Question on Home Entertainment systems

[Matt]

Originally Posted by StirCrazy

then why does shaw broadcast there HD at 1080i? I have the TV to support P, but the highest output availble from my HD box is 1080i.

Steve

If Shaw broadcast at 1080p, I'd have to have a 1080p-compatible set (or a new box to handle the downconvert), and I don't. Neither do 99% of the other HD customers. Also, Shaw would have to double their bandwidth per channel, and there just isn't enough bandwidth availalbe to do that for all channels. It will be a long time (maybe never) before you see 1080p in broadcast. Incidentally, bandwidth conservation is the reason why Shaw (and most others) broadcast in 1080i instead of 720p, although many people prefer 720p. Never mind; these days, the real "quality issue" isn't lines or interlacing -- it is compression. All the carriers are compressing their streams mercilessly, and that means artifacts (like blocking) all over the place. It is much more noticable than lines of resolution (meaning you can actually see the effect). Whenever I get a chance to see an over-the-air HD broadcast of a hockey or football game, it is startling to see how much better it looks without compression.

1080p ("full HD") is just not a quality issue for the vast majority of HD set owners. Your bad setups, uncalibrated tvs, SD sources, bad lighting, and distance from the set all will be bigger contributers to your viewing experience than 1080p v 720p or 1080i. Very, very few people will ever notice the difference between 720p and 1080p, unless they've got a killer setup, and are pretty close to their sets. Our eyes just aren't that good. Of course, expectation bias will convince many people that the bigger number is better.

[StirCrazy]

Originally Posted by Matt

If Shaw broadcast at 1080p, I'd have to have a 1080p-compatible set (or a new box to handle the downconvert), and I don't. Neither do 99% of the other HD customers.

as for needing the converter, the shaw HD box will down convert to 780p also, so that isn't an issue, but then again if you knew you couldn't suport HD would you buy the Shaw HD box? To get shaw HD you have to have the shaw box like the shaw digital, it is not a HD broadcast that everyone has access to with out paying more. Same as the satalite companies, different boxes more money, ect..

Originally Posted by Matt

very few people will ever notice the difference between 720p and 1080p, unless they've got a killer setup, and are pretty close to their sets. Our eyes just aren't that good. Of course, expectation bias will convince many people that the bigger number is better.

I used to tell myself this to justify not buying a new TV also, like I said in a different post there is quite a differance and you don't need a killer set up. go to a store which has a blueray on a couple LCD tv's tell them to change the output on one to 1080i and the other at 1080p and you can see a difference. no it is not hugh, and most would probably not worry about it but it is easy to see a difference.

Steve