Full HD TVs

Also referred to as either Full High Definition TVs and 1080p interchangeably, Full HD televisions have 1920 x 1080 pixels which is great for displaying content clearly when watching your favourite free-to-air 1080p HD TV channels and 1080p Blu-ray films.

There's a lot of content available in Full HD 1080p, which makes this resolution of TV convenient as you can experience Full HD TV shows and films the way they're meant to be seen via You Tube, your subscription services via Netflix and more.

Generally speaking, if you’re on the hunt for a smaller sized TV for the home office or bedroom, you’ll find the resolution to be Full HD - this can be perfect for screens say 42” and below, while the larger screen TVs tend to be 4K Ultra HD where this sharper resolution can truly be enjoyed as intended.

Most Full HD TVs are also smart TVs; meaning they have built-in Wi-Fi for connecting to your home internet so you can stream your favourite subscription content. When hunting, you might want to consider the apps you need like Disney+ for example and the preferred smart TV platform e.g. Sharp’s Android TV or Samsung's QLED TV with Smart Hub and built-in voice assistant along with a clever design that makes the TV seem like a piece of art.

Both HD and Full HD are high definition TVs. Full HD, however, displays sharper detail over standard HD TVs; the latter being the lowest level of HD resolution. The HD screen is made up of 1280 x 720 pixels (720p) compared to 1920 x 1080 pixels (1080p) in Full HD.

The higher the pixel count, the better your TV picture will be. So, if you want better colours and clarity with sharper images, you’re best choosing a Full HD TV.

Some brands such as TCL, Hisense, and Hitachi still making HD TVs, but you’ll find these to be mainly 32” (which can work well if you’re after a smart TV for kitchens, bedrooms, or to take away in your caravan). You’ll find these TVs are LED TVs that offer a bright display with better contrast.

In Full HD TVs, TV sizes range from 32” to 42” - perfect if you’re wanting a slightly larger, small screen TV for a smaller space. Again, 1080p is the most common format across online streaming and free-to-air HD channels, so on a Full HD TV you're going to see native 1080p content displayed as intended.

Increasingly however,  many High Definition TVs are being replaced by the 4K and 8K TVs to keep up with consumer demand for better resolution and picture quality.

A HD Ready TV means you can only watch a High Definition (HD) picture if your TV is connected to a HD source.

You can watch HD content when your TV is connected to a HD TV box, a Blu-Ray player, a HD-enabled computer, or a HD-enabled gaming console.

To watch HD channels on a HD Ready TV, you need to connect your TV to a HD source using an HDTV set top box or an antenna. By plugging your TV into your antenna, you should be able to access the free-to-air HD channels. 

When using any of these HD ‘receivers’ like a Blu-Ray player or a gaming console, you need a HDMI cable to create the HD images.

Although most internet streaming content is designed to be high definition, the quality will also depend on your internet speed. NBN or high-speed broadband is best. If you find your TV picture isn’t ideal, you may need to lower your TVs resolution to suit your internet. 

A 4K Ultra HD TV screen is made up of 3840 x 2160 pixels - that’s 4x the number of pixels compared to Full HD. Owners find 4K TVs impressively stimulating, with the most vibrant colours and sharp imagery thanks to a slew of sophisticated colour and backlighting technologies (depending on model and price point).

Like Full HD, some smaller TVs are 4K, like these 43” Sony or Samsung 4K TVs, however if you’re looking at going big - with a screen of at least 55” to a whopping 85” - the resolution is always 4K (and increasingly 8K) because Ultra HD at that scale is simply better.

With 4K, there’s also different screen technologies to choose from: OLED (the best picture quality), LED LCD (the most common type), QLED (tiny quantum dots magnify brightness and colour using a backlight made up of LEDs), or Mini LED (new LED LCD TVs offering superior contrast and brightness over conventional LED TVs). Full HD TVs are generally LED LCD.

You can stream 4K Ultra High Definition (UHD) content on a Full High Definition TV however the TV isn’t capable of displaying UHD content, so it will scale it down to match your TV’s resolution. The same thing will happen if you watch movies using a 4K Blu-Ray player or play UHD games through your gaming consoles. Unless your device is connected to a UHD TV, the resolution will drop.

To get the best picture quality for streaming 4K content, you should opt for a 4K TV. Plus, many 4K TVs have 4K upscaling that take your Full HD 1080p content and render it closer to lifelike 4K, however Full HD TVs can be ample if you're after a smaller TV and you're only interested in 1080p content.