What is Full HD and HD ready? Easily explained
The HD format has now become the standard in almost every living room. But in this practical tip we explain exactly what is meant by HD-ready and Full-HD.
That means HD ready
- HD-ready means "ready for HD" in German and stands for televisions that have a sharper picture than the old tube TVs. "HD" stands for high definition and means "high definition television" in the figurative sense. "720p" is often on the packaging.
- The label was launched in early 2005 by the European Information, Communications and Consumer Electronics Industry Technology Association (EICTA) to take the step towards even sharper TV pictures.
- Televisions that have the HD-ready symbol have a full-screen resolution of 1, 280 x 720 pixels. Older tube devices, on the other hand, only have a resolution of 720 x 576 pixels. This makes the image appear sharper on HD-ready devices.
- If you have an HD-ready device, you can watch the public service broadcasters (ARD, ZDF, etc.) in HD, provided you have an HD receiver. The resolution of the HD channels is usually 1, 280 x 720.
Full HD as an upgrade to HD ready
- Full-HD stands for "Full High Definition" and means translated into German: "Full High Definition". Often the packaging also says "1080p". That stands for the resolution of 1, 920 x 1080 pixels.
- The resolution is significantly higher than that of HD-ready. This means that small details in the image do not lose their sharpness so quickly and the entire image looks better and more detailed than on HD-ready devices.
- If you have a Full HD television, you can also enjoy ARD and ZDF HD with 1, 280 x 720 pixels. A higher resolution is not possible because these broadcasters only broadcast the signal in this resolution.
- However, you can enjoy the full HD resolution with Blurays. To do this, you need to connect a Bluray player to your Full HD television using an HDMI cable. This way, you can watch films and series in 1, 920 x 1080 pixels.
- Most streaming services also support Full HD:
In the meantime there are almost only "Smart TVs" to buy. In another practical tip, we will explain exactly what is meant by "Smart TV". We also present you the best TVs in the test.