same bit rate as 1080i50 signal.
ATSC
In the United States, the original ATSC standards for HDTV supported 1080p video, but only at the frame rates of 23.976, 24, 25, 29.97 and 30 frames per second. In July 2008, the ATSC standards were amended to include H.264/MPEG-4 AVC compression and 1080p at 50, 59.94 and 60 frames per second. Such frame rates require H.264/AVC High Profile Level 4.2, while standard HDTV frame rates only require Level 4.0. This update is not expected to result in widespread availability of 1080p60 programming, since most of the existing digital receivers in use would only be able to decode the older, less-efficient MPEG-2 codec, and because there is a limited amount of bandwidth for subchannels.DVB
In Europe, 1080p25 signals have been supported by the DVB suite of broadcasting standards. The 1080p50 format is considered to be a future-proof production format and, eventually, a future broadcasting format. 1080p50 broadcasting should require the same bandwidth as 1080i50 signal and only 15–20% more than that of 720p50 signal due to increased compression efficiency, though 1080p50 production requires more bandwidth or more efficient codecs such as JPEG 2000, high-bitrate MPEG-2, or H.264/AVC and HEVC. In September 2009, ETSI and EBU, the maintainers of the DVB suite, added support for 1080p50 signal coded with MPEG-4 AVC High Profile Level 4.2 with Scalable Video Coding extensions or VC-1 Advanced Profile compression; DVB also supports 1080p encoded at ATSC frame rates of 23.976, 24, 29.97, 30, 59.94 and 60.EBU requires that legacy MPEG-4 AVC decoders should avoid crashing in the presence of SVC or 1080p50 packets. SVC enables forward compatibility with 1080p50 and 1080p60 broadcasting for older MPEG-4 AVC receivers, so they will only recognize baseline SVC stream coded at a lower resolution or frame rate and will gracefully ignore additional packets, while newer hardware will be able to decode full-resolution signal.
In June 2016, EBU announced the "Advanced 1080p" format which will include UHD Phase A features such as high-dynamic-range video at 10 and 12 bit color and BT.2020 color gamut, and optional HFR 100, 120/1.001 and 120 Hz; an advanced 1080p video stream can be encoded alongside baseline HDTV or UHDTV signal using Scalable HEVC. The ITU-T BT.2100 standard that includes Advanced 1080p video was subsequently published in July 2016.
Resolutions
In practice, 1080p typically refers to a 1920 × 1080p raster with a 16:9 picture aspect ratio. The following is a list of other resolutions with a picture height of 1080 lines that are sometimes referred as 1080p.| Standard | Resolution | Picture aspect ratio |
| HDV 1080i | 1440 × 1080p | 4:3 |
| 3:2 wide | 1620 × 1080p | 3:2 |
| 16:10 wide | 1728 × 1080p | 16:10 |
| 5:3 widescreen | 1800 × 1080p | 5:3 |
| Full HD | 1920 × 1080p | 16:9 |
| Full HD+ | 2160 × 1080p | 18:9 |
| DCI 2K | 2048 × 1080p | 1.90:1 |
| Smartphone display | 2220 × 1080p | 18.5:9 |
| Smartphone 19:9 display | 2280 × 1080p | 19:9 |
| Smartphone display | 2340 × 1080p | 19.5:9 |
| Smartphone 20:9 display | 2400 × 1080p | 20:9 |
| Ultrawide | 2560 × 1080p | ≈ 21:9 |
| Vertical | 1080 × 1920p | 9:16 |
Availability
Broadcasts
In the United States, 1080p over-the-air broadcasts are currently available in select stations in some cities in the US via ATSC 3.0 multiplex stations where as ATSC 3.0 is currently rolling out throughout the U.S. The majority of the stations that broadcast at 1080p are CBS and NBC stations and affiliates. All other stations do not broadcast at 1080p and usually broadcast at 720p60 or 1080i60 encoded with MPEG-2. There is also technical restrictions with ATSC 3.0 multiplex stations that prevent stations from airing at 1080p. While converting to ATSC 3.0 is voluntary by TV Stations, there is no word when any of the major networks will consider airing at 1080p in the foreseeable future on a national scale, although they are required to broadcast ATSC signals for at least five years thereafter. However, satellite services use the 1080p/24-30 format with MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 encoding for pay-per-view movies that are downloaded in advance via satellite or on-demand via broadband. At this time, no pay service channel such as USA, HDNET, etc. nor premium movie channel such as HBO, etc., stream their services live to their distributors in this format because many MVPDs, especially DBS and cable, do not have sufficient bandwidth to provide the format streaming live to their subscribers without negatively impacting their current services.For material that originates from a progressive scanned 24 frame/s source, MPEG-2 lets the video be coded as 1080p24, irrespective of the final output format. These progressively-coded frames are tagged with metadata instructing a decoder how to perform a 3:2 pulldown to interlace them. While the formal output of the MPEG-2 decoding process from such stations is 1080i60, the actual content is coded as 1080p24 and can be viewed as such since no information is lost even when the broadcaster performs the 3:2 pulldown.
In June 2016, German television stations began broadcasting 1080p50 high-definition video on eight channels via the HEVC-encoded DVB-T2 protocol. A total of 40 channels were available on March 29, 2017. Further changes took place on November 8, 2017, April 25, 2018, September 26, 2018, October 24, 2018, November 8, 2018, November 28, 2018, December 5, 2018, March 13, 2019, April 3, 2019, May 22, 2019 and August 29, 2019.