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Post by budgetguy on May 11, 2004 19:24:11 GMT -5
I love this stuff but I'm not technically astute...and I have a question for those of you who may know far more than I do...as my "nom de pen" suggests, I'm an accountant type person not an engineer by ANY MEANS!!!
I have a SONY CRT projection HD monitor (got it about 3 mos ago)...my question deals with the confusing (and to me anyway...) baffling issue of upconversion and down conversion...(I have no idea what I'm talking about!!!) So I'll try to describe my question in laymans terms...according to my tv's manual this model "downconverts" 720 p signals to 480p...
I know that 480 is "ED' not 'HD"...that said when I've watched HD 720p programs on TWC HD tier (the Oscar's on ABC is a good case in point...I beleive that ABC is using 720p, but not sure...) it sure as heck looks to me to be 1080i HD with picture quality on a par with HDNet and Discovery.. so I guess my question is can anyone explain this upcomversion downversion stuff to us tech dummy newbies...and in particular I am wondering if setting my TWC 8000 DVR to 1080i (which is my normal setting for HD viewing) has anything to do with possible "upconverting" this 720p signal to 1080i HD...
I am also confused about this whole issue of "native resolution" and how that impacts on the upconversion/ downconversion issue.
Anyone who can shed light on this stuff I will be forever indebted to!!! (and I'm quite certain I'm not alone here!!!)
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Post by MasterFX1 on May 11, 2004 20:37:13 GMT -5
The content provider (NBC, CBS, ESPN, etc.) sends a signal to either its local affiliates or directly to cable at a certain resolution... 480i, 480p, 720p, 1080i. This is the native resolution.
In the case of local broacasters, they then retransmit that digital signal at a certain resolution, usually the native resolution... but not always (as in the case with WCDC-ABC 19-1).
Cable companies also retransmit the signal, but it is unknown if they are feeding the native resolution, it's rumored that TWC is upconverting everything to 1080i.
Your STB (OTA or Cable) receives the signal and then outputs it at the resolution you designate in the STB's menus. If your TV can display all 4 major formats at their native resolution (without down-rezing) you should set your STB to native output.
In your case, if you know that your TV is going to downconvert a 720p signal, you should have the receiver upconvert signals to 1080i to prevent down-rezing. My SONY 51" RearProj downconverts 720p to 540p!?! So when I used to watch ESPN-HD, it ultimately looked much better having the STB force the signal to 1080i preventing the downrezing that would have happened at 720p.
Hope that helps.
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Post by Budget guy on May 11, 2004 21:12:08 GMT -5
Thanks for the info Master!!! That's very helpful...this stuff is sooo confusing...I'm concerned that these technical nuances, when combined with all the carriage issues, may ultimately doom (or at least severly delay) the general acceptance and usage of HD.
Muchas gratias!!!
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Post by No Name on May 12, 2004 9:07:20 GMT -5
As an additional point. Your TV downconverts to 480p. That means that its native resolution is 480p. That's not really a hi-def TV set. In your case the resolution is limited by the display, so all HD programs on your set will all look about much the same as ED.
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Post by No Name on May 12, 2004 9:12:53 GMT -5
Actually, the Time Warner box outputs 1080i, so your HD set never sees the 720p signal to downconvert to 480p. Time Warner does cross convert the 720p to 1080i for you. Hence your display is always using the 1080i HD mode.
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Post by budgetguy on May 12, 2004 12:19:32 GMT -5
The comment that this is not a high def tv is a little disturbing to me...this model tv (SONY kp51ws 510) is nationally advertised as a 1080i HiScan HDTV monitor...are you telling me that SONY and my retailer are engaging in false advertising and that its not a high def tv? Did I get taken for a ride here??? If so there's alot of other folks besides myself that have purchased this set under the impression that its a high definition tv (yes, I know its technically not a tv but a monitor and you need an STB for it...)...I've got to say that the stuff that's supposed to be hi def on twc looks pretty amazing to me....the only way it could be higher definition would be if it was either holographic or 3 dimensional...still I'm a newbie and I'm sure I could have been taken for a ride...any thoughts???
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Post by MasterFX1 on May 12, 2004 13:48:26 GMT -5
I think your set is only downconverting 720p signals. 1080i is probably displayed at a higher resolution.
It was my understanding that many of the TWC HD STB's have a menu setting allowing viewers to change the output resolution. Suppose you have a TV that only does 720p and not 1080i. Someone with that set would have to change the output resolution of the STB or not get HD at all.
It should be noted that very few sets are "Full-Spec" HD. Last year, there was a total of 5 models, worldwide, that were true full blown HD. They are rediculously expensive at this point also.
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Post by slayerav on May 14, 2004 9:58:18 GMT -5
When I had an SA 3250HD cable box, I had it set to pass-through mode. This allowed whatever resolution was being sent on the cable to be passed to my TV.
Here is what my TV reported the signals to be:
WTEN - 720p
WXXA - 720p (although their source material is 480p)
Discovery HD - 1080i
HBOHD - 1080i
inHD1/2 - 1080i
So, TWC does not upconvert everything to 1080i.
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