A plasma that has a resolution of 1024x768 can display 768 scaning lines. The 768 is the number of horizontal rows of pixels and is also the number of scanning lines a plasma can show. The 1024 is the number of vertical rows of pixels. The horizontal rezolution is enough to display 720p, the vertical is not, but all that matters as far as whether or not a tv can be considered hd is that it can display all the scaning lines in one of the hd formats. The fact that the actual pixel count works out to a ratio of 1.33:1 (4x3) and not 1.77:1 (16x9) does not mean that the display is 4x3, it just means that the pixels are not symetrical which is not a problem if the scaler in the unit is designed properly. The same applies to displays which are 1024x1024 or 1:1, these pixels are just a little less symetrical than others.