I have an HD cable box from Comcast. Why do the 1080i channels (HBO-HD, CBS-HD etc) look better than the 720p channels (ESPN-HD, ABC-HD, Fox-HD)? This is true for all programming - sports, video and film. My display is a 60 inch A200 series Sony SXRD at 1080p using HDMI connections. Does this mean that if you have a 1080p display like mine then a 1080i source will be better?
Good question, Most cable companies broadcast in 1080i, it takes the 720p like ABC's signal an converts it to 1080i. They take it out of it's native format. So it's loses it's qualities. Keeping 1080i in 1080i will be better than converting 720p to 1080i. This also has a lot to do with the type of monitor you have. Even though progressive is a better signal, if you have a CRT it looks better in the 1080i mode. The CRT is a native interlaced resolution and most 720p signals on CRT's are converted to 480p. In your case with 720p... your set has to make up 360 vertical lines and 166400 vertical pixels... augmented.... and that's if the signal was a real 720p format and not converted to 1080i. This is why I am not a 1080p proponet. 1080p SXRD is made to weave together the 540i fields of the 1080i signal. The max resolution for the eyes at average distance is 768x1366p as you see above... but if you add too many pixels as fillers you weaken the quality.... keep adding water to Kool Aid and see how much weaker it tastes. To see ABC 720p/60 it's real format get an over the AIR tuner with antenna on a 720/60/ or a 768p/60 lcd or Plasma!
My Motorola HD cable box can output 720p OR 1080i - I can choose whichever I want to go to my HDTV. If I choose 720p OR 1080i to go to my 1080p SXRD the result is still the same - the 1080i channels look better. The deinterlacer in my Sony displays does a fantastic job with convverting 1080i signals to 1080p. The absolute BEST picture quality I have had a pleasure to see on my display is the 1080i signal from the Toshiba HD-DVD player. It blows away any 720p or 1080i HD cable signal.
"The deinterlacer in my Sony displays does a fantastic job with convverting 1080i signals to 1080p" Yes... That is the SXRD's thing! Keep all signals in 1080i for that set. Again, it is because that TV is made to weave the 2 540 i fields of 1080i into 1080p, you can't see REAL 720p in it's true form on the 1080p SXRD. Even if it was real 720p... like the article says above about comparing systems. 720p is watered down Kool Aid on that set. I understand you can change from 720p to 1080i on the box, but a lot of cable companies send out all HD signals in 1080i, even the ones that were in 720p to start. Some get the 720p signal... convert it to 1080i through the fiber optic... then the consumer can put the box in 720p again...because they think the ABC signal is 720p. Matter of fact the Old Voom sat system also sent out the 720p ESPN in 1080i. A DVD will look better than any broadcast signal on any TV
OK, what I mean is a 480i DVD will better than a 480i TV signal and a 1080i DVD will look better than a 1080i TV signal.... ALSO... I'm pretty sure... not to degrade your TV.... THE SXRD does NOT accept a real 1080p signal...unless they just changed it this year. The last I checked the SXRD was last December. Their HDMI goes up to 1080i.... when you put your DVD player in 1080p it changes to 1080i as soon as it hit's the TV. The the set internal scaler upconverts it to 1080p. Go to your manual... at the end you will see the specs...near the last page..... where you see HDMI.... look at the numbers... do you see 1080x1920 or 1080p? Matter of fact HD DVD disks is 1080i not 1080p.... unless you're talking Bluray?
My 2006 A2000 series SXRD accepts 1080p thru HDMI. The only thing lacking is the HDMI 1.3 upgrade which will probably come in the 2007 models. BOTH HD-DVD and BluRay discs are encoded in 1080p - look at the back of any HD-DVD disc case if you don't believe me. The first gen Toshiba HD-DVD player limits the output to 1080i but 2nd gen players coming out later this year will have 1080p thru HDMI.
Ok... good enough my man... that's why I wanted to check the updates on the SXRD... Wasn't sure..... I take your word they are encoded in 1080p... but the player you have is a 1080i max...yes? I heard the new HD DVD player will be 1080p... but I don't know when it is coming out. Your set is still upconverting 1080i... sure it looks great! What I'm waiting for is the Samsung hybrid HD DVD/ Blu Ray combo.. it may come out at the start of the year... it will play both!
Samsung is deeply rooted in the BluRay camp and I haven't seen any announcements of hybrid players so far - unless you have a link to a news item. I'm planning to audition the Panasonic DMP-BD10 BluRay player once I can get my hands on one.
Here you go my man! http://www.t3.co.uk/news/247/entertainment/dvd_-_player/samsung_planning_blu-rayhd-dvd_hybrid
This denial from Samsung came out a few days after your news item appeared in June of this year: http://www.engadgethd.com/category/samsung/page/3/
Well there you have it..Thanx.... I hear the porn industry is going Blu Ray... Some believe that it was the porn industry that made VHS the winner over Beta max... could this topple Blue ray as the winner?
I'll stick with the shot in HD DVD's... they do make the upconvert to 720p on my 1024x768 Plasma..... I'm going to wait it out for a while...a long one
Also to nail the coffin on the 720p VS interlaced signals, I snapped this off my TV with a sony cyber shot in 1.2 ... with the TIVO PAUSED in 720p.... this is cross converted 1080i signal to 720p on the Sony XBR flat LCD. Try to do this with a 1080i tv with a 1080i signal! photo is cropped & cut
Heres a good article, follow the link and scroll about halfway down to the 1080i vs 1080p debate. very informative; http://blog.hometheatermag.com/geoffreymorrison/
Right, proves my point that 720p is better than 1080p... never mind 1080i... that article says " The pixels in a 1,280-by-720 display are 0.034 inches wide, which is almost exactly what your eye can discern at 10 feet." So if that is the max at an average distance, why is 720p better... because the eye can perceive 60 framed per second, and 720p is in 60 frames and 1080p is in 24. "humans can perceive up to 60+ fps". http://www.daniele.ch/school/30vs60/30vs60_3.html 720p #1
From your article: This comment applies to my case given my room size and seating distance. When I upgraded to a 60 inch 1080p display from a 40 inch 720p I saw a huge improvement.
Could be where your sitting or even the kind of set... I seen a 480p plamsa beat a 1080p LCD RP. A lot of sets like DLP have sharp images but poor color sauturation. I have not seen any set display a better 720p signal than the Sony XBR 768p. At the average distance up to 50 inch sets a top of the line 768 set with a 720p signal is will provide a better signal, 60 FPS etc. Even better 480i upconversion.
They were probably feeding this with a standard def signal. With a high def signal there is no way you can convince me that a 480 line display will beat a 1080p.
