Is it true HDTV looks worse when you're watching non-HD channels?

Question

I've read some articles that said if you were watching non-HD channels with an HDTV, your picture quality will actually look worse than on a standard TV because the HDTV brings out the "clarity" of the lower quality images (hope that wasn't confusing). Is this true?

Also, would the image quality be reduced if I was watching a 720p program on a 1080i/1080p HDTV (native res)? What about if I was watching 1080i programs on a 720p? Would the image quality suffer?

Answer 1

I have a HDTV and the picture is good no matter if the broadcast is HD or not.

Answer 2

Yes what you stated is absolutly true. HDTVs will upconvert or down convert what ever is coming in to it native resolution. And yes if you watch a 720 program on a 1080 set it will look a little off but you probably would not notice. watch 480 material on a 720 or 1080 set and you in for a big surprise. Im still shocked that anyone that owns an HDTV would say it looks just as good if not better then a standard Definition TV. I remember when my friend went out to buy one of the first HDTV sets. It was as HD Sony trintron XBR. The benchmark for picture quality at the time. Damn beast cost like 2 grand. My wife asked me on the way home if the set was damaged because it just looked bad, watchable but my regular sony looked so much better. Then I thought that he just hooked it up wrong. Nope he bought the best cables he could afford. Now I sell HDTVs and i show all my clients exactly what the tv will look like for non hd channels and DVD too. Everyone thinks that a widescreen dvd will not have letterboxing on a widescreen tv. Not one has ever said that the picture looked just as good as their SD tv. Now some HDTVs do a much better job then others for SD images. LCD's seem to always look bad, Plasma looks better but are by no means as good as a conventional tube for SD. Pioneer and Pioneer Elites tend to do an amazing job at conversion either up or down. If you want the best for SD and HD go with a Pioneer elite or even a regular pioneer. You won't be disappointed.
Side note. I have directv which always feed my tv a digital signal . If your cable company still sends out an analog signal then it will look even worse.

Answer 3

Ah, yes my friend, I can answer your question. It took me 1 week after work to delve the reg tv to hdtv problem. The salesperson doesn't know how to adjust the various boxes in the chain. When I got my 32" LCD HD ready tv and hooked it up to the cable box the pic looked like crap. solid colors in the back gfround where "boubling" and everything was washed out. Even the reg off the air tuner built in wasn't that good. The secret is to get an HD box from the cable company,, mine is a motorla comcast box, and set it as follows:

The set up from tha cable box for the best picture I've found is

TV type : 16:9
ypbpr output : 1080i
4:3 override : off
This is for a Motorla DTC6412 box,, others should be similar.

What this is doing is allways driving the TV with a 1080i signal,, allthe conversion is done in the cable box,, from 480i standard tv to 1080i for the best possible picture.

you can feed 1080i to a HDTV from several sources, hdmi or componant, I use the componant cable that comes with the cable box from comcast which is a 5 line cable: ypbpr.

componant video isn't the same as RCA, Componant is ypbpr with with a L & R sound output and deos carry 1080i

also, for viewing dvd movies:
Drive with an HDMI cable.
What you need to buy is an 'up converting dvd player' a samsung dvd-hd850 is a good example. it will convert the ntsc,, 480i to 1080i and send it up the hdmi port to the hdtv. Set the DVD player to output 1080i. The TV can display 480i, 480p, 720p or 1080i,, set carefully and you should be impressed with the picture,, however,, the dvd's resolution is just 480i, unforunatly, even in wide screen. For a full HD picture the TV is capable of we must all go out and purchase the new hddvd or blueray players from sony and others. that will give you full hd picture,, but the cost is a little out of the ball opark right now,, about 500 for the hddvd brand and 1000 for the blueray,, same output but diff dvd formats. You also have to buy the dvd on hddvd or blueray format too,l won't work with the present dvd's, info just isn't there, wait awhile on these. C.

so to sum up,, hdtv cable box set to 1080i output pushing through a ypbr componant cable.

***!!! you adjust the cable box output with the cable box OFF and the TV on,, hit the red MENU button once. don't hold it down, just a light hit, or it will just flash on the screen. from this output setup screen you can adjust the cablr box output drive. set to
TV type : 16:9
ypbpr output : 1080i !!!!
4:3 override : off
. hit menu again to save.!!!***

and a "upconverting dvd" player driving through a HDMI cable and set to drive at 1080i.

that's it,, happy viewing. I suggest you print this,, as Q's are delted after 3 days i think.

Answer 4

Digital non-HD tv pictures look very good. Not as good a HDTV, but still good. Most commercials and some programs are broadcast on digital stations in standard definition. What CAN look worse on a HDTV is poor quality reception on the analog stations. The HD set will reveal all the noise and ghosting that's there. If you get a good signal (off the air or cable), the picture will look good (but not as good as digital, either standard or HD).

Answer 5

It only looks worse because the channels with HD look great, but they aren't any worse than watching on a regular tv with no HD. Yes quality is reduced a bit if you are watching at 720p instead of 1080i. It all depends on your tv also, my mom has an HD tv and the picture on my HD tv is much much better than hers.

Answer 6

That may have been true of some early HDTV sets, but it's most certainly not true now. All current HDTVs do a great job of scaling the resolution of the broadcast to match that of the TV, adding or subtracting pixels using sophisticated filtering algorithms that work very well. While my non-HDTV programs look pretty darn good on my HDTV set (better than they do on a nearby non-HDTV television), true HDTV content is simply stunning.
You have lots of options with regard to scaling the different kinds of HDTV content, and you can also "letterbox" it so it's showing at its native resolution which often looks good. Today's HDTV sets can handle any content you throw at them extremely well.

Answer 7

in most cases , yes it will look worse..... whats happening is the flaws in your standard definition programming is being exaggerated by the High def. tv.......mainly because of the lines of resolution capable by the hdtv,......your basic tv does not have as many lines of resolution, so you dont really notice the flaws,.........the result....occasionally the same program being displayed on a basic tv compared to same program on a hd set,.....will look better on the basic tv.

Answer 8

No, I have an HD tv and an analog TV, I watch the analog, and am happy with the picture...till I see the HD tv with the same pic...and wow, what a difference.

Someone misled you.