# 1080p tv - set output to 720p or 1080i?



## devilish (Dec 30, 2009)

Got a new TV set that supports 1080p. Can't figure out is 720p output looks better or 1080i. What do most folks set theirs at?

Thanks!
Devilish


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## RasputinAXP (Jan 23, 2008)

Generally 1080i.


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## Stewart Vernon (Jan 7, 2005)

For a 1080p HDTV, 1080i would look better for all channels that are broadcast in 1080i... For 720p channels, you might not see a difference.


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## devilish (Dec 30, 2009)

Stewart Vernon said:


> For a 1080p HDTV, 1080i would look better for all channels that are broadcast in 1080i... For 720p channels, you might not see a difference.


makes sense - is there a list of channels and their resolution that they are broadcast in somewhere?


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## olguy (Jan 9, 2006)

Google and ye shall find :lol:

HDTV Listings - HDTV World - CNET.com


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## Stewart Vernon (Jan 7, 2005)

And on a general note... Most channels are 1080i except for ABC/Disney and FOX owned channels. ABC/Disney and FOX went with 720p.

Your OTA channels may or may not follow that scheme, as I have heard some locals broadcasting differently than their network affiliation source... but at least for satellite channels, the above is a good rule of thumb.

Best to check to be sure, though.


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## otnipj3s (Jul 20, 2008)

http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=167806


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## JWKessler (Jun 3, 2004)

Where conversion is taking place, the quality of the scalers in your devices plays a role. As an example I have a 720p projector that has what is considered to be a very good scaler in it. So rather then have a source device (the satellite receiver in this case) with a low cost scaler scale 1080i down to 720p and feed that to the projector, I'd prefer to have the source device feed native 1080i video to the projector and let the projector do the necessary scaling.

Likewise, try to avoid unnecessary scaling if possible. In my case, I could chose to have a 720p source device (Fox from my satellite receiver for example) convert the video to 1080i, and then the projector would scale the video back to 720p again. This would all work fine, but the unneeded scaling would corrupt the video a bit. Some viewers may not notice, but if you are picky, it's best to chose wisely.

The best option - if it is available - would be to have a source device with a cheap scaler pass along the video unmodified. I didn't notice that option in my new 722 when I was playing with it today.


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