Televisions are of the following resolutions

SDTV: 480i (NTSC, 720×480 split into two 240-line fields) SDTV: 576i (PAL, 720×576 split into two 288-line fields) EDTV: 480p (NTSC, 720×480) HDTV: 720p (1280×720) HDTV: 1080i (1280×1080, 1440×1080, or 1920×1080 split into two 540-line fields) HDTV: 1080p (1920*1080 progressive scan), source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Display_resolution

Evolution of standards

Many personal computers introduced in the late 1970s and the 1980s were designed to use television sets as their display devices, making the resolutions dependent on the television standards in use, including PAL and NTSC. Picture sizes were usually limited in order to ensure the visibility of all the pixels in the major television standards and the broad range of television sets with varying amounts of overscan. The actual drawable picture area was therefore somewhat smaller than the whole screen, and was usually surrounded by a static-colored border (see image to right). Also, the interlace scanning was usually omitted in order to provide more stability to the picture, effectively halving the vertical resolution in progress. 160×200, 320×200 and 640×200 on NTSC were relatively common resolutions in the era (224, 240 or 256 scanlines were also common). In the IBM PC world, these resolutions came to be used by 16-color CGA video cards.

One of the drawbacks of using a classic television is that the computer display resolution is higher than the TV could decode. Chroma resolution for NTSC/PAL televisions are bandwidth-limited to a maximum 1.5 megahertz, or approximately 160 pixels wide, which led to blurring of the color for 320 or 640-wide signals, and made text difficult to read (see second image to right). Many users upgraded to higher-quality televisions with S-Video or RGBI inputs that helped eliminate chroma blur & produce more legible displays. The earliest, lowest cost solution to the chroma problem was offered in the Atari 2600 Video Computer System and the Apple II+, both of which offered the option to disable the color and view a legacy black-and-white signal. On the Commodore 64, the GEOS mirrored the Macintosh OS method of using black-and-white to improve readability. A 4096 color interlaced image from 1989 16 color (top) and 256 color (bottom) progressive from 1980s VGA card. Dithering is used to overcome color limitations.

The 640×400i resolution (720x480i with borders disabled) was first introduced by home computers such as the Commodore Amiga and (later) Atari Falcon. These computers used interlace to boost the maximum vertical resolution. These modes were only suited to graphics or gaming, as the flickering interlace made reading text in word processor, database, or spreadsheet software difficult. (Modern game consoles solve this problem by pre-filtering the 480i video to a lower resolution. For example Final Fantasy 12 suffers from flicker when the filter is turned off, but stabilizes once filtering is restored. The computers of the 1980s lacked sufficient power to run similar filtering software.)

The advantage of a 720×480i overscanned computer was an easy interface with interlaced TV production, leading to the development of Newtek's Video Toaster. This device allowed Amigas to be used for CGI creation in various news departments (example: weather overlays), drama programs such as NBC's seaQuest, WB's Babylon 5, and early computer-generated animation by Disney for the Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, and Aladdin.

In the PC world, the IBM PS/2 VGA and MCGA (multi-color) on-board graphics chips used a non-interlaced (progressive) 640×480x16 color resolution that was easier to read and thus more-useful for office work. It was the standard resolution from 1990 to around 1996. The standard resolution was 800×600 until around 2000. Today most web browsers are set to 1280x1024. Microsoft Windows XP is designed to run at 800×600 minimum although it is possible to select the original 640×480 in the Advanced Settings Window. Linux, FreeBSD, and most Unix variants use the X Window System and can run at any desired resolution as long as the display and video card support it.

Programs designed to mimic older hardware such as Atari, Sega, or Nintendo game consoles (emulators) when attached to multiscan CRTs, routinely use much lower resolutions such as 160x200 or 320x400 for greater authenticity. source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Display_resolution#Evolution_of_standards

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Darko, Mirza Dizdarevic

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AndriusKulikauskas January 7, 2009 14:46 CET Hi Darko, I have set up this page. I am sorry I didn't do that earlier.

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