Should I be using 1080i?

[dwesson]

OK, I know this is discussed all of the time, but I'm hoping to get an answer specific to my current setup.

I recently bought a PS3 so I can start future-proofing and enjoying Blu-ray, but my HDTV is a couple of years old (Sony KDF-50E2000) and isn't exactly up to today's HD standards. I've played around with the settings on the PS3 and TV to the point where I'm happy with the picture, but I'm not sure whether to set the PS3 to output at 720p or 1080i (the PS3 "auto sets" itself at 1080i through the HDMI).

I thought the 1080i picture looked really good, and couldn't see an immediate difference switching to 720p, but I'm now finding out that my TV failed the "deinterlace test," which makes me wonder if I'm only seeing 1080i as better because of the larger number (placebo effect).

I need to know if it's best to output from PS3 at 1080i and let the TV downscale to 768, potentially losing resolution (despite me being unable to notice easily) or to output from PS3 at 720p and let the TV upscale to 768.

I'd like to know which will give me the better overall PQ, as well as which method is making my system do unnecessary work (if either). Sorry for the long post... I'm just really interested in hearing an answer other than "whatever looks best to you." My own perception is not satisfying me at this point.

EDIT: If it makes a difference, I will be using the PS3 for Blu-ray and DVD about 90% of the time, so any difference pertaining to videogames is not really an issue.

[cdot2four]

I went through this a couple years ago just let the ps3 decide. If it says 1080i then just leave it at that. I couldnt tell the difference either so just leave it alone

[geneboi]

same here....I am also using a HDready TV and couldn't spot the difference between 720p and 1080i. So I just left it at 1080i.

[seigneur_rayden]

In my opinion, blu looking better at 1080i than 720p. I was using 1080i with PS3 when I had a 720p TV and it was way better than 720p itself.

[RiseDarthVader]

But if you think about it since 1080i only draws half of the total lines at a time your really getting 540p. Which is less resolution then 720p.

[dwesson]

Originally Posted by RiseDarthVader

But if you think about it since 1080i only draws half of the total lines at a time your really getting 540p. Which is less resolution then 720p.

Yeah, but it draws them at double the intervals of 720p, so instead of 1 frame every 1/30th of a second, you get 2 fields every 1/60th of a second... your eyes can't tell the difference.

My concern, I guess, is over the fact that since my TV "fails the deinterlace test", I felt that maybe I was only getting the 540p because of the TVs inability to adapt to the interlaced signal... but if that were true, wouldn't I notice all sorts of lines and jaggies, especially during "action" scenes? I've tried a whole bunch of different stuff as reference, and it all looks great on my TV... clear as can be.

I just want to make sure I'm not forcing my TV to do anything it doesn't need to be doing, or physically can't do. But since most of you agree that it looks the same or better using 1080i regardless, I'm just going to leave it at that and enjoy it until I can upgrade to 1080p. Thanks.