HDTV Resolution?

MH_Stevens wrote on 10/16/2005, 7:29 PM

Costco is advertising a TV that is 1080x720 and described as "True HDTV." I watch HDTV on my 1920x1080 native monitor. I am wondering what resolution my monitor is working at when I watch HDTV from my Time-Warner cable; it looks a lot inferior to the picture I get when I play HDV from tape.

Comments

Spot|DSE wrote on 10/16/2005, 7:52 PM

HD resolutions are:
1280 x 720
1920 x 1080

However, HD can loosely be defined as anything greater than SD.

As far as res on your TV, few programs are actual HD, even though the station might claim to be broadcasting only HD. It's also possible that they're broadcasting 720 and your monitor is not properly or accurately scaling the 720 to 1080.
1080 x 720 would be an odd size, and one that would be HDTV "ready" as opposed to "true" HD. You sure they're not advertising that it does both 720 as well as 1080?

MH_Stevens wrote on 10/17/2005, 8:20 AM

Spot:
I'll recheck with Costco - I might have remembered it wrong so it could have been 1280x720.

What I wanted to know was the resolution coming from the Time-Warner coax in my wall? Is it always the same or is it program dependant? Also if its not 1920x1080, the native resolution of my monitor, how does the monitor handle it?

John_Cline wrote on 10/17/2005, 9:15 AM

The resolution delivered by your cable company depends on the source material. As far as the broadcast networks are concerned, FOX and ABC are 1280x720p, NBC, CBS and PBS are 1920x1080i. Most of the cable HD channels are 1920x1080i. Your monitor is most likely scaling the 1280x720p to its 1920x1080 native resolution. Conversely, 1280x720 monitors will scale the 1080i down to 720, which means that you won't be seeing the program in its full resolution. Most plasma and LCD monitors do some sort of scaling and some are better at it than others, which is why I chose to go with a CRT-based HD system. The CRT will easily adjust to whatever resolution it's being fed, no scaling necessary and it always displays the highest resolution possible. And it generally looks better than any plasma or LCD display. Although, some of the newer high-end LCD and DLP systems look pretty decent. I have never seen a plasma display (at any price) that looked particularly good to me.

John

JJKizak wrote on 10/17/2005, 9:29 AM

I don't have cable but notice on the over the air channels a lot of variation on HD quality, even on live broadcasts. It's mostly in the background like in stadiums full of people. CBS, FOX, PBS, NBC, UPN, ABC seem to be the order of quality first to last. Don't know if quality anomalies occurr at the source or broadcast transmission. One thing for sure is signal loss in Hi-Def is definitely totally annoying compared to analog. Why? Analog will give you noise and fading without loosing continuity whereas Hi-Def is on and off just enough to say to yourself "this is unwatchable". This is of course with a very weak digital signal.

JJK

JJK

MH_Stevens wrote on 10/17/2005, 12:42 PM

Thanks John: Just what I was looking for.