I am interested in buying a TV capable of displaying 720p sources.

720p means that the source is operating at a resolution of 1280x720.

Now, there are many televisions that meet that resolution. However, MOST televisions able to display 720p (probably 80% of the ones I have seen) operate in 1366x768 or 1280x768. They then scale the 720p source to fit the available pixels.

Now, I have seen large LCD monitors capable of extremely high resolutions displaying games running at say, 1024x768. When the image is scaled, the game starts to look a little odd and lacks clarity due to this scaling.

So that makes me wonder - wouldn't it make more sense to purchase a television with a native resolution of 1280x720 for the best possible picture quality, since no scaling would take place? And if that is the case, why are televisions being manufactured with slightly higher resolutions than what is necessary?

Thanks all.

Chebwa