I have a 1080p TV but DISH outputs at 1080i. Should I set the DISH to 720p?

Question

I have a 1080p TV but DISH outputs at 1080i. Should I set the DISH to 720p?

Answer 1

No, don't. I think you'll find that 1080i looks better than 720p. You can certainly try it both ways.

Answer 2

Comcast cable also offers only 1080i service..You should still get a very good picture, although I do NOT like satellite service, as they tend to 'compress' a lot of their movies or programs, to save bandwidth. If you get a Blu-Ray DVD player, they will play 1080p DVD's. (those DVD's are around $30.00 a piece right now!!)

Answer 3

For most cases, there is no difference between 1080i and 1080p.  If the source was originally progressive (e.g. from film or a good modern HD video camera), your TV will reconstruct the orignal image from the two interlaced fields being sent.  The networks broadcast 1080i at an equivalent frame rate of 30 frames per second.  If you have a modern flat panel HDTV display, it is progressive (plasma, LCD, DLP are all progressive displays).  1080p means 1080 lines at 60 full frames per second.  No network broadcasts that.  1080i at an equivalent frame rate of 30 frames per second will most likely turn up on your set at 1080p at an equivalent frame rate of 30 frames per second because of the deinterlacing.

Set the DISH to 720p for shows broadcast in 720p and 1080i for shows broadcast in 1080i.

720p is broadcast at 60 images per second and is better for fast action sequences (for example sports).  1080i is broadcast at an equivalent 30 images per second and is better for scenerery because of the higher resolution.

If you take a 720p broadcast and set the DISH to output at 1080i you're going to only display every other image.  You will be losing half of the signal.

Your 1080p TV is capable of taking the 720 image and can rescale it to 1080 lines, but the TV will still show 60 images per second.

ABC, FOX, and ESPN generally use 720p.  The superbowl was broadcast at 720p.

Most others networks use 1080i, but it depends.

There are pros and cons for both formats and there is a choice that is made for each show.  720 has 44% of the number of pixels as 1080.  The same broadcast network is used.  The choice is either half as many pixels twice as fast or twice as many pixels half as fast.  Go figure.

Anyway,  1080p is not being broadcast today by any network.  You may receive that from some disk players though (i.e. PS3 or bluray).