Resolution of regular digital cable
I currently own a Samsung EDTV which is capable of displaying up to 480p. I have Time Warner Cable's DVR service. I recently found out that they now offer a HD DVR service. I was told by someone at my local home theater store (not BB or CC) that I could benefit from the HD channels because the box is able to output at 480p which according to the guy at the store is higher than what my regular digital cable is. Is this true? I thought I heard that regular digital cable is at 480i. The guy at the store said it was more like 325 lines. I would love to get the better picture even though I can't go all the way to 1080 or 720p with my TV. Thanks.
Don't Necessary Agree with Monstrous Mike at least here in LA
On my HDTV (Mitsubishi) I have HD/Digital service through Time Warner in LA. On my TV, if I am on the 1081input I can only do 2 picture formats: standard & I think stretch (I'm not in front of the TV so that's off the top of my head). HD Broadcasts look great on standard and don't look so good if I stretch them. In regards to non HD Broadcasts, say Turner Classic Movies for instance, the picture on the 1081 input sucks for both options. So I then change my input setting to the 480 input and on that option I have around 9 different picture formats. The standard non HD Broadcast, Turner Classic for example, looks alot better on the 480 input than on the 1081 input and I usually set it on 480 expanded stretch I think its called and watch it from that.
On HD network channels such as HDABC (1107) as opposed to the regular cable network channel ABC (7), for a non HD Broadcast such as the news- I'm assuming this is a nonHD Broadcast because its not full screen, the "non HD" broadcast picture will still look great on the HD 1107 Channel under the 1081 standard input option as opposed to watching it under 7 on the 1081 standard input and much better than watching 7 under the 480 input formats.
Sorry, if this might sound a little confusing.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Monstrous Mike
This is essentially correct. Remember that the quality of the picture depends directly on the source. Thus an HDTV channel that is 1080i and converted to 480p will look much better than a regular digital cable channel which is at most 480i and is very like simply and NTSC signal (240i or 325i) which has been digitized and upconverted.
It all depends on the show. Shows like M*A*S*H were recorded in the old NTSC analog format so when they are shown on a digital cable channel, they have been digitized and upconverted. This will not make them higher resolution but will only prevent interference and ghosting associated with analog cable. For example, when you take a 2 megapixel digital camera image that is what it will be forever. You could display it on a 4 megapixel display but it is going to look the same.
Yes, because S-video cannot carry 480p.
No as I have explained above.