# Native on or off?



## uslimey (Mar 13, 2006)

I would like to know the benefits of native on.

Also just a question from a non tech - Peoples Court is an hour show and is not HD - takes up 3% of space. Oprah is an hour of HD takes up l%. I know HD takes up much more space. Also Peoples Court shows as 720p (sometimes even 1080i) and not 480i - just would like to know why. When my TV is turned on in the right hand corner it shows Video2 Rear 480i SD. I have HR21 200 - 290. TV is working fine but I want to know that I have it set perfectly. Come to the experts!

Sue


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## bills (Nov 7, 2002)

uslimey said:


> I would like to know the benefits of native on.
> 
> Also just a question from a non tech - Peoples Court is an hour show and is not HD - takes up 3% of space. Oprah is an hour of HD takes up l%. I know HD takes up much more space. Also Peoples Court shows as 720p (sometimes even 1080i) and not 480i - just would like to know why. When my TV is turned on in the right hand corner it shows Video2 Rear 480i SD. I have HR21 200 - 290. TV is working fine but I want to know that I have it set perfectly. Come to the experts!
> 
> Sue


 i believe if you set it to native it shows what ever formate it is being broadcast in. Mr sweet can verify that.


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## evan_s (Mar 4, 2008)

If you have native on the DirecTV box will output the video at what ever resolution it received it at and will allow your TV to convert it to what ever size it needs to display. This may result in a better picture than having the DirecTV box do it. The disadvantage is that it will be changing the resolution it is output as you change channels/view different recordings based on if the content is SD at 480i, or HD at 720p or 1080i. On some Tvs this resolution change can take a while, especially of HDMI if it handshakes again, and makes channel changes slow.

If you have Native off the DirecTV box will take the signal it receives and convert it to what ever resolution you have your box currently set to output. This avoids the resolution changes and handshaking.


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## rudeney (May 28, 2007)

uslimey said:


> I would like to know the benefits of native on.
> 
> Also just a question from a non tech - Peoples Court is an hour show and is not HD - takes up 3% of space. Oprah is an hour of HD takes up l%. I know HD takes up much more space. Also Peoples Court shows as 720p (sometimes even 1080i) and not 480i - just would like to know why. When my TV is turned on in the right hand corner it shows Video2 Rear 480i SD. I have HR21 200 - 290. TV is working fine but I want to know that I have it set perfectly. Come to the experts!
> 
> Sue


As to the question about the SD vs. HD disk usage, is People's Court being shown on an HD channel? Even though the actual program may not be in HD, if the channel itself is broadcasting in HD, then they are upconverting it and it will take up as much room on disk as a full-blown HD program. Also, if you are recording on the MPEG2 HD channels (those in the 70's), then that will take up more space than the MPEG4 channels. For example, HDNET is broadcast in MPEG2 on channel 79, and on 306 in MPEG4. Those MPEG2 channels in the 70's are simply there for backward compatibility to older HD receivers that can't handle MPEG4. Since you have an MPEG4 compatible DVR, you should be using the "upper" channels and not hose in the 70's.


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## Stuart Sweet (Jun 19, 2006)

bills said:


> i believe if you set it to native it shows what ever formate it is being broadcast in. Mr sweet can verify that.


That's right, unless it's a format your TV can't show. Using native on or off doesn't save you drive space. I know a lot of folks here use Native ON but I use Native OFF because I don't like the picture when my TV shows 480i or 480p... the geometry isn't right.

It's completely your choice whether you use Native ON or OFF... do what works best for you.


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## RAD (Aug 5, 2002)

As mentioned, just try it both ways and see which way you're happy with. I prefer native off just because it saves time when my TV and HR2X's don't need to resync whenever the resolution changes between channels.


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## KoRn (Oct 21, 2008)

Another thing to note. If you have native off and have HD. Say it is set to 1080i and your viewing a station that is 720p. Your picture will look more "soft" and not as sharp since more scaling is going on. If matched with 720p. It will look much better. That is why I leave native on with hdmi. But, in the end it is what makes you happy and what you want to do.


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## BattleZone (Nov 13, 2007)

KoRn said:


> Another thing to note. If you have native off and have HD. Say it is set to 1080i and your viewing a station that is 720p. Your picture will look more "soft" and not as sharp since more scaling is going on. If matched with 720p. It will look much better. That is why I leave native on with hdmi. But, in the end it is what makes you happy and what you want to do.


What you describe may be true with your equipment, and could be equally false on someone else's.

Native ON means the box will output the exact signal it receives, and the TV's scaler does all the scaling.

Native OFF means the DirecTV receiver handles the scaling and outputs at the resolution it is set to.

Some TVs have better scalers than others, and some folks may find the scaler in the DirecTV box does a better job than their TV. Others may find it worse.

Now, if, like many people, you have a TV with a native 1024x768 or 1366x768 panel (which doesn't match any input resolution), then your TV has to scale everything anyway, so you may have both the receiver and the TV re-scaling the image. That certainly can make things worse.

So, it really depends on your equipment and your preferences.


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## dcowboy7 (May 23, 2008)

i keep native off.

i put fox on at its native 720p then back to 1080i....couldnt tell a difference.


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## Hutchinshouse (Sep 28, 2006)

Native all the way for me. I'd rather have my very pricey TV handle the up-conversion, than my $200 DVR.  I've compared both, native had a better picture on my TV. An HDTV will up-convert the signal anyway. No need to up-convert before the up-convert.


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## uslimey (Mar 13, 2006)

Very helpful replies from all of you. Thanks so much.

Sue


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## cover (Feb 11, 2007)

Hutchinshouse said:


> Native all the way for me. I'd rather have my very pricey TV handle the up-conversion, than my $200 DVR.  I've compared both, native had a better picture on my TV. An HDTV will up-convert the signal anyway. No need to up-convert before the up-convert.


Ditto here. Plus, you lose the advantages of 720p (better for action) or 1080i (better for detail) if you convert them in the DVR.


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## MRM (Sep 10, 2008)

I was using native on for a week or so and noticed the slow time to change channels, but my channels in 480 were either not proportioned correctly or the size of the image would change. I set mine back to off.


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## VaJim (Jul 27, 2006)

For me, native works on my Sony 46" Bravia (HDMI) but the Samsung 36" (HDMI) struggles when changing the channel. The picture will jump around and take a few seconds to settle in. Very distracting. The Sony never misses a beat.:sure:


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## JMII (Jan 19, 2008)

RAD said:


> As mentioned, just try it both ways and see which way you're happy with. I prefer native off just because it saves time when my TV and HR2X's don't need to resync whenever the resolution changes between channels.


Same here: Native OFF.

I've got the DVR on my 50" Sony set to 1080i and the DVR for my 42" Vizio at 720P because those are native resolutions of each TV respectively. This way each TVs gets the signal its happiest with and doesn't have to do any converting/scaling (up or down). Thus I get no cropping issues and no delay in channel changes.


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## DJTheC (Oct 31, 2007)

If you have a TV that does not have a fixed resolution display (some rear projections and CRTs) leave Native on. If you have a fixed display (LCD Plasma, etc) leave it off and set the res to the closest number. eg. 1280x768 set for 720p.

This is how I educate and folks are happy with that.


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## veryoldschool (Dec 10, 2006)

The only thing "true" is: either way is correct and use what you like best.


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## y2k02c5 (Sep 15, 2006)

So I decided to turn native on, and it seemed like everything stayed 480p on the receiver on every channel. FOXHD, ESPNHD, Discovery, StarzHD, etc. I did not notice the resolutions changing when switching between stations. Am I missing something here?


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## rahlquist (Jul 24, 2007)

I run native on but in the resolutions screen only have 1080i selected. Works quite well.


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## Davenlr (Sep 16, 2006)

y2k02c5:

Before turning native on, go into setup/HDTV/TV Resolutions, and check all the resolutions your monitor can handle. Native ON will only switch your monitor to the source resolution if its available in this checklist. If you, for example, want all 480i and 480p channels upconverted to HD, but want the HD channels to display in their original resolution, check off 720p and 1080i and leave the two 480 boxes unchecked. 
If only one resolution is checked, NATIVE ON will always use that resolution.


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## mutelight (Oct 6, 2008)

DJTheC said:


> If you have a TV that does not have a fixed resolution display (some rear projections and CRTs) leave Native on. If you have a fixed display (LCD Plasma, etc) leave it off and set the res to the closest number. eg. 1280x768 set for 720p.
> 
> This is how I educate and folks are happy with that.


As mentioned a couple times already in the thread it depends entirely on whether your TV or the DirecTV box has a stronger scaler.

On my Bravia, for example, it does a heck of lot better scaling the image than when I let the DVR handle the scaling leaving native off. On our small Panasonic LCD I leave native on simply because the image quality difference is negligible and there is no drop in the image due to the resolution changing.

What you have said does make sense in a general manner but is more of a blanket statement when there are a lot of exceptions.


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## bonscott87 (Jan 21, 2003)

As a few have said, you honestly have to play with the settings and figure out which combination looks best for you. Every single TV out there is different and we all have different sets of eyes. Took me about 2 weeks to settle on Native OFF at 1080i. There is no difference at all between 720p and 1080i on my TV and the DVR does a better SD upconversion then my TV does thus I settled on Native OFF to avoid channel change slowness and set to 1080i only. Again, took me about 2 weeks of trying different settings to get this combo. 

So everyone really needs to do their own testing to see what's best for them. We can give all the advice in the world but none of us can give the "right" answer.


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## JACKIEGAGA (Dec 11, 2006)

My HR20-700 is native on
HR21-100 native is off only because of slow channel changes otherwise I would have it on


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## David MacLeod (Jan 29, 2008)

as stated its all opinion, I've had best luck on mine with native off and pillar box using 720 and 1080.
some of my ota does not have HD yet so some shows look a little better using 720.


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## Lord Vader (Sep 20, 2004)

cover said:


> Ditto here. Plus, you lose the advantages of 720p (better for action) or 1080i (better for detail) if you convert them in the DVR.


You think? When watching NFL games this season, I strongly preferred CBS's feeds, which were 1080i, than FOX's, which were 720p. CBS's 1080i games were much sharper and had a significantly better PQ. FOX's were just slightly better than SD, truthfully. The difference on my 1080p TV was dramatic.


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## SlimyPizza (Oct 14, 2006)

rahlquist said:


> I run native on but in the resolutions screen only have 1080i selected. Works quite well.


My setup exactly and it works well for my LG plasma. I don't have a long wait for channel changes either as some have said with native on.


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## paulman182 (Aug 4, 2006)

Lord Vader said:


> You think? When watching NFL games this season, I strongly preferred CBS's feeds, which were 1080i, than FOX's, which were 720p. CBS's 1080i games were much sharper and had a significantly better PQ. FOX's were just slightly better than SD, truthfully. The difference on my 1080p TV was dramatic.


My eyes agree with yours, even on my 720p TV, but I would not necessasrily say that the 1080i/720p difference is the cause.


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## Lord Vader (Sep 20, 2004)

Whatever the cause, the difference is both quite dramatic and noticeable.

BTW, I have my native set to off and have unchecked all resolutions except 1080p. Only 1080p is checked. Switching channels or even receivers seems to be much better this way. The other way always tended to bring delays where no signal was seen on my TV.


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## mark44 (Dec 23, 2008)

wow, so the D* box can output 1080p ?
I thought that was just there for future use. 
If you switch native off, will the 480i output on the RCA video be shut down?


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## mark44 (Dec 23, 2008)

followup question, if you set the output format (or resolution) of the D* receiver to 1080 or higher and you run into issues, and need to connect a lower resolution display, is it possible to not be able to configure or see the output? I think I rememebr a problem years ago when I had to resort to using the yellow RCA video output to view the setup menu and reenable the output resolutions. Comments?


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## Lord Vader (Sep 20, 2004)

mark44 said:


> wow, so the D* box can output 1080p ?
> I thought that was just there for future use.
> If you switch native off, will the 480i output on the RCA video be shut down?


I have nothing but HDMI connected to my Sammy HDTV, which outputs 1080p. All my connections pass through my Onkyo 875, which is capable of 1080p. Anything less than 1080 gets upconverted to that if I don't have Native set to on w/ the other resolutions checked.


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## BattleZone (Nov 13, 2007)

1080p can be selected, but it's only active for specific 1080/24p-encoded DownloadOnDemand content. Currently, that is limited to a test trailer for the Hulk.

If you only have 1080p selected, the box will default to 1080i for all other programming. 1080p won't be used for normal sat broadcasts by any company in the foreseeable future. It is only for specific downloaded (i.e., PPV) movies.


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## Lord Vader (Sep 20, 2004)

Indeed. But I don't need to have 1080i checked, so I just leave only 1080p checked.


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## mark44 (Dec 23, 2008)

I selected 1080p in the formating section, but the most I see at my TV is 1080i, so , I just thought that resolution was for future use. My TV only ever sees 1080i from the DVR, however, my DVD player CAN output 1080p to the tv and I can see that in display proerties. Thanks for the info on the D* output really only being 1080i


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