# Native Resolution?



## doo4usc (Oct 20, 2006)

I have an older Hi-Def TV that accepts 480i/p,720p and 1081i resolutions,I use PrPbY connection. Is there an advantage to use the "Native" resolution on my HR20-700 units? Thanks


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## azarby (Dec 15, 2006)

doo4usc said:


> I have an older Hi-Def TV that accepts 480i/p,720p and 1081i resolutions,I use PrPbY connection. Is there an advantage to use the "Native" resolution on my HR20-700 units? Thanks


The only advantage would be if the scaler on your TV was better than the scaler on the Hr20. Since it is older, problably not.


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## bt-rtp (Dec 30, 2005)

Not really. The best setup is to disable native mode and set the output format of the HR20 to match the format that your display has, either 720p or 1080i.

Lots of other advise available in these threads and the FAQ.


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## raven56706 (Jan 17, 2007)

now what happens if you have a 1080p tv?


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## bt-rtp (Dec 30, 2005)

It's a question of using 720p or 1080i as the output format from the HR20 to your display. Your display will convert it internally. You will have to test each to determine what works best for your display and configuration.

Note that there are not any source channels transmitting in the 1080p format, only HD-DVD and Blu-Ray DVD players support 1080p.


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## ilfn143 (Jul 10, 2007)

some older tv took a really long time to switch between resolutions.


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## armophob (Nov 13, 2006)

I have found with my plasmas, the images are darker and blocky on 480 shows that are being sent with the box set on 1080i. I let the HR20 take care of detecting the video. This has not had any issues for me since day 1.


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## Mixer (Sep 28, 2006)

I have had Native on from day one. I have tried to turn it off but I always return to Native on. Best thing to do is to try both ways and see what looks better to you. 

One advantage to Native on is that you never have to worry about touching the format button to ensure you are on the correct resolution. Biggest hassle for some is that channel changing with Native on is slower.


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## ChicagoTC (Sep 14, 2007)

Very large generalization but...newer/better TVs = native on / older TVs= native off.

The reason being typically high end/newer diplays have better scalers then the HR-20 box.

I've tried it both ways on my 1080P Sammy, I can't see a big difference but agree with Mixer the format button was a bigger pain then the native on delay.


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## techrep (Sep 15, 2007)

At least with native on that's one less signal conversion.


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## Malibu13 (Sep 12, 2004)

ChicagoTC said:


> Very large generalization but...newer/better TVs = native on / older TVs= native off.
> 
> The reason being typically high end/newer diplays have better scalers then the HR-20 box.
> 
> I've tried it both ways on my 1080P Sammy, I can't see a big difference but agree with Mixer the format button was a bigger pain then the native on delay.


+1 

What your eyes think is best, is what is best for you. I have tried both on my Panny and the Panny seems to do a better job of scaling, therefore, i use "native on"


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## TermiNader (Jul 10, 2007)

I have a Vizio 42" 1080p LCD and a Vizio 52" 1080p LCD. Both work best (picture quality and response time) with this setup on my HR20-700s:

Native ON
All resolutions unselected except 1080i

I used to have both 720 and 1080 selected, but when I changed from a 720 channel (ESPN) to a 1080 channel (HDNet) or vice versa, it would take longer and I would get a "No Signal!" message from the LCD in between. Same thing happened with SD channels if I selected 480 on the HR20. Now, all channel change times are the same - short.

Also, Native OFF provides a noticeable decrease in picture quality in my configuration.


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## john18 (Nov 21, 2006)

I run with Native On. But the best answer is probably to just sit down and experiment a bit and see which looks better to you on your individual setup.


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## Redlinetire (Jul 24, 2007)

I have an 'old' CRT HDTV that supports all the formats you mentioned. I use the native setting on my HR20 since I think the picture is better that way. Plus my Toshiba has a 'Theater Wide' setting that takes letterbox 480 and scales it up very nicely for movies.

Yes, channel changing between formats does take longer. But I don't channel surf much, and when I do I surf through the guide instead and then pick a channel I want to see.

But as others have suggested, they only way to tell for your particular setup is to walk through the options and see for yourself!


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## ChicagoTC (Sep 14, 2007)

TermiNader said:


> I have a Vizio 42" 1080p LCD and a Vizio 52" 1080p LCD. Both work best (picture quality and response time) with this setup on my HR20-700s:
> 
> Native ON
> All resolutions unselected except 1080i
> ...


Does your Vizio support 720p? ESPN broadcasts at 720p. If you use native but don't select 720p doesn't the HR20 scale that to 1080i therefore defeating the purpose of native?


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## spidey (Sep 1, 2006)

armophob said:


> I have found with my plasmas, the images are darker and blocky on 480 shows that are being sent with the box set on 1080i. I let the HR20 take care of detecting the video. This has not had any issues for me since day 1.


Same here I have native on however channel changing is a little slow when moving from say 480 to 720p


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## Stuart Sweet (Jun 19, 2006)

I really think you need to try it yourself and see what you like best.


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## n3ntj (Dec 18, 2006)

Native ON on my end takes so long to change channels.


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## MikeR (Oct 6, 2006)

I checked the manual for my older Sony Rear Projection ('03 model - purchased '04), and found that it actually downrezzed 720p signals to 420p. 


Makes it simple...
Native off -1080i on the 51" Sony RPTV
Native off - 720p on the 32" Sharp LCD


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## RichH25 (Jun 17, 2007)

TermiNader said:


> I have a Vizio 42" 1080p LCD and a Vizio 52" 1080p LCD. Both work best (picture quality and response time) with this setup on my HR20-700s:
> 
> Native ON
> All resolutions unselected except 1080i
> ...


I wonder why native off makes any difference in your set up. The Native toggle is supposed to tell the receiver, when on, to send the native signal or send the resolution that is closest to the native signal among the output resolutions selected. Since you only have one output selected, it technically should not make a difference whether or not you have native selected. I wonder if there is something screwy with the HR20 programming.


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## RichH25 (Jun 17, 2007)

bt-rtp said:


> Not really. The best setup is to disable native mode and set the output format of the HR20 to match the format that your display has, either 720p or 1080i.
> 
> Lots of other advise available in these threads and the FAQ.


This is only true is the scaler in the HR20 is better than the one in your TV, which is not the case for the majority of the mid to higher end HDTV's out there (e.g. Panny, Pio, Samsung, Sharp, Sony, etc.)

The video scaler / processor in the vast majority of 1080P sets currently on the market is superior to what is in the HR20.

In the end, each end use needs to decide if the PQ improvement is worth the channel switching lag that comes with Native on.

For my set up, I use native on for my Pio, Panny, and Sharp sets as there is a noticeable PQ improvement in letting the sets do the scaling. I use native off for my Vizio as I do not notice a pq difference.


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## jclarke9999 (Feb 10, 2007)

Redlinetire said:


> I have an 'old' CRT HDTV that supports all the formats you mentioned. I use the native setting on my HR20 since I think the picture is better that way. Plus my Toshiba has a 'Theater Wide' setting that takes letterbox 480 and scales it up very nicely for movies.
> 
> Yes, channel changing between formats does take longer. But I don't channel surf much, and when I do I surf through the guide instead and then pick a channel I want to see.
> 
> But as others have suggested, they only way to tell for your particular setup is to walk through the options and see for yourself!


I have an older Sony CRT based 4X3. Native works best for me to avoid issues with the SD channels and pillars.


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## mdernst (Dec 24, 2005)

Whether or not you use Native ON or Native OFF is probably as much personal preference as anything else. You may find that the picture on your particular TV looks better being fed 1080i or 720p and elect to turn native off and use whichever looks better on your TV.

I leave Native ON and select 480p, 720p & 1080i as valid modes supported on my HR20. My main reason is that my TV supports different settings based on the input signal and I have it setup for NO overscan when it gets an HD signal (720p or 1080i). I have it set for 5% overscan when it gets a 480p signal which eleminates the jaggy lines at the top or bottom of the picture on most 4:3 SD sources. This way I don't have to select different overscan settings on the TV everytime I switch from HD to SD - it is automatic based on the input resolution.

Another person's reasoning for leaving Native ON.

Mike


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## phat78boy (Sep 12, 2007)

You can turn native on, yet uncheck 480i and 480p in the resolutions area. This will upconvert the 480i/p signals yet display natively the HD resolutions. Works good for me on my setups, but this is really a personal preference. Some sets might display 480i/p better natively rather then upconvert.


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## Gmaxx (Sep 25, 2006)

TermiNader said:


> I have a Vizio 42" 1080p LCD and a Vizio 52" 1080p LCD. Both work best (picture quality and response time) with this setup on my HR20-700s:
> 
> Native ON
> All resolutions unselected except 1080i
> ...


Fancy meetin you here Terminader. 

I have a Vizio myself and I use these same settings. Native ON only 1080i selected.


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## bt-rtp (Dec 30, 2005)

phat78boy said:


> You can turn native on, yet uncheck 480i and 480p in the resolutions area. This will upconvert the 480i/p signals yet display natively the HD resolutions. Works good for me on my setups, but this is really a personal preference. Some sets might display 480i/p better natively rather then upconvert.


I am going to experiment with "native on" and 720p & 1080i enabled to see what happens on my Panny 50" plasma. It's a 8th generation, model TH-50PHD8UK so it might have a better scaler that than the HR20. Results tomorrow.


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## vurbano (May 15, 2004)

doo4usc said:


> I have an older Hi-Def TV that accepts 480i/p,720p and 1081i resolutions,I use PrPbY connection. Is there an advantage to use the "Native" resolution on my HR20-700 units? Thanks


Absolutely. Your set has a native resolution, either 720p or 1080i. Lets say to set the HR20 to 720p and your set is 720p. All 1080i stations would be converted to 720p by the reciever and sent to your TV. Not bad if the reciever has a better conversion than your set.

If you set the reciever to output 1080i then your 720p stations would go through a conversion by your reciever robbing the video of its progressive scan qualities and sending it to your 720p set as 1080i where it would be converted back to a very poor 720p picture. There are a lot of scenarios here and the converse is true if you set the reciever to output 720p and your TV has 1080i native resolution.

so,
#1 avoid 1080i to 720p to 1080i and 720p to 1080i to 720p.
#2 match the native resolution of your HDTV if the reciever does a better job of conversion than your HDTV. If not, then output native resolution from the reciever and let your TV do the conversions.


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## millertime (Sep 2, 2007)

I use native off and set to 1080i with hdmi. I am using a sony sxrd 50" 1080p. For me this is the best set up. Native shows no difference, in fact I'd say its not as goodand is slow. Even espn looks better I think in 1080i. Again its all personal taste but this is simple and looks great.


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## HDhysteria (Sep 16, 2007)

TermiNader said:


> I have a Vizio 42" 1080p LCD and a Vizio 52" 1080p LCD. Both work best (picture quality and response time) with this setup on my HR20-700s:
> 
> Native ON
> All resolutions unselected except 1080i
> ...


I need this one explained. If there is only one output resolution selected, then why is there any difference whether native is on or off?


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## Pink Fairy (Dec 28, 2006)

Personally, I prefer the Native Resolution on because to me, the picture is better in the native resolution.

However, my husband is not patient and refused to wait the additional 3-5 seconds it took to change channels, so the receiver stays on 1080I all the time.


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## Mixer (Sep 28, 2006)

I just now changed to Native OFF again after reading throigh some of the more recent comments. I am going to leave it that way for a few days and see if I like it better. So far though in about 15-20 minutes of using it I am not seeing a big difference in the speed of channel changing or PQ. 

We will see.


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## cygnusloop (Jan 26, 2007)

HDhysteria said:


> I need this one explained. If there is only one output resolution selected, then why is there any difference whether native is on or off?


There is no difference.


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## cekowalski (Aug 19, 2007)

Ok, at the risk of sounding foolish... (and with the desire to learn from the experts).

Doesn't 720p give you 60 fps, while 1080i is basically only 30 fps? If that's the case, I'd think that you would want your set to work with the 720p resolution whenever the content is transmitted that way, because otherwise the 1080i "up" conversion is going to lose some of the motion capability.

If I understand it correctly, 1080i is basically a 540p picture each 1/60th of a second, but interlace each pair of them together so that you end up with 1080 lines each 1/30th of a second.

Again, if I understand correctly, 720p gives you 720 lines each 1/60th of a second, or 60fps, and that equates to superior motion resolution but with slightly less picture resolution. Isn't this why ABC and ESPN chose 720p instead of 1080i? Lower resolution, but smoother motion for sports content?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/720p#720p_versus_1080i

Seems like we defeat the purpose of 720p, if we always convert it to 1080i...


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## smitmw1 (Sep 26, 2007)

It reallys does depend on the hardware. First off, Plasmas and LCDS, and I assume DLP and SRXD/DILA sets, cannot natively display an interlaced signal. CRTs can and do.

The first issue is scaling. Strectching a 480i signal to 1080i is the easy part and seems to be done fairly well by the D* boxes. Deinterlacing the signal for display on a plasma etc is totally different.

I use native and live with the channel change delay to avoid having the receiver do any deinterlacing/reinterlacing. With regard to sports broadcasts, if set to 1080i and the feed is in fact 720p it has to go like this. 720p -> interlace to generate 720i -> scale to 1080i -> send to set which it must then deinterlace (and rescale if necessary 720p/768p native) the signal for display.

Forcing 720p would require scaling up 480i and deinterlacing or scaling down 1080i and deinterlacing. I know my set ( Pio elite plasma) can do all of those things better than the H20 can. I would think most newer sets can as well.


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## bt-rtp (Dec 30, 2005)

bt-rtp said:


> I am going to experiment with "native on" and 720p & 1080i enabled to see what happens on my Panny 50" plasma. It's a 8th generation, model TH-50PHD8UK so it might have a better scaler that than the HR20. Results tomorrow.


*My video quality is a little better with "native on" and 720p & 1080i enabled.*


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## Bofurley (Oct 11, 2006)

Vurbano, I would appreciate some info:
I have a Mitsbishi 65 inch Model WS-65313 rear projection TV.
The native resolution is set to off, and the following bars in them: 480i, 480p, and 1080i. The 720 has nothing in it.
My question, should I change my resolution to on, then check everything, or just the 720 and 1080? Or, just leave it as is?.
Thanks for any information.


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## techrep (Sep 15, 2007)

smitmw1 said:


> It reallys does depend on the hardware. First off, Plasmas and LCDS, and I assume DLP and SRXD/DILA sets, cannot natively display an interlaced signal. CRTs can and do.
> 
> The first issue is scaling. Strectching a 480i signal to 1080i is the easy part and seems to be done fairly well by the D* boxes. Deinterlacing the signal for display on a plasma etc is totally different.
> 
> ...


Good first post. The most important point you make is that all plasmas and LCD's convert to progressive scan native resolution. Each time a signal is converted it is at risk of being degraded. With native on that's one less conversion.


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## TWJR (May 17, 2007)

My dell 37" flat screen has a 720p display. HR20 set to native off; resolution 720. I'm assuming it makes no difference if native is on or off in this setup.


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## JeffBowser (Dec 21, 2006)

I have the twin to that TV - it is only capable of 480i/p and 1080i. I have experimented until I was sick and tired of it, and I decided that setting my DirecTV box to native off and 480p/1080i output only looked best to me.

For my LCD's, whose native is 720p, I also prefer to set my box to native off and 720p output only. I have not done so much extensive experimentation with these TV's, because I don't really believe you can humanly see much difference on smaller TV's (these are 32"'ers).



Bofurley said:


> Vurbano, I would appreciate some info:
> I have a Mitsbishi 65 inch Model WS-65313 rear projection TV.
> The native resolution is set to off, and the following bars in them: 480i, 480p, and 1080i. The 720 has nothing in it.
> My question, should I change my resolution to on, then check everything, or just the 720 and 1080? Or, just leave it as is?.
> Thanks for any information.


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## veryoldschool (Dec 10, 2006)

I use Native because I think the SD channels look better using my TV's scaler as opposed to the D* scaler. This is where there is the most scaling trying to make something look good out of something that doesn't.
If your TV can show both 720p & 1080i then one these would also need to be scaled by your TV to fit the screen. FWIW


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## dshu82 (Jul 6, 2007)

I am with bt-rtp and some others. Native "on" and 720 and 1080 selected. I have been having issues with my HR20 and tried component and Native "off" last night and definitely noticed the difference. The Vizio does a pretty good job at scaling compared to the HR20 or my H 20's. Plus, with native off, I fool around with the format button too much and it is annyoing.


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## mchaney (Aug 17, 2006)

bt-rtp said:


> *My video quality is a little better with "native on" and 720p & 1080i enabled.*


This sounds like a good idea, but one question. When viewing HD material, great, it's just pass through. But when you view SD, does the HR20 upscale to 720 or 1080? I have a Panny 1080p plasma and I wouldn't want the HR20 upscaling 480p to 720p and then the TV upsampling 720p to 1080p. In general, I don't like the resolution changing when hooked up via HDMI because HDMI handshake can be a bit messy when resolutions change.

Mike


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## HDhysteria (Sep 16, 2007)

cygnusloop said:


> There is no difference.


my point exactly, yet the poster states a noticable difference in picture quality.


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## BK EH (Oct 3, 2005)

smitmw1 said:


> It reallys does depend on the hardware. First off, Plasmas and LCDS, and I assume DLP and SRXD/DILA sets, cannot natively display an interlaced signal. CRTs can and do.
> 
> The first issue is scaling. Strectching a 480i signal to 1080i is the easy part and seems to be done fairly well by the D* boxes. Deinterlacing the signal for display on a plasma etc is totally different.
> 
> ...


Your steps above (my bolding) are incorrect. Interlaced video is *not* upconverted. Only progressive video is upconverted.

For example, an upconverting DVD player takes the native 480i video from the disc, de-interlaces it to 480p, then upconverts it to 720p for HDMI 720p output, or to 1080p and then interlaces it to 1080i for HDMI 1080i output.

From a native 1080i signal scaled down to 720p, it works the same way backwards. All interlaced video signals are de-interlaced before scaling can take place.


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## tkrandall (Oct 3, 2003)

millertime said:


> I use native off and set to 1080i with hdmi. I am using a sony sxrd 50" 1080p. For me this is the best set up. Native shows no difference, in fact I'd say its not as goodand is slow. Even espn looks better I think in 1080i. Again its all personal taste but this is simple and looks great.


Same thing for me. Native off. My set is a Sammy 1080p DLP HLS-6187W (2006 model - so it's new). For whatever reason, telling the HR-20 to send 720p programs over as 1080i seems to look better on my TV, IMO. In particular, with ESPN or FOX sports, the grass loooks much better converted by the HR20. I have both 720p and 1080i enabled, but usually just leave it in 1080i mode all the time.


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## tkrandall (Oct 3, 2003)

So, does anyone know what modes my Sammy 1080p DLPHLS-6187W set is capable of displaying (not accepting, but what does it display) on the screen? 

Does it display a 1080i/60 signal in an interlaced odd/even manner (like a traditional 480i analog set), or does it take the odd lines, "hold" them while it gets the even lines 1/60th or a second later, and then display all of them progressively as 1080p/30?

How does it handle a 720p/60 signal on the screen?


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## cygnusloop (Jan 26, 2007)

HDhysteria said:


> my point exactly, yet the poster states a noticable difference in picture quality.


People can convince themselves of nearly anything if they want to believe it. Previous posts from the poster also color my opinion.

Objectively, all native does is toggle the resolutions for you based on the incoming signal, instead of using the format button to do it manually. Who knows what the poster thinks he/she saw. Maybe they were comparing crop to pillarbox. Who knows.


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## cygnusloop (Jan 26, 2007)

mchaney said:


> This sounds like a good idea, but one question. When viewing HD material, great, it's just pass through. But when you view SD, does the HR20 upscale to 720 or 1080? I have a Panny 1080p plasma and I wouldn't want the HR20 upscaling 480p to 720p and then the TV upsampling 720p to 1080p. In general, I don't like the resolution changing when hooked up via HDMI because HDMI handshake can be a bit messy when resolutions change.
> 
> Mike


The HR20 upscales to the next higher resolution, 720p in your case. I understand your issue, but I think de-interlacing 480i, and scaling to 1080, then interlacing for 1080i would be more problematic, and make interlacing artifacts more apparent.

Another issue with taking SD straight to 1080i is that when you send 1080i to the 1080p display, another scaling does take place unless you are running in some kind of 1:1 pixel mode. So you have: 480i de-interlaced to 480p, scaled and interlaced to 1080i, sent to the display and scaled to the actual viewing resolution. That's a lot of processing.

My solution to this problem is to let the HR20 de-interlace 480i to 480p, and send that to my HDTV, where one scaling takes place 480p>1080p (or the actual viewing resolution. That's only one de-interlace, and one scale. Of course, this doesn't address your issue of the HDMI having to re-handshake when changing to a SD channel.


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## techrep (Sep 15, 2007)

tkrandall said:


> So, does anyone know what modes my Sammy 1080p DLPHLS-6187W set is capable of displaying (not accepting, but what does it display) on the screen?
> 
> Does it display a 1080i/60 signal in an interlaced odd/even manner (like a traditional 480i analog set), or does it take the odd lines, "hold" them while it gets the even lines 1/60th or a second later, and then display all of them progressively as 1080p/30?
> 
> How does it handle a 720p/60 signal on the screen?


Any signal you send your sammy will be processed to 1080p.


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## BK EH (Oct 3, 2005)

It's really quite simple if you have LCD or plasma or DLP: your panel has a native resolution. It will either accept that native resolution and do no pre-display processing to the signal, or it will pre-process the signal to get it to its native display resolution.

Once you have a handle on that, then decide what you want the HR20 to do first. On our Sharp Aquos and our Toshiba Regza we have 720P sent to the panels from the HR20 -- no matter what the source -- and it looks great.

YMMV


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## mistermegabyte (Sep 21, 2007)

veryoldschool said:


> I use Native because I think the SD channels look better using my TV's scaler as opposed to the D* scaler. This is where there is the most scaling trying to make something look good out of something that doesn't.
> If your TV can show both 720p & 1080i then one these would also need to be scaled by your TV to fit the screen. FWIW


I agree with VeryOldSchool. If I set my HR20 to Native on then my SD channels look much better than if they are upscaled to 1080i. With my Native setting on my HD channels look great, and my SD channels look pretty good too (SD looks horrible when upconverted to 480p or above. They look very good on 480i in stretch mode (or in 4:3 mode also). That being said, I'm still an HD snob and very rarely watch SD, except for NASA channel.


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## elove (Aug 17, 2007)

I apologize but I am little confused by all of this scaling and de-interlacing talk.

I have a Samsung HLP 5063 (720p native resolution of the TV), I purchased in June of 2004. So what is the best setting for me? Should I only select 720p and leave everything else blank in the resolution support menu and turn native on.

Thanks!


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## veryoldschool (Dec 10, 2006)

elove said:


> I apologize but I am little confused by all of this scaling and de-interlacing talk.
> 
> I have a Samsung HLP 5063 (720p native resolution of the TV), I purchased in June of 2004. So what is the best setting for me? Should I only select 720p and leave everything else blank in the resolution support menu and turn native on.
> 
> Thanks!


What is the best setting for you? You will need to see which looks better to you [if one does].
If you only check 720p [native on or off doesn't matter since only one will be output] the HR-20 will scale everything to 720p and channel changing may be faster.
If you check 480i/p, 720p, 1080i, and use native: the HR-20 will send out the program in the same resolution as it is broadcast and then your Samsung TV will scale it to fit the display. This may take a bit longer for channel changing. So the real issue is whether you think your TV does a better job [image looks better] than the HR20.
I can see a better picture on an SD channel if I let my TV do it, so I use native. Your TV might be the same [or not] and since it's "your eyes" I can't tell you which is best for you even if you had my TV.
I can tell you the how & what it does, but you will need to "play with it" to see which you like.


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## ItaliaVP (Jul 10, 2007)

I have two 720p sets (42" Hitachi Plasma and a 37" Aquos) should I set the max resolution at 720p or 1080i? I have native on.


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## veryoldschool (Dec 10, 2006)

ItaliaVP said:


> I have two 720p sets (42" Hitachi Plasma and a 37" Aquos) should I set the max resolution at 720p or 1080i? I have native on.


I would tell you the same as above ^^^. Try the settings and see if one looks better to you.


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## ItaliaVP (Jul 10, 2007)

veryoldschool said:


> I would tell you the same as above ^^^. Try the settings and see if one looks better to you.


I just tried, I think everything on my sets look better in their native 480p, 720p or 1080i. My sharp doesnt support 480i it seems. The SD looks better at 480p anyway.


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## veryoldschool (Dec 10, 2006)

ItaliaVP said:


> I just tried, I think everything on my sets look better in their native 480p, 720p or 1080i. My sharp doesnt support 480i it seems. The SD looks better at 480p anyway.


I use it too for the very same reason.


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## elove (Aug 17, 2007)

veryoldschool said:


> What is the best setting for you? You will need to see which looks better to you [if one does].
> If you only check 720p [native on or off doesn't matter since only one will be output] the HR-20 will scale everything to 720p and channel changing may be faster.
> If you check 480i/p, 720p, 1080i, and use native: the HR-20 will send out the program in the same resolution as it is broadcast and then your Samsung TV will scale it to fit the display. This may take a bit longer for channel changing. So the real issue is whether you think your TV does a better job [image looks better] than the HR20.
> I can see a better picture on an SD channel if I let my TV do it, so I use native. Your TV might be the same [or not] and since it's "your eyes" I can't tell you which is best for you even if you had my TV.
> I can tell you the how & what it does, but you will need to "play with it" to see which you like.


Thanks for the explanation that helps clear up the confusion. I will try both ways and see which one I like best.

On a side note, when using native on and changing channels I sometimes get a green screen. If I turn the HR20 off and back on it goes away. Is this an HDMI hand shake issue or is it the HR20 trying to toggle between resolutions?


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## Keeska (Feb 10, 2007)

bt-rtp said:


> Not really. The best setup is to disable native mode and set the output format of the HR20 to match the format that your display has, either 720p or 1080i.


Only if the resolution conversion is done better by the HR20 then by the TV. For me this is not the case so I use native. The engineers who designed the TV knew how best to convert the resolution so it looked best on the TV.


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## veryoldschool (Dec 10, 2006)

elove said:


> On a side note, when using native on and changing channels I sometimes get a green screen. If I turn the HR20 off and back on it goes away. Is this an HDMI hand shake issue?


Yes, "I think so", but haven't seen it on my TV, to know. On my older HD box and TV, I would get snow that I would need to do the same thing and it was due to it.


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## elove (Aug 17, 2007)

veryoldschool said:


> Yes, "I think so", but haven't seen it on my TV, to know. On my older HD box and TV, I would get snow that I would need to do the same thing and it was due to it.


Thanks VOS! Does this mean I need a new/better HDMI cable?


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## veryoldschool (Dec 10, 2006)

elove said:


> Thanks VOS! Does this mean I need a new/better HDMI cable?


More likely an update to your TV's firmware. This whole HDMI is constaly being refined to work on both ends of the cable.
[BTW: don't "buy in to" the Monster cable hype]


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## BK EH (Oct 3, 2005)

Keeska said:


> Only if the resolution conversion is done better by the HR20 then by the TV. For me this is not the case so I use native. *The engineers who designed the TV knew how best to convert the resolution so it looked best on the TV*.


Not quite.

The engineers that designed the scaler chip (TI, Faroudja, et al) did all that work ahead of time. The TV manufacturer _then_ decided how much they wanted to spend on such a chip vs. how to get the most bang for their buck when they sold 4 million TVs. Sometimes they choose a better scaler and sometimes they let it ride because they figure most everyone buying their set uses an STB w/ a scaler already.

It's all cost vs. margin.


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## veryoldschool (Dec 10, 2006)

BK EH said:


> Not quite.
> 
> The engineers that designed the scaler chip (TI, Faroudja, et al) did all that work ahead of time. The TV manufacturer _then_ decided how much they wanted to spend on such a chip vs. how to get the most bang for their buck when they sold 4 million TVs. Sometimes they choose a better scaler and sometimes they let it ride because they figure most everyone buying their set uses an STB w/ a scaler already.
> 
> It's all cost vs. margin.


*The engineers who designed the TV knew how best to convert the resolution so it looked best on the TV*.

I bet they did, but I would bet just as much that the accountant overruled them.
[Which I'd guess is exactly what you were trying to say].


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## Keeska (Feb 10, 2007)

BK EH said:


> Sometimes they choose a better scaler and sometimes they let it ride because they figure most everyone buying their set uses an STB w/ a scaler already.


And the STB manufacturers did the same thing since "everyone will use the scaler in their TV anyway".

Bottom line - use whatever looks the best to you.


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## Fire407 (Jul 26, 2007)

Here is something I experienced with a HR20-700. I set Native off and selected 1080i as the ONLY resolution. I then went to channel 70 which should be 1080i and the picture looked a little soft. So I checked the setup blue-screen info and scrolled to the bottom and sure enough I was only sending the TV 480p. I then put Native on and checked again and now the info was showing 1080i. I then called a friend that also had a HR20 and told him to check the info and he also was only getting 480p to the TV. He turned Native on and then the info showed 1080i and a much improved picture. Go to setup and then scroll the blue screen on the right all the way down to check the info(make sure you're on a 1080i channel first). I would be curious to know if other people are experiencing this. If any of you are, then it could indicate a problem with one of the firmware revisions. In other words, the only way I and another owner I know can get 1080i resolution is to turn Native On. It used to work with Native Off, but it doesn't now which indicates to me it's a firmware issue. If any of you are experiencing this issue, then that means that there could be a whole lot of people watching 480p and thinking that they are getting a higher resolution.


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## gyver65 (Oct 22, 2007)

Fire407 said:


> Here is something I experienced with a HR20-700. I set Native off and selected 1080i as the ONLY resolution. I then went to channel 70 which should be 1080i and the picture looked a little soft. So I checked the setup blue-screen info and scrolled to the bottom and sure enough I was only sending the TV 480p. I then put Native on and checked again and now the info was showing 1080i. I then called a friend that also had a HR20 and told him to check the info and he also was only getting 480p to the TV. He turned Native on and then the info showed 1080i and a much improved picture. Go to setup and then scroll the blue screen on the right all the way down to check the info(make sure you're on a 1080i channel first). I would be curious to know if other people are experiencing this. If any of you are, then it could indicate a problem with one of the firmware revisions. In other words, the only way I and another owner I know can get 1080i resolution is to turn Native On. It used to work with Native Off, but it doesn't now which indicates to me it's a firmware issue. If any of you are experiencing this issue, then that means that there could be a whole lot of people watching 480p and thinking that they are getting a higher resolution.


I noticed this same thing two weeks ago when I first got my HR20 hooked up. I could not get 1080i unless I turned Native on. I currently have all resolutions checked except 480i with Native turned on.


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## veryoldschool (Dec 10, 2006)

Fire407 said:


> Here is something I experienced with a HR20-700. I set Native off and selected 1080i as the ONLY resolution. I then went to channel 70 which should be 1080i and the picture looked a little soft. So I checked the setup blue-screen info and scrolled to the bottom and sure enough I was only sending the TV 480p. I then put Native on and checked again and now the info was showing 1080i. I then called a friend that also had a HR20 and told him to check the info and he also was only getting 480p to the TV. He turned Native on and then the info showed 1080i and a much improved picture. Go to setup and then scroll the blue screen on the right all the way down to check the info(make sure you're on a 1080i channel first). I would be curious to know if other people are experiencing this. If any of you are, then it could indicate a problem with one of the firmware revisions. In other words, the only way I and another owner I know can get 1080i resolution is to turn Native On. It used to work with Native Off, but it doesn't now which indicates to me it's a firmware issue. If any of you are experiencing this issue, then that means that there could be a whole lot of people watching 480p and thinking that they are getting a higher resolution.


In some earlier CE software, the box wouldn't report the [correct] same resolution as my TV would. The front panel led and the system info would say one thing and my TV would say the correct thing. Also if I made a change in the setup menu for which resolution I wanted, I needed to change channels for it to take affect. I use native on and for the most part haven't seen this with last few CE releases.


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## Fire407 (Jul 26, 2007)

gyver65 said:


> I noticed this same thing two weeks ago when I first got my HR20 hooked up. I could not get 1080i unless I turned Native on. I currently have all resolutions checked except 480i with Native turned on.


My guess is that a lot of people are watching 480p now and don't even realize it. It seems the ONLY way to get 1080i resolution is to turn NATIVE ON. Without NATIVE ON the info in the setup menu shows 480p, and there is a very noticeable increase in quality when Native is switched on and the info displayed says 1080i. Please everyone, check the info on the blue-screen and scroll to the bottom to see what resolution you are sending to your display.


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## veryoldschool (Dec 10, 2006)

Fire407 said:


> My guess is that a lot of people are watching 480p now and don't even realize it. It seems the ONLY way to get 1080i resolution is to turn NATIVE ON. Without NATIVE ON the info in the setup menu shows 480p, and there is a very noticeable increase in quality when Native is switched on and the info displayed says 1080i. Please everyone, check the info on the blue-screen and scroll to the bottom to see what resolution you are sending to your display.


Maybe native just needs turned on and then after it cycles through, it can be turned off.
[The thinking here is to get that part of the box to exercise itself] FWIW


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## Matt9876 (Oct 11, 2007)

I have a LCD HD projector and tested it in all modes with an H20 unit.

Native seems to be the best for SD but H20 makes mistakes with off air channels mode also mode change is so long (3-4 sec) at times as to miss channel banner and info. 

What works best for me is 1080i all the time and if needed manual change on the format button. 

Matt


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