1080p panels cost $50-$80 (£27 - £53 based on screen size) more to make than 720p, according to Pete Gamby of Meko, who specialises in LCD market research.

Despite being so cheap to go from 720p to 1080p, manufacturers put huge mark-ups on TVs that are full HD. NEC and Viewsonic for whom he had been invited to talk for didn't disagree with his findings.

It is technically easy to go to 1080p from 720p on the production line. The cynical among us would suggest LCD TV producers are holding back true high definition so that in a year's time consumers will rush out to upgrade their 'old' 720p panels. He also said the shift to widescreen TVs didn't occur because they are more attractive for viewing content, but because they are cheaper to produce than 4:3 aspect ratio monitors.

Meko doesn't believe 1080p is useful on monitors less than 40in because there's no perceived improvement in picture quality, but it is ideal for monitors bigger than 60in.

Finally Pete Gamby suggested the HD TV revolution is a bit of a scam. If standard definition services like Freeview, broadcast in 576p instead of 576i and at a higher bit-rate, then HD wouldn't look that much better than standard definition and panel makers wouldn't have had sales of 1.4m HD tellies in the UK. Only 90,000 punters currently get HD in the UK through Sky's HD service.