Does overscan hurt image quality?

[gadgtfreek]

Cant really find any good info on this.

My plasma has a HD size 2 (1:1), and a HD size 1, which is 2.5% overscan.

Does this work like a zoom and add some blur to the image, or is it different?

 

[ChrisK114]

It really depends on the TV. My Samsung has some overscan but it doesn't hurt the PQ at all. I had a Vizio that would overscan big time on 1080i. It made it look like a stretched picture almost. The Samsung has a 1:1 option, but I don't use it because you can sometime get video noise on top on certain channels.

 

[gadgtfreek]

I see a lot of crap on dish in 1:1, and even black lines across the top.

Im trying 2.5% now, cant really see any issues. I guess its just a mind set that its zooming and that hurts PQ.

 

[ChrisK114]

Yeah, we videophiles can see problems that noone else can see thats for sure.

 

[gadgtfreek]

Sometimes I think we let our mind create a pq issue, at least I know I do. With this tv you cannot avoid 720p overscan, and OTA HD looks great, so that should tell me to quit worrying about it

 

[ChrisK114]

Sometimes I think we let our mind create a pq issue, at least I know I do. With this tv you cannot avoid 720p overscan, and OTA HD looks great, so that should tell me to quit worrying about it

Exactly what I was saying. It's in our head sometimes.

 

[Pepper]

Overscan is the devil, and stretch-o-vision his evil spawn.

 

[Ilya]

I would leave the 2.5% overscan on for most of the TV viewing, and would switch to 1:1 when watching Blu-ray movies.

 

[ChrisK114]

I would leave the 2.5% overscan on for most of the TV viewing, and would switch to 1:1 when watching Blu-ray movies.

This is what I do, too.

 

[harshness]

In theory, overscanning on a fixed-pixel display requires a significant amount of tinkering with the image to "move" pixels that can't move.

Will anyone notice without a specially constructed test pattern? Probably not.

Will worrying about it consume you? Probably.