# What channels are in 720p?



## Artwood (May 30, 2006)

I know this question is probably answered somewhere but i searched and /don't know where--what channels are in 720p and which ones are in 1080i?

I wish this was a permanent sticky--people refer you places where the information is not obviously apparent.


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## Taco Lover (Jan 8, 2007)

From Wikipedia:

In the USA, 720p is used by ABC, Fox Broadcasting Company and ESPN because the smoother image is desirable for fast-action sports telecasts, whereas 1080i is used by CBS, NBC, HBO and Discovery HD due to the crisper picture particularly in non-moving shots.


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## Artwood (May 30, 2006)

Who else is 720p? Is there a list here anywhere? I heard that Natilonal Geographic was 720p. Are there any others?


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## Taco Lover (Jan 8, 2007)

Can I ask why you want/need to know?


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## Artwood (May 30, 2006)

I want to send 720p to my Plasma set from 720p channels and 1080i to my Plasma set from 1080i sources.

On my set things look ever so slightly better that way.

On CBS and NBC I send 1080i. On Fox, ABC, and ESPN I send 720p.

I just wanted to know what all the other HD channels on DISH send so I could send them in whatever resoultion DISH is sending them.

Less conversion = better picture at least with the Panasonic Plasma that I have.


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## Taco Lover (Jan 8, 2007)

Wow, you have good eyes.


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## devecho (Mar 10, 2004)

Artwood said:


> I want to send 720p to my Plasma set from 720p channels and 1080i to my Plasma set from 1080i sources.
> 
> On my set things look ever so slightly better that way.
> 
> ...


What's the native resolution of your plasma display? And whose converter do you trust more? Dish's or your Panasonic?

I find it simpler and easier to just set the output of the Dish receiver to match that of the native resolution of my HD displays. Which in this case are 720p devices.


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## mhowie (Sep 30, 2006)

devecho said:


> What's the native resolution of your plasma display? And whose converter do you trust more? Dish's or your Panasonic?
> 
> I find it simpler and easier to just set the output of the Dish receiver to match that of the native resolution of my HD displays. Which in this case are 720p devices.


Are your HD displays 720p or 768p?


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## Artwood (May 30, 2006)

My Panasonic is 1366X768. Say I'm on ESPN and send it 720p from my DISH receiver it looks slightly better than when I send it 1080i. When I'm on NBC and send it 1080i from my DISH receiver it looks better than when I send it 720p.

I think the processing in the Panasonic would be better than the processing done by the DISH reciever but I think that since there are less scaling steps that it looks better when I try to best match what the channel is in with what the DISH receiver is sending.

I don't think that would be necessarily true for all displays but it is true with my particular plasma.

Why have Both the DISH receiver and the Plasma set both do processing?

And yes I know that there is some processing done with going from 720p to 768p but it isn't much.

That's why I'm asking which HD channel are in 720p and which ones are 1080i.


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## slowmo (Sep 22, 2006)

What about the newer sports HD channels such as Big 10 and FOX RSN?

I assume Fox RSN's are in 720p as well but don't know about BTN. I do find that the PQ for football games on these channels as well as ESPN/2 is better than the artifact-filled crap I get on NBC or CBS - either via OTA or DISH LIL.


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## Artwood (May 30, 2006)

I know that the Monster Channel is in 1080i--I don't know about the rest of the Voom channels or TNT or A& E or Discovery, Science, or Learning Channels. 

Does anyone know if they're 1080i or 720p?


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## Artwood (May 30, 2006)

If I wrote a letter and asked DISH what channels were in 1080i or 720p would they tell me?


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## Taco Lover (Jan 8, 2007)

I'm not knocking you or your HDTV, but you are the only one I know that can actually see a difference between 720p and 1080i. Can you not enjoy what's on unless you totally find out if it's one or the other and actually take the time to switch the output? Just curious.


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## Stewart Vernon (Jan 7, 2005)

Taco Lover said:


> I'm not knocking you or your HDTV, but you are the only one I know that can actually see a difference between 720p and 1080i.


I can see a difference... depending upon the programming. If you're talking about your average sitcom or drama made for TV, then no... I usually cannot tell a difference because of the soft lenses they use to shoot those types of shows.

But anything live (my local FOX and CBS affiliates do their local news in HD... one in 720p the other in 1080i... and they are owned by the same people, but the 1080i newscast is a lot sharper than the 720p newscast) you can tell more sharpness with 1080i.

Its a mixed bag as to how you can tell unless you compare identical programs or at least identical types of programming.


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## Guitar1969 (Oct 19, 2006)

Artwood said:


> My Panasonic is 1366X768. Say I'm on ESPN and send it 720p from my DISH receiver it looks slightly better than when I send it 1080i. When I'm on NBC and send it 1080i from my DISH receiver it looks better than when I send it 720p.
> 
> I think the processing in the Panasonic would be better than the processing done by the DISH reciever but I think that since there are less scaling steps that it looks better when I try to best match what the channel is in with what the DISH receiver is sending.
> 
> ...


I have the same TV(Or probably close) - Panasonic 50" Plasma 60u 768p . So how are you gonna set it up to change - Are you going to set a macro up on each station to change your VIP622.

I don't see any difference in the picture and it was my understanding that sending it anything greater thant 720p is useless, since the panny will downscale to its native resolution(768p) What size TV do you have and how close do you sit to the screen, as this is a huge factor(Because of the human eyes ability to descern)


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## devecho (Mar 10, 2004)

mhowie said:


> Are your HD displays 720p or 768p?


Well, the Philips (55PL9774) is actually 1280x720, so 720p is the native resolution of the device. The Vizio (VX32L) is actually 1366x768p, so technically 720p isn't the native resolution, but I believe that the Vizio treats 720p as the native resolution.

Ideally, it would be nice if Dish would do native pass-thru and let the display handle all the scaling...


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## Cyclone (Jul 1, 2002)

I'm pretty sure that A&E and History channels are also 720p.


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## CoachGibbs (May 23, 2007)

A&E
History
ESPN
ESPN2
Big 10 Network and alternates
National Geographic

ABC and Fox if you get them. I think that's it for 720p on E*.


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## Artwood (May 30, 2006)

My Plasma is a 50-inch set. 1080i looks sharper but 720p does look better for sports as far as movwement is concerned--I'd rather watch a football game on ESPN than CBS.

The Food Channel and the Monster Channel and HDTV News give me the sharpest pictures of any of the channels.

I don't do alot of switching of the outputs because I don't watch much network TV. Usually I just output 1080i becaue I watch more of the Voom channels and NBC and CBS.

Whenever there's a football game on ESPN, ABC, or Fox I'll switch to 720p.

I guess from now on I'll switch to 720p for A&E and The History Channel. I always figured that TNT was 720p--is that true?

The differences between 1080i and 720p are indeed slight but as long as I can barely see them why not feed my set what is being fed to DISH?

In the future will DISH produce receivers with a pass through feature? I think that would be a great idea.


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## mikeap (Jun 17, 2007)

Taco Lover said:


> I'm not knocking you or your HDTV, but you are the only one I know that can actually see a difference between 720p and 1080i. Can you not enjoy what's on unless you totally find out if it's one or the other and actually take the time to switch the output? Just curious.


Yes Taco Lover, now you know two people. I too pass the native resolution of the channel to my TV. I have a $3000 upscaler and am pretty darn sure it will do a better job of upconverting to 1080p for my TV than having my cheap VIP upscale 720p to 1080i before then having my TV take the 1080i and deinterlace it and upscale it to 1080p.
And yes I can see quite a difference. More carrots, less Tacos and you too will see it.

I have a macro setup to take me into the resolution screen on the dish box to change it if I watch a 480 or 720 channel.

Native Passthrough is about the only area where Dish's box is inferior to Directv. Come on Dish, give us native passthrough so you can be the absolute best out there for those of us who really value Picture Quality.


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