1080i or 720p??

jamieh

Hey all,

I got Sky HD installed a few weeks ago and I was just messing around with the settings earlier on.

I changed the resolution from 1080i to 720p....I can't really notice a huge difference between the 2!!

Which one is recomended??

tuxy

1080i should look a bit sharper but 720p is meant to be better for fast moving images. So it depends on what you are watching i guess.

ffocused

I have mine set to 1080i as most of the HD content on sky is 1080i
I cannot see much difference between the 2 either.

watty

jamieh wrote:

Hey all,

I got Sky HD installed a few weeks ago and I was just messing around with the settings earlier on.

I changed the resolution from 1080i to 720p....I can't really notice a huge difference between the 2!!

Which one is recomended??

What native resolution is your screen and what size is it?

1080i is recommended. ALL "HD Ready" logoed TVs will DISPLAY 720p or 1080i. This unfortuanatly tells you nothing about the quality or native pixels.

1) :: ALL content on Sky has 288p, 576i or 1080i lines.
2) :: many better HD TVs have 1366 x 768 native lines. VERY few have native 720p or 1080i. Almost all rescale, except the models that truely have 1920 x 1080i (or 1920 x 1200p)
3) :: Some HDTVS do 1080i by taking the 544 lines of each interlace and rescaling to the native lines (Usually 480, 600, 720, 768 or 1024)
4) :: The 720p setting invokes the SkyHD internal deinterlacer and rescaler to upscale 288 & 576 Sd and downscale 1080i content. It is intended for Fixed resolution 720p ONLY screens, It should not be used on MOST "HD Ready" logo TVs, as then TWO resamples/resscales will occur.

So, 1080i in almost all cases is the best setting.

If your TV is less than 37" (or if a large room and less than 48") you may not notice any much difference on any setting or even non-HD content.


Most HD sets give improved SD pictures but are actually poor for HD unless larger than 37" or 48" depending on room size and have 1920x1080i native resolution.

1080i has almost twice the pixels as 720p, but the same data rate as the lines are interlaced ar 544 per field, just like ordinary TV.

The USA benefits more from "p" because 24fps when converted to 30i (normal USA) you get motion artifacts that do not exist on PAL/Europe. PC screens are mostly "p" progressive though older graphics cards / screen often switched to interlace for 1024 x 768.

Almost all the common LCD are based on PC displays not TV displays, hence the 768 lines.

jamieh

watty wrote:

What native resolution is your screen and what size is it

Hey,

My tv is a 46 inch lcd and the native resolution is 1920 x 1080.

Does this mean I should leave it at 1080i?

watty

Absolutely!
Also you are very very lucky to have a real HDTV. Most "HD Ready" sets have too low a native resolution and/or are too small.

I'm sure many of us would like to know where you bought it, make model and price?

jamieh

watty wrote:

I'm sure many of us would like to know where you bought it, make model and price?

It's a Sony KDL-46X2000U (if thats means anything to ye!!), bought it in a local shop for €6000, I think the price has dropped to around €5,500 since I bought it!

tuxy

http://komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=320850
is that it?

jamieh

It looks similar but I don't think that it's the same.

I just checked the peats website and its coming in at €5,189 there.

channelsurfer

for those of us that cant stretch to 6000 euro I presume it isnt even worth buying a lcd or plasma tv at 76 to 32 inches for Hd and should stick to skydigital or whatever SD provider?

tuxy

jamieh wrote:

It looks similar but I don't think that it's the same.

I just checked the peats website and its coming in at €5,189 there.

Peats are rip off merchants.
http://audiovisual.kelkoo.co.uk/b/a/sbs/100311823/16365728.html
average price seems to be £2700 / €4000

watty

There is not much HD content yet
BBC is still a trial
Sept 2007 may start to look attractive.

The problem is too that lots of stuff you don't want to watch it big in SD, or even big at all. I'm waiting for 1920x 1200 projectors with ZOOM lens to com down.
They have fallen from $50,000 to $8,000 in two years.

I think there are some 37" real HD sets worth getting, but still close to €3000.

legend99

As a comparison...picked up brochure in TV shop in Luxembourg last week to actually get TV prices:
Following are all 1920X1080p - advertised as FULL HD

Sharp LC 42 XD 1 - 42 inch LCD - €2,395
Samsung LE 40 F71 B - 40 inch LCD - €2,495
Philips 37 PF 9731 - 37 inch LCD - €3,295

Said I'd throw them up here. Check how Irish prices compared with them

dmeehan

does this shop in luxembourg have a name/website?

Ulsterman 1690

Generally 1080i is supposedly the best standard although 720p is considered by some to be better for sports (and possibly some types of action scenes).

Apparently DVD's with 1080p will be available soon in the USA although HD broadcasts will remain either 720p or 1080i (some US networks preferring the former)

legend99

dmeehan wrote:

does this shop in luxembourg have a name/website?

Hifi International

www.hifi.lu I think.

watty

Ulsterman 1690 wrote:

Generally 1080i is supposedly the best standard although 720p is considered by some to be better for sports (and possibly some types of action scenes).

yes!

Ulsterman 1690 wrote:

Apparently DVD's with 1080p will be available soon in the USA although HD broadcasts will remain either 720p or 1080i (some US networks preferring the former)

All DVDs are inherently 24fps progressive, the actual DVD player does the evil 3:2 pull down needed for 30i "NTSC" and for "PAL" repeats alternate lines 50 times a second to give 25i, as 5% speed up.

In USA "progessive" 480p (i.e. VGA) output DVD players are popular for ordinary DVDs due to 30i 3:2 pulldown artifact issue. There is no real point to a Progressive DVD player here unless you using a PC screen or Progressive LCD/Plasma (or HD Ready screen). Some LCDs/Plasma don't do interlace well.


Usually the sound track nowadays is pitch corrected for "PAL" regions, so if a "PAL" compatible NTSC player plays it you will get 5% approx pitch too low on sound and 3:2 artifacts.

Ability to do 1080p is more a feature really of the HD DVD / Blue RAy DVD PLAYER more than the actual disk.

No doubt the disks are slightly different

Couch Potato

Ulsterman 1690 wrote:

Generally 1080i is supposedly the best standard although 720p is considered by some to be better for sports (and possibly some types of action scenes).

Apparently DVD's with 1080p will be available soon in the USA although HD broadcasts will remain either 720p or 1080i (some US networks preferring the former)

I was in the US a couple of weeks ago and they are really starting to push HD on the normal channels (Fox, NBC, CBS etc.) and all advertising "now available in 1080i". Most of the HD stuff appears to be 720p alright.

I did get to see a new season CSI Vegas in HD and was excellent !!!

Mind you that nice Sony (KDL-46X2000) which I am considering is only $2k in Best Buy !!!

watty

No. Only sport is mostly 720p.

Also US normal TV = 720 x 480i (or 544 x 480 or 704 x 480)
Europe Normal TV = 720 x 576i
US minimum "HD" is 864 x 480p

International HD is 720p (60fps in US/Japan 50fps in Europe/Austrailia)
Or 1080i (30fps in US/Japan 25fps in Europe/Austrailia)

Note that the SAME visual improvement is roughly
480 --> 720
and 576 --> 1080i

In Europe going from 576 to 720p is only slightly better change than going from 480 (US) to 576 (Euro).

Compare a US DVD and UK DVD on a 32" Widescreen TV about 6ft away and you will see what I mean.

In fact most non-Sport HD (excluding the 864x 480p WS mostly used on terrestrial) Digital is 1080i in USA.