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Does 720p material still look good when upscaled on a 1080p HDTV?

K

Ken90630

Golden Member
So I'm hoping to finally be able to get a HDTV soon (my first).

I think a 720p TV would be fine for most of the things I'll watch on it and at the distance I'll be watching from. But I would also like to start building a Blu-Ray video collection, so I'm considering a 1080p HDTV for that reason.

If I get a 1080p HDTV, how bad or good will 720p and 480p source material look on the 1080p HDTV? I ask because I don't know how good most high quality 1080p sets are at up-scaling 720p & 480p material. If it matters, I'm looking at HDTVs in the 42"-46" range (LCD).
 
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If your viewing distance permits you to discern the difference between 720p and 1080p, I would definitely go for the higher resolution. I don't think the 720p programs that are upscaled will look any worse on a 1080p set of the same size. It's really a question of whether there will be any improvement (depends on the upscaling processor). But all of this is academic if you're viewing your set from more than about 8 feet away (assuming you get a 46" set). Check out the graph at this site to see if getting a 1080p set makes sense (even if you're viewing 1080p material):

http://carltonbale.com/1080p-does-matter
 
Looks fine. I stream most of my content on my ps3 in 720p and it looks great from my viewing distance (about 8 feet from a 52" LCD). Up close you can tell the difference.
 
Kanalua said:
Looks fine. I stream most of my content on my ps3 in 720p and it looks great from my viewing distance (about 8 feet from a 52" LCD). Up close you can tell the difference.
Click to expand...

Just so I'm clear, are you watching your streamed PS3 content on a 720p HDTV or a 1080p one?
 
As a follow up - I watch OTA programming all of the time on my 55" LG plasma (which is a 1080p set). Viewing distance is typically 8-9 feet away. The picture is absolutely awesome. Heck, even DVDs look really damn good (but not as good as BD from that distance).
 
on my 106 inch 1080p screen, DVD's and such, where are only 480p scaled up to 1080p look good from about 10 feet away, blurays look wonderfull as close as about 8 feet ...
any closer than about 6 feet, and you get the screen door effect
I've got some 720p material ... and it looks better than the DVDs... hard to discern the diference between 720p upscaled and actual 1080p at 10 feet .... IMO
 
To be honest, maybe it's up to the TV. I have a lot of SD content that I figured would look pretty bad on my new 70" Sharp. To my surprise most of it looked pretty good at my viewing distance. Sure depending on the actual source and compression it can vary, and no it's not at all the glory and crispness of 720/1080p but it is not bad at all. I would imagine 720 is just fine at reasonable distances as well.
 
Time Warner has plenty of 1080i programing, but don't hold your breath for 1080p anytime soon due to FCC bandwidth restrictions. 720P content upscaled on a 1080p set will look just fine even in the in the 42"-46" range.
 
DVDs at 480 are still adequate for most when viewed on a 1080 screen. I don't know why, but as always nobody has touched on the matter of bitrate, which is the more important factor in deciding quality.

I could easily make a 1080 movie look worse than an upscaled DVD just by ripping it at an inadequate bitrate. Now consider what you are given by your Satellite/Cable supplier in that context. Every 'HD' broadcast i've seen yet has been nothing better than borderline acceptable. Certainly worse than anything i'd be willing to pay for.
 
DirkGently1 said:
DVDs at 480 are still adequate for most when viewed on a 1080 screen. I don't know why, but as always nobody has touched on the matter of bitrate, which is the more important factor in deciding quality.
Click to expand...

It's too complicated for the average consumer to understand and/or make money on so they beat you over the head with resolution marketing.

And yes, I absolutely agree with you. So many people are screaming for 1080p and demanding it on things like their netflix streaming and other dedicated streaming devices but are completely clueless as to what the bitrate is and the impact that has on overall video quality.
 
It really depends on what is doing the upscaling. But in general, the answer to your question is yes.

Also, Much of cable HD content is 1080i, and alot of dish is 1080p.
 
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