My TV is native 720p. If I run a 1080i signal to it, is this better than using a 720p signal?

Question

Does that mean that the TV has to convert the signal to 720p and if so, is the picture quality going to be better or worse?

Answer 1

Yes the TV converts the 1080i to 720p.

As for the picture quality, I really don't know for sure. Someone else will have to answer that question with sources listed and not just "it looks better to me"

Answer 2

No, the picture will not be better and could very well be worse. The set will accept 720p and display it with minimum processing. The 1080i signal has to go through two processes: 1) de-interlace to convert it to progressive, and 2) scaling to change the resolution from 1920x1080 to 1280x720. Both of these will produce some degradation of the signal, and the way these conversions are done makes a big difference. In some TV's they don't bother to de-interlace and just take the 540-line field and scale it to 720, giving you a picture of poorer resolution than 720p. Fortunately, newer TVs do the right thing and the result is quite good; in most cases difference won't be noticeable. You should be aware that it is the original source of the signal that matters, and at the present time only ESPN, ABC and Fox networks use 720p; the rest use 1080i. If your digital tuner is built into your TV, you then have no control over the input. If you have an external tuner, you can set it to output 1080i or 720p; then the tuner does the processing. Is that better than the TV? Maybe, maybe not. Try it both ways to see if you can tell the difference.

Answer 3

I believe that all HD signals from networks in the US is in 1080i, so if you're TV is a native 720p, it will have to upconvert the signal to 720p.

Some people thinks that 1080i is better than 720p and others think that 720p is better than 1080i.

Personally, I don't think there's that much of a noticeable difference. I think 720p looks better, and so does the bro-in-law.

With 720p, you're seeing all 720 vertical lines on the screen at the same time. With 1080i, you're seeing 540 lines that alternate back and forth on the screen.

Give it a try and see which one you prefer.