Verizon Facing HD-DVR, Receiver Shortages > Standard definition has never looked incredible

reply to rcdailey

Re: Standard definition has never looked incredible

Most HD sets only display one resolution natively, either 1080i or 720p. Which ever one it doesn't support gets scaled. That's just the nature of the beast with fixed-pixel displays like DLP, LCD, or plasma. The only displays that can natively show both are CRT-based displays (either direct view or rear projection).

For the most part though watching one standard on a set designed for the other isn't that big of a deal. It's going to be a great picture either way. For the best details in a slow moving picture like a slow pan, 1080i will give you the best perceived picture as the human eye will see what it things to be 1080 lines of resolution. However with a fast moving screen like a football being thrown down the field with the crowd in the background, the eye will detect that only 540 lines are drawn every refresh and it can make the picture look shaky. In those cases, 720p gives the better picture because all 720 lines are drawn every refresh.

Now with 1080p it's the best of both worlds. Too bad nothing will be broadcast in that for years to come.

I'm going to assume that the picture I was watching was not scaled but was 720p as broadcast because I did not observe any shakiness at any time during the broadcast.