1080 or 720 for 2nd remote TV?

[spinnaker]

My main screen is a 42 inch 1080p Vizio and it has served me nicely so far. Under my old setup I had a LDTV DirectTV box with an RF cable running upstairs to my office connected to an old CRT type TV. I was able to watch the same content upstairs and down.

I plan to replicate this with my 7MC setup. I have already purchased a long HDMI cable and a splitter box. Now I need a TV. Since it will be my secondary TV, I don't want to spend a lot of money. I will probably go with 32 inch or under, But which resolution? I can save a few dollars by buying 720p but is this a good idea? I do know I won't be able to view Blueray but that is no big deal. If I view blueray it can be on my main screen. But are there any other issues? Any problems with viewing 7MC? What if I use a browser? Might I have issues there in viewing the actual webpages to get to the streaming video?

[crawfish]

Depends on viewing distance:

http://carltonbale.com/1080p-does-matter/

A 32" 720p TV is 1280x720, plenty to display web pages and use Windows in general. Media Center will be fine with it. You can certainly view Bluray on a 720p screen, and it will look great subject to the viewing distance consideration. I hope you don't run into issues with the HDMI splitter and long cable. For 15' and shorter, I've found there is no reason to spend more than $10 on a 28 AWG cable, but longer lengths may require a thicker cable, and using a splitter could introduce problems, too. You'll just have to try it and see.

[spinnaker]

I just read a post that there might be issues with mixing resolutions on a splitter. Any truth to that? It is a splitter amp that I purchased.

[newfiend]

I have a 1080p TV in the livingroom and a 720p TV in the bedroom. As Crawfish said viewing distance makes the biggest difference. As I am sitting in bed watching the TV the picture quality actually looks pretty good. If I move closer to the end of the bed I can visually see a difference in picture quality. It's a bit more blocky than I would like. I wish I had bought a 1080p display but the cost was much less on the 720p model. Since it was a bedroom TV & not one that is watched a bunch it works fine. If you can swing the little extra funds get a 1080p.. If not the 720p should work fine.
I have never ran a HDMI splitter so I can't comment on mixing resolutions works with one of those unfortunately.
HTH,
newfiend~

[crawfish]

I just read a post that there might be issues with mixing resolutions on a splitter. Any truth to that? It is a splitter amp that I purchased.

I wouldn't think you'd be able to send 1080p to a splitter and have it output 1080p and 720p. I expect if you do get a 720p TV, you need to make sure it can accept a 1080p signal.

[adam1991]

Yes, that.

Every 720p set today can accept a 1080i signal and then handles the conversion internally, but 1080p is different.

[Wolfshadw]

Since you already spent the money on the splitter, I'd probably lean towards getting a 1080p HDTV for upstairs. I'd probably recommend that anyway since you don't have to deal with two separate resolutions, but if you could return the splitter and perhaps go with a discrete graphics card in your 7MC set up, you could easily go with separate resolutions (currently using both 720p HDTV and 1080p Projector, but not simultaneously).

-Wolf sends