I wrote this comment on a prior discussion about this:

> SD vs HD, is dependent upon who you ask. The CEA, which represents the TV makers, says that anything with at least 720 lines is HDTV, thus enabling 1024x768 to be called HDTV. ATSC, which develops broadcast standards, says that HDTV should be 720 or 1080 lines at 16:9 aspect ratio, which implies 1280x720 or 1920x1080.

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4710875

I'm sure it can play an HD movie if that's the file you have, just the screen resolution is such that it won't appear as HD to your eyes.

But this post is a wonderful example of the sort of doubt Amazon will be very happy to have spread as a result of the ads.

So Amazon is just saying that 720p is not HD enough? They have decided to define HD as high-dpi screens only all of a sudden? I guess it goes with their branding, but yeah, totally misleading.

iPad mini can't play 720p either (1280x720) without scaling or cropping since the screen is only 1024x768.

They're probably using 1080P as the definition of HD.

The last time I looked at buying a movie in iTunes, the max resolution they sold was 720P.

720p as HD definition will suffice for Amazon.

iPad mini has 768 pixels, but the display is 4:3. It will not display 720 lines without distorting the video. Or cropping. To play 16:9, it will be displayed as 1024x576 with black bars at top and bottom. 576 happens to be SD PAL.

No longer the case. They started renting/selling 1080p content with (or perhaps before) the release of the 1080p Apple TV.