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cujoca

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jul 24, 2006
205
0
I was just wondering if the 20" iMac is HD compatiable? Any insight would be much appreciated.

Thanks
 

psycoswimmer

macrumors 65816
Sep 27, 2006
1,302
1
USA
The 20" Resolution is 1680 x 1050, which is over 720P, so I'd assume it's standard HD. I'm not completely sure of this, though. The 24" is 1920 x 1200, so that would be over 1920 x 1080, which is Full HD. I know that the ACDs are labeled to say that just the 23" and 30" are "HD Displays".
 

Chundles

macrumors G5
Jul 4, 2005
12,037
493
I was just wondering if the 20" iMac is HD compatiable? Any insight would be much appreciated.

Thanks

Well, yes and no.

The screen with it's resolution of 1680x1050 is capable of playing 720p HD content natively (1280x720) but for Apple to affix the "HD" moniker it needs to be capable of playing 1080i/p content at it's native size (1920x1080) which it cannot.

It can play 1080i/p content but scaled down to fit the screen.

The 24" iMac can play 1080i/p content at the correct size.

HD is all about the resolution of the screen, not whether the machine is capable of playing back the content. All iMacs (even the cheapest one I believe) are capable of playing back HD content, the 17" and 20" can play back 720p and the 24" 1080i/p but they all have the ability to scale down the image to fit the screen.
 

MacBoySeattle

macrumors member
Sep 2, 2006
74
1
Well, yes and no.

The screen with it's resolution of 1680x1050 is capable of playing 720p HD content natively (1280x720) but for Apple to affix the "HD" moniker it needs to be capable of playing 1080i/p content at it's native size (1920x1080) which it cannot.

It can play 1080i/p content but scaled down to fit the screen.

The 24" iMac can play 1080i/p content at the correct size.

HD is all about the resolution of the screen, not whether the machine is capable of playing back the content. All iMacs (even the cheapest one I believe) are capable of playing back HD content, the 17" and 20" can play back 720p and the 24" 1080i/p but they all have the ability to scale down the image to fit the screen.

Wrong. In America atleast, HD is defined as EITHER supporting 720P OR 1080i. 1080p is a bonus, but a device doesn't have to support 1080p to be considered HD. Infact about 80% of the HDTV plasmas and LCDs sold in America are 720p (that is 1366 X 768, or 720P) and ARE "HD" by definition and legally classified as HDTVs.
 
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