Better HD picture Quality

[delanewf]

I own a Toshiba 52HM84 widescreen tv. Native 720p resolution. My dish receiver is an 811. On the receiver, I set my tv to 16:9, but I recently set the resolution to 1080i instead of 720p. When I did this, my picture quality actually improved quite a bit on the channels that broadcast in 1080i like HDNet. I also did not see any degradation in picture quality on the 720p broadcasters like ESPN. Has anyone else done this? Will it damage the receiver or TV in any way doing this?

Does anyone know why doing this improves the picture quality? If I hadn't tried it, I never would have known my 1080i broadcasts could look even better than they did before.

 

[delos]

I think you are getting improvement because the tv does better conversions then the Dish box at least in your case.

 

[DarrellP]

Whenever you "downsize" an image it always looks better. Even though my pj has a crappy scaler, I still get better results setting my sat stb to 1080i and feeding my 720p projector, it seems to have more "snap" and detail than feeding it 720p.

 

[R.O.T.O.K]

Toshiba DLP sets...

...of this model range, are supposed to be fed a 1080i signal. It says so in the manual. I have the 46" version of this tv, which has a lovely picture with 1080i signals, but can't scale 480i, 480p, or 720p worth a damn.

 

[wilme2]

I own a Toshiba 52HM84 widescreen tv. Native 720p resolution. My dish receiver is an 811. On the receiver, I set my tv to 16:9, but I recently set the resolution to 1080i instead of 720p. When I did this, my picture quality actually improved quite a bit on the channels that broadcast in 1080i like HDNet. I also did not see any degradation in picture quality on the 720p broadcasters like ESPN. Has anyone else done this? Will it damage the receiver or TV in any way doing this?

Does anyone know why doing this improves the picture quality? If I hadn't tried it, I never would have known my 1080i broadcasts could look even better than they did before.

I think the 811 scaler is just plain crappy... Works the same way on my 811 with my Panny AE-700 PJ (720p native)...

 

[Cyrk]

Same on my 811 set to 1080i and it looks better on my Samsung HLP6163W which is native 720p.

 

[120inna55]

I own a Toshiba 52HM84 widescreen tv. Native 720p resolution. My dish receiver is an 811. On the receiver, I set my tv to 16:9, but I recently set the resolution to 1080i instead of 720p. When I did this, my picture quality actually improved quite a bit on the channels that broadcast in 1080i like HDNet. I also did not see any degradation in picture quality on the 720p broadcasters like ESPN. Has anyone else done this? Will it damage the receiver or TV in any way doing this?

Does anyone know why doing this improves the picture quality? If I hadn't tried it, I never would have known my 1080i broadcasts could look even better than they did before.

Same phenomenon on my Samsung HLN617W (native 720P). I've always had a better picture setting the box to 1080i. This includes experience with both the 811 and now the 942. It's probably even more noticeable on 720p content (OTA or Dish-provided).

 

[dcd62m]

Is there any way to check what resolution is being broadcast?

 

[dcd62m]

What is the list of settings that the 811 should be set at with a HD capable big screen?
I find that any broadcast that is not HD, satelite or OTA, is very poor even compared to OTA NOT run through the 811!

 

[Broadband Lab Rat]

811 has poor 1080i to 720p scaling

I also get the same results... much better picture on 1080i broadcasts by setting my 811 to output 1080i and let my 50" Samsung 720p DLP set do the scaling.

It's the 1080i to 720p scaler in the 811... it's simply poor when compaired to doing the same scaling in most displays.

 

[Carl B]

I also get the same results... much better picture on 1080i broadcasts by setting my 811 to output 1080i and let my 50" Samsung 720p DLP set do the scaling.

It's the 1080i to 720p scaler in the 811... it's simply poor when compaired to doing the same scaling in most displays.

The exception here being watching an ESPN-HD live football broadcast. In that case, re-setting the 811 to 720p output to match ESPN's 720p delivery and the Sammy DLP's native 720p will deliver truly the "gold standard" of HDTV PQ. I do agree that the best compromise setting for the 811 is 1080i, but that is not optimum for ESPN-HD.

BTW, over the course of the many software revisions to the Dish 811 the past two years, I appears that the 1080i to 720p scaler function has been tweaked a bit. I checked it recently (i.e., 811 output set to 720p, watching 1080i content input) and the conversion is no where near as bad as it was back in December '03.

I also use an LG LST-4200A receiver for a second OTA DTV source. The scaler in it is as good or better than that in my Sammy DLP. I first kept the output setting on native so that it would pass through the OTA signal, but that caused some unwanted auto-zooming of OTA SD digital content from stations not doing HD. So I reset the LG's output to 720p. Well, the 1080i stuff looks as good or better on the Sammy as when I ran the LG on native. A good scaler is a friend forever.

 

[Tvlman]

Setting your home theater to 1080i should give optimum performance for all HD. But can anyone explain why ESPN HD looks so much better then FOX HD? They are both 720p.

 

[Carl B]

But can anyone explain why ESPN HD looks so much better then FOX HD? They are both 720p.

In a comparison of HD PQ to HD PQ for NFL games, my Fox OTA HD looks as good as my ESPN-HD via E*. The overall difference in those broadcasts for me is Fox's extensive use of SD cameras for sideline shots and some replays. That part of Fox's broadcast sucks!

 

[schwa]

I was wondering about this also. On both of my 1366x768 3LCD Sonys (both RP and FP) and my 1920x1080 SXRD Sony the output from my 811/942 always looks better when set to 1080i. Glad I'm not the only one who's noticed this, although I pretty much figured that the scalers in the Dish boxes were just crappy.

 

[Tom Bombadil]

Boy, there would have to be degradation on the 720p channels if they had to go through a 720p to 1080i conversion inside of the Dish receiver, and then be converted back to 720p in the TV. I'd bet money that not all of the original information is still there. Wouldn't be surprised if it was 20% or more loss.

But am not surprised at all that 1080i material looks better this way.

Again, too bad that Dish does not offer a pass-thru option, that would be the best option for all of us. And especially if it prevents a 720p to 1080i to 720p path.

 

[gutter]

Tom...I have to agree with you as well. The old VOOM receiver did have a pass thru option. I don't understand why that would not be include in any of DISH HD receivers. I don't think cost would be much if any factor.