What Is Full HD? Everything You Need to Know
As the world of technology continues to evolve at a rapid pace, understanding certain terms can help you make informed decisions about the devices you buy. A great example of a common term related to digital displays, such as televisions and monitors, is ‘Full HD’. This term often appears in discussions about digital imagery and is typically seen as the benchmark for quality. However, what does Full HD really mean, and why has it become a coveted standard for visual entertainment?
In this guide, you’ll learn what Full HD means, how it differs from Standard HD, and what the benefits of it are. This will help you to fully understand what you’re buying when you’re next in the market for a digital display.
What Does FHD Mean?
FHD stands for Full High Definition and refers to a specific resolution standard that has become a benchmark in the world of digital displays, such as high-definition televisions.
The Basics: What Is Full HD?
Full HD is a screen resolution often denoted as 1080p and refers to the number of pixels that make up the image shown on the screen. This is an important factor when choosing a digital display because pixels, which are dots of colour, play a big part in how detailed the image you’re shown will be.
When a screen displays a Full HD (1080p) resolution, there are 1080 vertical pixels. The ‘p’ in 1080p refers to progressive scanning, which is renowned for its smooth image quality.
What Are the Differences Between Full HD and Standard HD?
The main difference between Full HD and Standard HD (often referred to simply as HD) is their resolutions. Full HD is referred to as 1080p and has 1080 vertical pixels, while Standard HD is referred to as 720p and has 720 vertical pixels.
This can be understood further through the following comparison:
- Full HD (1080p): Uses a ratio of 16:9 with 1920 horizontal and 1080 vertical pixels for a total of 2,073,600 pixels.
- Standard HD (720p): Uses a ratio of 16:9 with 1280 horizontal and 720 vertical pixels for a total of 921,600 pixels.
Considering the above, it’s easy to see why Full HD is desirable over Standard HD because it offers a denser pixel arrangement, which leads to more detailed and clearer images.
What Are the Benefits of Full HD?
There are lots of benefits of Full HD and you should consider the following examples when looking for a new digital display:
Enhanced Image Clarity and Detail
One of the major benefits of Full HD is that it provides enhanced image clarity and detail, which leads to a more immersive viewing experience than Standard HD. This is due to the higher pixel count, which means that the images displayed are sharper and more defined.
Balancing Quality and Affordability
As technology continues to evolve, we can now enjoy the likes of 4K and 8K resolutions, which provide a superior viewing experience to Full HD. However, these resolutions also cost more, so aren’t suitable for all budgets.
Full HD units provide a great solution to this because they balance quality and affordability. These screens deliver a significant upgrade on Standard HD alternatives but don’t require the premium financial output of higher resolution models.
Ideal for Modern Media Consumption
These days, most popular media formats are optimised for Full HD, which means users can enjoy a huge range of content in great quality without needing to opt for higher-resolution models.
Widespread Compatibility
Full HD is a versatile choice because it has become a standard resolution, which means that it is compatible with the likes of televisions, laptops, monitors, and smartphones. The benefit of this is that users can enjoy a consistent quality of content consumption across a wide range of devices.
Improved Content Consumption
When it comes to content consumption, it’s important to understand that higher resolutions can provide more immersive experiences. For example, Full HD is a high enough resolution to enhance the overall consumption of films and video games over that of Standard HD because it provides enhanced image clarity and detail, which helps to reveal fine details.
Suitable Across Various Screens
In the modern world of televisions, large screen sizes have become commonplace for consumers. One of the potential problems with this is that images can appear pixelated with lower resolutions on larger screens. However, Full HD doesn’t have this issue because it maintains image quality across a wide range of screen sizes.
What Is Full HD’s Future?
As we continue to dive into the era of ultra-high resolutions, Full HD is well-placed to play an important role. Notably, it serves as a bridge between historic standards and future improvements, which means it can provide a combination of quality, affordability, and compatibility that will remain relevant for a long time to come.
