Sky HD resolution

[Steve T]

Hi,

Just had a Sky HD installation completed.

The Sky installer has set the HD Resolution Output to 1080i.

That works, but I noticed every channel (both standard and HD) are being
upscaled to HD when delivered to my HDTV.

The HD Resolution Output also has a possible setting of 'Automatic'. When I
choose this, then only the HD channels are delivered in 1080i while the
other channels are 576.

The downside of 'Automatic' is a delay (and a second or two of snow) on my
TV when I switch between a standard and HD channel while the TV adjusts to
the different incoming resolution... but otherwise it seems to work fine.

I think (but I'm not sure, it's hard to tell) that the standard channel in
'native' resolution is actually a better picture than the standard channel
upscaled by the Sky HD box.

Am I imagining that? Does anybody have any recommendations? Should I let
the Sky HD box upscale everything or am I better off letting the HDTV
receive the native resolution?

Thanks!
Steve T

[Mike_C]

Hi,
SNIP
I think (but I'm not sure, it's hard to tell) that the standard channel in 'native' resolution is actually a better
picture than the standard channel upscaled by the Sky HD box.
Am I imagining that? Does anybody have any recommendations? Should I let the Sky HD box upscale everything or am I
better off letting the HDTV receive the native resolution?
Thanks!
Steve T

It really does come down to which you think looks best.
The performance of the inbuilt de-interlacing and scaling of the SKY+ HD
compared to the scaling of the TV is going to be different for most users
since they have different TV's.
It may even be that given the different resolutions on broadcast SD and the
wildly variable bitrates that some channels look better upscaled by the box
while others by the TV:)
Personally I prefer to use AUTO and let the SKY+ HD supply 576p to my
LCD which then scales the image to 1366*768, it looks better (to me) than
upscaling to 1080i and letting my TV de-interlace and then scale back to it's
native resolution.

That works for me but it certainly won't be the choice for everyone and it
wouldn't surprise me that some may even prefer 576i via RGB scart.



Mike C

[Steve T]

Post by Mike_C
It really does come down to which you think looks best.
The performance of the inbuilt de-interlacing and scaling of the SKY+ HD
compared to the scaling of the TV is going to be different for most users
since they have different TV's.
It may even be that given the different resolutions on broadcast SD and the
wildly variable bitrates that some channels look better upscaled by the box
while others by the TV:)

Well, I'm fairly obsessive but not obsessive enough to change my settings
every time I change channel! :)

Post by Mike_C
Personally I prefer to use AUTO and let the SKY+ HD supply 576p to my
LCD which then scales the image to 1366*768, it looks better (to me) than
upscaling to 1080i and letting my TV de-interlace and then scale back to it's
native resolution.

That sounds reasonable. However I noted one of the Sky HD resolution
settings is 768. Couldn't you have the sky box output everything (both
standard and HD) output in 768? I presume at the moment your TV upscales
the 576 and downscales the 1080i -- it'd be interesting to see if you get
good quality from having the Sky HD box do the upscale/downscale.

Post by Mike_C
That works for me but it certainly won't be the choice for everyone and it
wouldn't surprise me that some may even prefer 576i via RGB scart.

I haven't tried the Scart connector, that's an interesting approach. I'll
connect mine and see how the 576 pictures compare with the HDMI stream. I'm
thinking I might have to switch back to the HDMI feed manually for HD
content, though, as the TV seems to auto-switch to Scart for the DVD player
and presumably would do the same for the Scart from the Sky HD box.

Cheers and thanks again for the response!
Steve T

[Mike_C]

SNIP
That sounds reasonable. However I noted one of the Sky HD resolution settings is 768. Couldn't you have the sky box
output everything (both standard and HD) output in 768? I presume at the moment your TV upscales the 576 and
downscales the 1080i -- it'd be interesting to see if you get good quality from having the Sky HD box do the
upscale/downscale.

The other setting is 720p and the SKY box will scale and de-interlace
both HD and SD sources to that resolution and depending upon
the resolution of your HD telly there may pr may not be further scaling.

As before try it and see which you prefer:)



Mike C

[Jomtien]

Post by Steve T
Am I imagining that? Does anybody have any recommendations? Should I let
the Sky HD box upscale everything or am I better off letting the HDTV
receive the native resolution?

It all depends on how good your TV is at doing this job. That depends
on the brand and model.

As mentioned, just select the setting that looks best.

[Steve T]

Post by Jomtien

Post by Steve T
Am I imagining that? Does anybody have any recommendations? Should I let
the Sky HD box upscale everything or am I better off letting the HDTV
receive the native resolution?

It all depends on how good your TV is at doing this job. That depends
on the brand and model.
As mentioned, just select the setting that looks best.

Thanks for your feedback. I've decided now that my TV's doing a better job
than the Sky HD box, so I'm leaving the setting to Automatic.

I'll try Mike_C's suggestion about getting 576 images via a Scart cable --
but it's a case of diminishing returns and the quality of the 576 images at
the moment is already very good so I'm not sure it'll be worth the trouble
of swapping feeds.

Thanks!
Steve T