720p better than 1080i?

[Copywriter]

I know a lot depends on this or that, but I was just watching ESPN HD and noticed it's 720p and looks great. I then switch to a channel in 1080i and there's a drop off.

Is this just my eyes playing tricks or perhaps the content or is 720p better in general than 1080i?

I was thinking that 1080i is like 540p. Wrong?

Thanks

[Sonny]

IT DEPENDS on what u r whatching & what TV you have theres a lot that goes in to it, I use 1080i on all mt HD DVR DIGIBOX's ya , the ESPN thing its not your eyes fast motion is better (not always) in 720p,from cable box....some of the stuff we get is 1920x1080 so 1080i set on your box will look really good Ya 1080i is not 540p not at all, not by a long shot

[dgator783]

Originally Posted by Copywriter

I know a lot depends on this or that, but I was just watching ESPN HD and noticed it's 720p and looks great. I then switch to a channel in 1080i and there's a drop off.

Is this just my eyes playing tricks or perhaps the content or is 720p better in general than 1080i?

I was thinking that 1080i is like 540p. Wrong?

Thanks

search for this....this topic has been covered a trazillion times

[Copywriter]

Originally Posted by dgator783

search for this....this topic has been covered a trazillion times

I am. Found a thread that made my head hurt.

No need to reply now. I just wanted the simple answer until I can go deeper.

Thanks

[Kaldaim]

The picture quality can only be as good as the source.

[takezo]

Originally Posted by Copywriter

I know a lot depends on this or that, but I was just watching ESPN HD and noticed it's 720p and looks great. I then switch to a channel in 1080i and there's a drop off.

Is this just my eyes playing tricks or perhaps the content or is 720p better in general than 1080i?

I was thinking that 1080i is like 540p. Wrong?

Thanks

Broadcast is kind of a mixed bag, you see their is more to video encoding than just resolution. Bittrate is the main issue for most Broadcast shows in HD. What is bittrate? This is the data stream which carries either audio or Video. Ususaly for Audio, most people can't tell the difference, stereo audio is stero audio. But for Video bittrate is noticeable, low bitrate will cause low quality. I have dish network, I live in Hawaii. I only have SD service. From the first time I got it, the Mainland channels are far clearer than the local channells which can look terrible somties because of blurrness caused to tons of smoothing effect to mask the pixelization. Both mainland and local are 480i. It's because of lower bitrate that causes it.

ESPN is the for runner in HD broadcast (via HD cable or Satelight), thus they have tons of bandwith to display their sports in higher bitrates, where as a generic 1080i, expecially a local channel will have lower quality due to bandwith restrictions.

The best way to test is with Blu-ray. As far as I can tell, with Blu-ray 1080i looks sharper and cleaner than 720p. But most of the time people can't tell the diffrence.

However in the end, all this does not matter as none of this will make your 1080i channels look better.

[gvortex7]

Sporting events broadcast in HD look better, more fluid in 720p. Movies broadcast in HD look better in 1080i.

[U4K61]

Originally Posted by dobyblue

1080i has the ability to have twice the resolution as 720p, providing you're watching on a telly that deinterlaces properly.

Fast motion 720p/60fps video has advantages over 1080i/60 despite having 2x less spatial resolution. 720p/60 was chosen for fast action sports given the limitations of 8VSB MPEG2.

For 24fps film, 720p is not as good as 1080i because it only has half the resolution. If 1080i is deinterlaced correctly to 1080p for display on 1080p set, it will be identical to a 1080p signal. If the PQ looks degraded, then it is not being properly deinterlaced.

See 1080i/p

[infekt]

i would assume 720p is better than 1080i. 1080/2=540 lines per pass, as opposed to 720 lines per pass.

if both are 720p/60 and 1080i/60, wouldn't 1080i/60 really be 540p/30?

[Deciazulado]

you forget 1080i is 1920 per pass and 720 is 1280 per pass, horizontally.

[infekt]

Originally Posted by Deciazulado

you forget 1080i is 1920 per pass and 720 is 1280 per pass, horizontally.

hmm.. that's interesting. oddly i haven't thought about that. I assumed that the picture would scale down proportionately.

[Deciazulado]

Well if you watch it on a 1080 x 1920 display the 1920 horizontal pixels won't be downscaled

[dobyblue]

That's right, hence 1080i has the ability to have twice the resolution as 720p, providing you're watching on a telly that deinterlaces properly.

[infekt]

Originally Posted by dobyblue

That's right, hence 1080i has the ability to have twice the resolution as 720p, providing you're watching on a telly that deinterlaces properly.

So, if it's de-interlacing, wouldn't that make it 1080p?

[gvortex7]

Originally Posted by infekt

So, if it's de-interlacing, wouldn't that make it 1080p?

No because when you're deinterlacing video you're lowering the video's resolution. Thus the reason for going from 1080i to 720p.

[Deciazulado]

Er, that's when you deinterlace 1080i -> 720 display

If you deinterlace 1080i -> 1080p display correctly you get full 1080p from 24fps movies and with the best deinterlacers you get as close to 1080p sharpness from 60i video (at 60fps)

[Slapper]

Originally Posted by Deciazulado

Er, that's when you deinterlace 1080i -> 720 display

If you deinterlace 1080i -> 1080p display correctly you get full 1080p from 24fps movies and with the best deinterlacers you get as close to 1080p sharpness from 60i video (at 60fps)

That's why the HD-DVD camp says 1080i is just as good as 1080p. They are right, if you have the right equipment to deinterlace to 1080p correctly.

[gvortex7]

Originally Posted by Deciazulado

Er, that's when you deinterlace 1080i -> 720 display

If you deinterlace 1080i -> 1080p display correctly you get full 1080p from 24fps movies and with the best deinterlacers you get as close to 1080p sharpness from 60i video (at 60fps)

I think he does have a 720 display.

[Deciazulado]

Ok