# Output 720 or 1080



## jdick2 (Feb 16, 2010)

I have a 720 plasma, which I know converts to 768. Here is where my uestion comes into play, Do I output 720 or 1080 from my sources? I have a panny TH-50P77U and I am using a 360, PS3, and a Toshiba A35.


Thanks

John


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

This is a try and see approach, it will depend on how well your display handles converting the 1080i or 720p signal to its native resolution. try both playing the same video and see what looks better.


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## hayvansurat (Feb 23, 2010)

try 1080


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## lcaillo (May 2, 2006)

As Tony said, you have to try and see. What may be more important than resolution is whether the source starts as a progressive or interlaced signal, and whether it is film based or not. If progressive, the output at 1080 has to interlace it, unless it is 1080p. Then the set has to deinterlace it. Interlace artifacts are often greater than scaling artifacts. If the interlace or de-interlacing, or pull-down in one unit is significantly better than the other, that may determine which combination of resolutions is best.


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## palette (Mar 1, 2010)

lcaillo said:


> As Tony said, you have to try and see. What may be more important than resolution is whether the source starts as a progressive or interlaced signal, and whether it is film based or not. If progressive, the output at 1080 has to interlace it, unless it is 1080p. Then the set has to deinterlace it. Interlace artifacts are often greater than scaling artifacts. If the interlace or de-interlacing, or pull-down in one unit is significantly better than the other, that may determine which combination of resolutions is best.


Will it depend on the TV as well? I have a Samsung DLP and it is so hard to tell 720-1080


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## lcaillo (May 2, 2006)

Yes, it depends on the display as well as the other devices. It really is hard to make assumptions these days about where one may get the best results with these kinds of combinations of processing.


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## ironglen (Mar 4, 2009)

Interesting. My 720p panasonic seems to display better for ota hd antenna and blu-ray in 1080i, so I'm using that.


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## Darius2010 (Dec 29, 2008)

My suggestion is to output only what the monitor will display. Otherwise, time is spent on conversion. For example, if DirecTV is outputting 1080i/p and the display is 720p, the display has to convert the signal. If you set the DirecTV box to output 720, the conversion is done before the audio and video signals are sent to the receiver and display. No potential lip sync issues.


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## lcaillo (May 2, 2006)

Perhaps you mean only the native resolution of the display, Darius2010? Nearly all sets will display most resolutions. 

The point that this advice misses is that sometimes the STB does a poorer job of conversion than the display. Certainly, timing issues may arise, but the bigger issue is usually that there is a small delay in changing channels when the format changes at the set. STBs are usually faster in that regard.


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## Darius2010 (Dec 29, 2008)

lcaillo said:


> Perhaps you mean only the native resolution of the display, Darius2010?


 Yup, exactly! 1280x720 or 1366x768


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## lcaillo (May 2, 2006)

So suppose you have a 768 or 1080p display. What do you set the output for? Most STBs do not have these settings.


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## Darius2010 (Dec 29, 2008)

Not sure how it works on Scientific Atlantic boxes but my Motorola box from a couple years ago had an option to select the output. Here's a shot of my DirecTV box. This photo was taken a few minutes ago from my cell so its not crystal clear: 











I have the signal from the STB sending 1080i/p to the receiver, then 1080p from the receiver to the LCD. I had it on NATIVE but the channel flipping was turtle-slow.


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## lcaillo (May 2, 2006)

Most do not have a 1080p option yet, and none that I have seen have a 768 option. Native or pass through often yields the best image with the least artifacts, but as noted above may slow down the channel scanning. In most cases, you simply have to try to see what you get. The only real answer is "it depends." You simply cannot generallize effectively on this one.


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## Darius2010 (Dec 29, 2008)

lcaillo said:


> The only real answer is "it depends."


:T Yup.


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