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Samsung HD set top -- which setting 108i or 720p

If your tv can only do 720p, and can't do 1080i, then set the box to 720p. Any time you set one different than the other, there is some conversion that must be done. (Whether you see the difference or not). It's better to try and feed the tv with a NATIVE source, than to have our tv have to convert the signal to 720p.

Easy enough. Thank you!

reply to rcon1561
most HD channels native resolution source is 1080.
all modern LCD/Plasma TV's have a "scaler" regardless whether the display panel type is 720 or 1080 and will scale the incoming resolution to fit the panel, even if the signal and display panel is 1080, because modern LCD/Plasma TV's today still use "over scan".
having the cable box scale a native HD signal that is 1080 to 720 is actually downgrading it.
its better to have the set scale the incoming source to a 720 display since it will scale an incoming 1080 QAM signal to the 720 display anyways.
in this case, the TV would be a much better scaling processor than the box would be at scaling the image to match the display panel (1280x720).
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So you are saying that I should have the output from the cable box at 1920X1080i even though I have a 720p television?

reply to rcon1561

reply to rcon1561
Since you say you have tried both and can not see the difference, chose one.

Quality will always vary with different equipment so there is no right answer. Still in theory

1. If you chose 720p then the cable box will scale the 1080i to 720p and the TV will not scale anything.

2.If you chose 1080i the cable box will scale 720p to 1080i and the TV will scale all HD to 720p.

In the first scenario the 720p channels will not be converted but will be native and the cable box will scale the 1080i to 720p and the TV does not scale anything.

In the second scenario everything will have been converted at least once and some channels twice.
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reply to dm145
I'm with dm on this one. Feed the tv what is native to it. My TV is native 1080p. I set my directv to output ONLY 1080p. The directv receiver upscales to 1080p or if the signal is already 1080p it passes it through natively.

Elite does bring up a point about which has the better scaler. The tv or the receiver. That depends. The fact that you have a 720p only tv, means it's a couple/few years old technology. That doesn't automatically mean the scaler is worse than the receiver; just that it's not the newest.

Also; while 1080 is definitely HD, there are plenty of HD channels, including the network stations, that are 720p NATIVE. So it's definitely best to feed this right to the tv by having the receiver set for 720p. And for the 1080 channels being converted to 720p, you're not actually downgrading. The majority of 1080 HD channels are "1080i". The "i" stands for interlaced. The "p" in 480p, 720p, and 1080p stands for "Progressive". So while scaling from 1080 to 720 might seem like a downgrade, you're also deinterlacing the signal to make it a progressive scan, so you're improving the signal in that area. So no, you're not really downgrading the signal.

Some TV's, like mine, allow for native on ALL signals. If I want, I can watch anything without any scaling. I personally prefer 1080p for everything, so I don't have to deal with different shapes and sizes on the screen. That's another reason I prefer to have the receiver set for the best the tv can accept, and leave the TV at it's native setting.

reply to rcon1561
1) every modern flat type tv has a "scaler" circuit and the source resolution is scaled to match the display regardless of whether the source resolution is native and/or matches the display resolution or not, because of display "overscan".
2) 1:1 resolution and display source matching without "overscan" will bypass the process of scaling but will not defeat the scaler circuit in the set. (also know as "just scan" on samsung tv's)
3) if the display on the set is progressive (determined by the timing controller that drives the LCD panel), the scaler circuit in the tv will convert the source signal whether its interlaced or not to progressive for the display.
4) the only real difference here is how well the hardware in the set will scale it compared to the hardware in the cable box.
me personally, i would prefer to operate all source signals thru the computer (HDMI, VGA, RGB, etc) since i can do better pre and post processing than the tv and then feed that to the set at the same spec as the tv requires (1:1 1920x1080p)
i agree that its better to pass whatever resolution is from the source (pass thru, cable box) to the tv and let the tv do the scaling (it will anyway if the source resolution is lower/higher than the display resolution)
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Thank you all. I actually wasn't expecting a difference of opinion on this one and find this quite interesting.