You've probably seen those weird, jagged lines on an old TV screen when someone moves really fast. Or maybe you've noticed that some YouTube videos look "film-real" while others look like a smooth, hyper-real soap opera. It’s not just your imagination. Most of that comes down to the age-old battle: progressive vs interlaced video.
Honestly, the "p" and the "i" at the end of resolution numbers—like 1080p or 1080i—used to be the most confusing part of buying a television. While we've mostly moved into a progressive world, interlacing is this weird ghost of technology past that still haunts our broadcasts and security feeds. It’s a trick. A literal optical illusion designed to save bandwidth back when the internet was a pipe dream and airwaves were crowded.
What the Heck is Interlaced Video?
Think of a single frame of video as a sandwich. In an interlaced system, you aren't getting the whole sandwich at once. You’re getting the top bun and the lettuce in one go, then the meat and the bottom bun a fraction of a second later.
Specifically, the screen draws every other line of pixels. First, it hits the odd rows (1, 3, 5...). Then, it comes back and fills in the even rows (2, 4, 6...). Because this happens so fast—usually 50 or 60 times a second—your brain stitches them together. You think you’re seeing a solid image. You aren't. You’re seeing a flickering ghost of two different points in time merged into one.
Back in the day, companies like Sony and Panasonic had to figure out how to squeeze high-definition signals through narrow broadcast pipes. Interlacing was the hack. It let them send "half" the data but keep the motion fluid. If you’ve ever watched a football game on a standard cable box, there’s a massive chance you were watching 1080i.
But there is a catch.
When something moves across the screen faster than the refresh rate, the odd and even lines don't line up anymore. This creates "combing." It looks like someone took a pair of scissors to the side of a moving car or a runner’s leg. It's ugly. It's distracting. And it’s exactly why we started moving away from it.
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The Cleanliness of Progressive Scan
Now, let’s talk about the "p." Progressive scan is what your computer monitor uses. It’s what Netflix uses. It’s what basically every modern smartphone uses.
It draws the whole frame. 1, 2, 3, 4... all the way to the bottom. In order. Every single time.
Because the entire image is captured and displayed at the exact same moment, the "combing" effect disappears. The image is sharper. The edges are crisp. If you pause a progressive video, you get a perfect still frame. If you pause an interlaced video during a high-speed chase, you get a blurry, jagged mess that looks like a broken GPU.
Most people prefer progressive vs interlaced video for gaming or movies because it feels more solid. It doesn't have that slight "shimmer" that interlaced footage can have on high-contrast edges.
The Soap Opera Effect and Frame Rates
This is where things get slightly subjective. Have you ever gone to a friend's house, looked at their brand-new 4K TV, and thought, "Why does this movie look like a cheap daytime drama?"
That’s often a byproduct of how we handle motion.
Traditional film is 24 frames per second (fps). It has a natural motion blur that our brains associate with "cinema." Interlaced video, because it updates fields so frequently, often feels "too smooth." It has that hyper-realistic look of a live news broadcast or a 90s sitcom. Even though progressive scan is technically superior, a 60p video (60 full frames per second) can still feel "cheap" to movie buffs compared to 24p.
Why Does Interlaced Still Exist?
You might wonder why we haven't just killed it off. Seriously, it's 2026. Why are we still talking about this?
- Legacy Infrastructure: Broadcasters have billions of dollars tied up in equipment that was built for 1080i. Changing a whole satellite uplink system isn't something you do over a weekend.
- Bandwidth Savings: In some parts of the world, data is still expensive. Sending 1080i takes up significantly less space than 1080p60.
- Live Sports: Some engineers still swear by the "smoothness" of interlaced fields for live action, though that's a dying breed of opinion as 4K and 8K take over.
Deinterlacing: The Silent Hero
Every time you watch an old DVD or a legacy TV channel on your modern 4K OLED, your TV is doing a massive amount of math. It’s deinterlacing.
Since modern displays are natively progressive (they have to be; LEDs don't really do the "alternate line" thing well), the TV has to take those odd and even fields and "guess" what the missing lines should look like. This is called interpolation. High-end processors in TVs from brands like LG or Samsung are incredibly good at this. Cheap TVs? Not so much. That’s why an old movie might look "crunchy" or "soft" on a budget screen but surprisingly decent on a premium one.
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A Real-World Comparison
Imagine you're recording a kid's birthday party.
If you record in 1080i (if your camera even lets you anymore), and the kid blows out the candles while waving their arms, the movement might look fluid on an old CRT monitor, but when you upload it to YouTube, you'll see those "combing" artifacts.
If you record in 1080p, the movement is captured as a series of complete snapshots. It’s much easier to edit, much easier to share, and much easier on the eyes.
When comparing progressive vs interlaced video, progressive wins for almost every modern use case. It’s better for YouTube, better for TikTok, and definitely better for gaming. No gamer wants to see their character "comb" while they’re trying to hit a headshot in Call of Duty.
Technical Nuance: The 1080i vs 720p Debate
There was a famous debate back in the early 2000s. Which is better: 1080i or 720p?
1080i had more pixels (1920x1080), but 720p was progressive.
Sports fans usually preferred 720p. Even though it had "fewer" pixels, the fact that it was progressive meant that fast-moving balls and players didn't blur or tear. Discovery Channel and nature documentaries often went with 1080i because the extra detail made the stiller shots—like a lion sitting in the grass—look breathtakingly sharp.
It was a trade-off: vertical resolution vs temporal (motion) clarity.
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How to Check Your Own Tech
If you're curious about what you're actually looking at, check your device settings.
- Streaming Boxes: Go to Display settings. If you see "Auto," it’s likely picking the highest progressive resolution your TV supports.
- Security Cameras: This is one place where interlacing still hangs on. If your footage looks "liney," look for a setting to switch to progressive (P) mode.
- Video Editing: If you’re using Premiere Pro or DaVinci Resolve, always check your "Field Order." If it says "Upper Field First" or "Lower Field First," you’re working with interlaced footage. For the web, you always want "Progressive" (No Fields).
The Verdict for 2026
The war is basically over. Progressive won.
With the advent of 4K (2160p) and 8K, interlacing has become a relic. There is no such thing as 4Ki. The math just doesn't make sense anymore, and our processors are fast enough that we don't need to "cheat" with alternating lines to get a good picture.
But understanding the difference helps you troubleshoot. It helps you realize why that old home movie looks weird or why your cable box feels "off" compared to your Netflix app.
Actionable Steps for Better Video Quality
If you want the best possible experience, here is what you should actually do:
- Audit your cables: Ensure you're using High-Speed HDMI cables (2.0 or 2.1) to support high-frame-rate progressive signals.
- Set your output to 'p': Whether it's a Blu-ray player or a gaming console, always choose 1080p, 1440p, or 2160p over any "i" option.
- Deinterlace legacy footage: If you are digitizing old family tapes (VHS or Hi8), use a high-quality software deinterlacer like Handbrake (using the 'Yadif' or 'Decomb' filters) to turn those interlaced fields into clean progressive frames before you share them.
- Match your refresh rate: If you’re watching a 24p movie, check if your TV has a "Film" or "Real Cinema" mode. This allows the TV to match the progressive frames of the movie to the refresh rate of the panel without adding fake motion.
The transition from interlaced to progressive was one of the biggest leaps in visual comfort in the history of display tech. We've gone from "tricking the eye" to "showing the truth," one full frame at a time.