From not so long ago, I started to watch movies in 720p or 1080p (at least those I can find in these resolutions). From my first 3-5 titles watched in these video modes I can definitely say that resolution matters and 576p is no longer my favorite :).

For those who are still in the darkness 576p is standard DVD resolution and from some time to pretty much today it is widely spread and used. The resolution of it is 720×576 px (704×576 px) and almost every movie comes out on DVD first (and DVD rips leak to internet), and then after a few months Blu ray versions follow (and you get 720p / 1080p rips as well).

720p and 1080p are much sharper (well, yeah :)) and if your sight is ok it’ll make the movie even more exciting to watch. The problem with that kind of movies are 1) that you have to buy a Blu ray player (or PS3 or other device with Blu ray reader) or 2) you’ll have to keep large files (from 2 to 20gb each, a lot of time to download even on 10mbps) per movie. With current HDD sizes and prices it’s actually quite acceptable. And you have to have some sort of Full HD player, chinese or whatever.

One thing more – if I sit in 3m away from a 32-40″ TV I cannot see the difference between 720p and 1080p, it seems to me that 1080p serves best on big screen TV’s.

576p is small (files range from 700mb to 3gb for a very good quality), easily downloadable and can be played on almost any decent DVD player with MP4 support. These versions of movies usually appear quick but after HD are not so hot on a good TV screen :).

The resolution matters – 1080p is 1920×1080 px; 720p is 1280×720 px and 576p is only 720×576px.

Btw, 35mm film movies in cinemas are usually shown by powerful projectors with 4096×3112 px to 6144×4668 px.