720p better than 1080i

NorthstaNder · 28 Mar 2010 at 22:37

Just tinkering with my Humax freesat+ box which can output up to 1080i over hdmi.

What's the general feeling on 720p and 1080i? 720p better usually, or is it down to the tv/viewer?

vila · 29 Mar 2010 at 01:53

It is down to the TV yes but my general feeling would be that 720p will be better than 1080i the majority of the time.

All modern programmes are shot and edited as a progressive signal, all plasmas / lcd are progressive displays. By choosing an interlaced signal you introduce several conversions of the signal between broadcast and display.

It's also argued that 1080i is only displaying 540 lines of information at any time which is ingeferior to a 720 progressive picture.

If sports are your main thing you may find that 1080i gives you better motion clarity as the refresh rate of the picture will be a true 50hz signal where as 720p may possibly be output at 25hz

so thats probably clear as mud... trust your eyes, if in doubt 720p

starfighter · 29 Mar 2010 at 06:23

on a 720p TV I would want 720p, on a 1080p tv I would have to see which is better. Never had anything that is 1080i yet.

Alex h · 29 Mar 2010 at 07:48

they say 720p is better than 1080i sky uses 1080i

NorthstaNder · 29 Mar 2010 at 10:30

Freesat uses 1080i for it's HD broadcasts as well, so will probably stick with that. I switched between 720p and 1080i this morning and couldn't see a huge difference. Perhaps on a more expensive/better set I would see more of a difference.

For the record TV is a Toshiba 32RV635D (damn good for the money!)

Meatball · 29 Mar 2010 at 10:55

As said above, Freesat/Freeview is broadcast in 1080i. If you switch your box to output 720p you'll be using the Humax's hardware deinterlace and downscale the picture. Generally your TV will be better at deinterlacing and scaling than your STB's. I would leave the box to output 1080i.

probedb · 29 Mar 2010 at 13:01

alex h said:
they say 720p is better than 1080i sky uses 1080i

Who exactly?

It'll depend on the TV, I prefer sending a 1080p signal and letting the TV downscale.

Nymins · 29 Mar 2010 at 15:44

Use 1080i. All the HD broadcasts from Sky, Freeview HD, Freesat are at 1080i. No point in making your TV/STB do extra work.

Bossk128 · 29 Mar 2010 at 16:38

For the Foxsat HDR you're probably better leaving the resolution at 'Original' setting. It will output the video over HDMI at whatever it is broadcast at. Let the TV deinterlace/scale it if required.

kidloco · 30 Mar 2010 at 08:48

Nymins said:
Use 1080i. All the HD broadcasts from Sky, Freeview HD, Freesat are at 1080i. No point in making your TV/STB do extra work.

This. The signal is sent using 1080i, so no point messing with it.

Participant · 30 Mar 2010 at 09:09

Sorry to hijack but I think the OP's question has been anwered...

What about HD Ready TV sets (720p)? I'm getting a V+ box today and hooking it up to my HD Ready TV tonight...what should I set the V+ box to output, 1080i and let the TV do the rest, or let the V+ box do all the scaling?

[TW]Taggart · 30 Mar 2010 at 09:10

1080i is basically interlaced 720p so;

1080i 50fps = 720p 25 fps

720p will look better on LCD screens as it isnt interlaced. Inerlaced signals look better on crt's. Pick the one that suites your screen.

I'm not supprised that Sky is broadcasting in 1080i/720p. Blueray is 1080p.

What gets me is that most things i work on are 720p then upscaled to 1080p in post. Then it seems crossconverted/downconverted back to 1080i/720p for broadcast...

Nymins · 30 Mar 2010 at 11:33

Keep it at 1080i for the V+box. I use 1080i with SkyHD on my PX80 which is 1024x768 and it looks great.

Doesn't really matter on the res of the screen. Just keep the res at whatever resolution the provider broadcasts at, which is 1080i.

Metallifux · 30 Mar 2010 at 12:03

[TW]Taggart;16262362 said:
1080i is basically interlaced 720p so;

1080i 50fps = 720p 25 fps

720p will look better on LCD screens as it isnt interlaced. Inerlaced signals look better on crt's. Pick the one that suites your screen.

I'm not supprised that Sky is broadcasting in 1080i/720p. Blueray is 1080p.

What gets me is that most things i work on are 720p then upscaled to 1080p in post. Then it seems crossconverted/downconverted back to 1080i/720p for broadcast...

1080i is not interlaced 720p. 1080i is 1080 lines interlaced. 720p is only 720 lines with the frames delivered progressively. Due to the progressive nature of plasmas and LCD's etc if you feed them an interlaced signal they will have to build the full image in a framestore before sending it to the screen anyhow. So in short it doesn't matter if you send 1080i the tv will sort it out for you.

probedb · 30 Mar 2010 at 12:51

[TW]Taggart;16262362 said:
1080i is basically interlaced 720p so;

1080i 50fps = 720p 25 fps

720p will look better on LCD screens as it isnt interlaced. Inerlaced signals look better on crt's. Pick the one that suites your screen.

I'm not supprised that Sky is broadcasting in 1080i/720p. Blueray is 1080p.

What gets me is that most things i work on are 720p then upscaled to 1080p in post. Then it seems crossconverted/downconverted back to 1080i/720p for broadcast...

No it's not?! Metallifux said everything I was going to type anyways

weringo · 30 Mar 2010 at 14:22

Generally 720p looks better for me but with Sky HD 1080i is the daddy.

Participant · 30 Mar 2010 at 14:52

It's arrived now so I'll test it tonight! HD woop woop I'm like a kid in a sweet shop.

Probably end up being a total anticlimax, given as there's sweet FA HD on Virgin Media at the moment.

bash247 · 30 Mar 2010 at 15:08

weringo said:
Generally 720p looks better for me but with Sky HD 1080i is the daddy.

Same for me.

asim18 · 30 Mar 2010 at 18:34

Robbie G said:
Probably end up being a total anticlimax, given as there's sweet FA HD on Virgin Media at the moment.

There are Five new channels coming in April.

ITV HD
E4 HD
Discovery HD
Eurosport HD
Sci-fi HD

Just go to channel 145 or 115.

Edit: Also, the On Demand is packed with tonnes of HD stuff! New shows are added everyday, and there are also some classics like Planet Earth.

As for the quality thing... 1080i looks better than 720p on our 1080p TV with a V+HD box.

Demon · 30 Mar 2010 at 19:35

If your TV is a 1080p Full HD, then 1080i all the way!

as mentioned above, 1080i60 is actually equivalent to 1080p30 when it's de-interlaced..

Since video is shot at only 30fps, technically you aren't losing any information at all, you are getting 1920*1080 resolution at the same frame rate as it was recorded..

720p60 is irrelevant, since the video was still only shot at 30Hz (Max)...

Of course if you have a non 1080p native LCD, then which ever looks best is down to the TV..