Can coax support 1080i?

Fritzo

Lifer
Jan 3, 2001
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I'm running short on jacks on the back of my TV. I just got Dish Network, and it's broadcasting in 1080i. If I use coax cable to go from my receiver to the TV instead of component cables, will I still get 1080i or will it down convert?
 

Caesar

Golden Member
Nov 5, 1999
1,684
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Coax can carry 1080i (thats how you get HD cable anyways). You reciever maybe limited to providing HD only through component/HDMI/DVI.
 

Howard

Lifer
Oct 14, 1999
47,989
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81
No. Coax is basically composite. I don't know much about digital video transmission, though.
 

waggy

No Lifer
Dec 14, 2000
68,145
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Originally posted by: CaesaR
Coax can carry 1080i (thats how you get HD cable anyways). You reciever maybe limited to providing HD only through component/HDMI/DVI.

thats what i thought.
 

Zenmervolt

Elite member
Oct 22, 2000
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Originally posted by: Howard
No. Coax is basically composite.
Strange then how we can get 1080i (and 720p) channels over the air through our antenna with coax back home.

There's absolutely no reason why coax cannot carry a 1080i (or even 1080p) digital signal.

The box itself may down-convert (which sounds like the case), but that's the result of an idiotic engineering decision on the part of whoever designed the box and not a limitation of coax itself.

ZV
 

mercanucaribe

Banned
Oct 20, 2004
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Getting an HD signal through an antenna with coax is not the same as running a coax line from the digital cable box to the TV. The cablebox would need an HDTV transmitter to pipe a digital HD signal to the TV, but I'm pretty sure they will only send an RF modulated type signal like what we used to use to connect our Nintendos in 1993.
 

Matthias99

Diamond Member
Oct 7, 2003
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Originally posted by: Zenmervolt
The box itself may down-convert (which sounds like the case), but that's the result of an idiotic engineering decision on the part of whoever designed the box and not a limitation of coax itself.

To be fair, the electronics for encoding digital QAM at those bitrates are not that cheap, and the vast majority of customers are going to use component/DVI/HDMI. Primarily since if you don't have an HDTV with a built-in tuner, that's all you can use. The coax output is there so that someone with an old non-cable-ready SDTV doesn't need to use an RF modulator.

QAM over coax can potentially carry a lot of bandwidth (consider that your cable company runs all its downstream channels, plus On Demand/PPV, plus bandwidth for a whole neighborhood of cable internet on one coax network). It comes down to how much money you're willing to spend -- more money = narrower frequency bands and more of them = more bandwidth.
 

0roo0roo

No Lifer
Sep 21, 2002
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Originally posted by: mercanucaribe
Getting an HD signal through an antenna with coax is not the same as running a coax line from the digital cable box to the TV. The cablebox would need an HDTV transmitter to pipe a digital HD signal to the TV, but I'm pretty sure they will only send an RF modulated type signal like what we used to use to connect our Nintendos in 1993.

sounds right. i doubt they output other than rf, old time networking was done on coax sure, it was good for atleast 10mb/s networks, but i doubt thats how the tv would recieve it heh.
 

Fritzo

Lifer
Jan 3, 2001
41,886
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Originally posted by: Zenmervolt
Originally posted by: Howard
No. Coax is basically composite.
Strange then how we can get 1080i (and 720p) channels over the air through our antenna with coax back home.

There's absolutely no reason why coax cannot carry a 1080i (or even 1080p) digital signal.

The box itself may down-convert (which sounds like the case), but that's the result of an idiotic engineering decision on the part of whoever designed the box and not a limitation of coax itself.

ZV


I have a new generation Dish Network receiver, and it supports 1080i. I wsa just wondering if I used coax if it would affect the quality. I'm going to follow this logic since it seems sound :)
 

Matt2

Diamond Member
Jul 28, 2001
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Device limitation.

Coax itself can carry HD signals. After all, isn't your HDTV cable box receiving the signal from the wall via a coax cable? I know mine is.
 

Howard

Lifer
Oct 14, 1999
47,989
10
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Originally posted by: Zenmervolt
Originally posted by: Howard
No. Coax is basically composite.
Strange then how we can get 1080i (and 720p) channels over the air through our antenna with coax back home.

There's absolutely no reason why coax cannot carry a 1080i (or even 1080p) digital signal.

The box itself may down-convert (which sounds like the case), but that's the result of an idiotic engineering decision on the part of whoever designed the box and not a limitation of coax itself.

ZV
Like I said, I don't know much about digital transmission. WIth analog video, though, you're basically restricted to 480 lines on one coax. Composite can do 1080, but that requires 3 cables.

Or, if I'm wrong on even that, I welcome the flames.

EDIT: Yes, I erroneously assumed analog video was being transmitted.
 

spidey07

No Lifer
Aug 4, 2000
65,469
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Originally posted by: RaiderJ
Do TV's even accept HD video signals over coax?

What do you think component video is?

All analog video transmission is done using coax. Coax is a super high bandwidth - it laughs at the rates required for HD.
 

Goosemaster

Lifer
Apr 10, 2001
48,777
3
81
Originally posted by: spidey07
Originally posted by: RaiderJ
Do TV's even accept HD video signals over coax?

What do you think component video is?

All analog video transmission is done using coax. Coax is a super high bandwidth - it laughs at the rates required for HD.

muwahahahhaha...


 

RaiderJ

Diamond Member
Apr 29, 2001
7,582
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Originally posted by: spidey07
Originally posted by: RaiderJ
Do TV's even accept HD video signals over coax?

What do you think component video is?

All analog video transmission is done using coax. Coax is a super high bandwidth - it laughs at the rates required for HD.

Even if coax (as in the screw plug) supported 10 million jigabits of bandwidth, that wasn't my question. Do TV's support HD content over coax?

EDIT: If so, is a special tuner required?
 

PurdueRy

Lifer
Nov 12, 2004
13,837
4
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Originally posted by: RaiderJ
Originally posted by: spidey07
Originally posted by: RaiderJ
Do TV's even accept HD video signals over coax?

What do you think component video is?

All analog video transmission is done using coax. Coax is a super high bandwidth - it laughs at the rates required for HD.

Even if coax (as in the screw plug) supported 10 million jigabits of bandwidth, that wasn't my question. Do TV's support HD content over coax?

As a billion people have said in this thread, Yes
 

PurdueRy

Lifer
Nov 12, 2004
13,837
4
0
Originally posted by: RaiderJ
Originally posted by: spidey07
Originally posted by: RaiderJ
Do TV's even accept HD video signals over coax?

What do you think component video is?

All analog video transmission is done using coax. Coax is a super high bandwidth - it laughs at the rates required for HD.

Even if coax (as in the screw plug) supported 10 million jigabits of bandwidth, that wasn't my question. Do TV's support HD content over coax?

EDIT: If so, is a special tuner required?

If your TV does not have an ATSC tuner then yes(for OTA)
 

sdifox

No Lifer
Sep 30, 2005
95,052
15,145
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Originally posted by: Fritzo
I'm running short on jacks on the back of my TV. I just got Dish Network, and it's broadcasting in 1080i. If I use coax cable to go from my receiver to the TV instead of component cables, will I still get 1080i or will it down convert?

your receiver doesn't have component switching? or have you ran out of that too? Straight coax cable is not going to carry 1080i. IF you are out of component input at your receiver, get a component switcher with more inputs. Or if you don't care to get HD from Dish Network, you can just run the crappy coax into your tv direct.
 

Fritzo

Lifer
Jan 3, 2001
41,886
2,128
126
Thanks for all the info. I got around everything by using component video for my DVD reciever and routing the audio through the TV, then using the HDMI cable to handle both audio and video from the sat. receiver. Works well now :)