Native Resolution Passthrough (again!)

[Rukes]

I'm posting this here in hopes that Dish will see the need for this long promised feature. I called the Tech Chat people today during the chat to see what was up. They said it isn't planned, but they would pass it along.

Of course those of us who want this feature have been waiting a while, since way back on May 8, 2006th's Tech Chat, this question was asked:

Q: Rodney (phone): Native resolution pass through. Why not?
A: We are going to implement this in the near future (probably this summer). Apparently overlooked. "I'll get that done."

So here we are, two years later, with still no word on a great feature that is sorely needed for those of us on 4x3 HDTV sets.

I currenty have a Sony 36" with 480p and 1080i as both my native resolutions, so it is a severe pain to switch back and forth. Its getting a bit annoying, now that equipment such as the HD TiVo, the Playstation 3 and even the basic cable DVR Moxi all support this feature to make life easier

 

[noremac]

I currenty have a Sony 36" with 480p and 1080i as both my native resolutions, so it is a severe pain to switch back and forth.

Help me understand your problem!

I also have an older set that accepts only 480p and 1080i. I set my 622 for 1080i output, and it up/down-converts all program material to match that. This would seem to be ideal in our case.

With native pass-through, you and I would be SOL for programming that originates in 720p, and we would have to scramble to change the output to force 1080i. No thanks.

If you are using the 4:3 mode of your set to watch SD broadcasts, then you could use the simultaneous fixed 480i composite/S-video outputs of the 622 (and 722). Your Sony probably upconverts the 480i anyway using DRC, so who cares about having the Dish box output 480p?

 

[Pepper]

The component input on my set accepts 480p and 1080i. 480p is 4x3 and 1080i is 16x9.

If the dish receiver switched automatically, I wouldn't have to adjust things every time we view a 4x3 SD channel. As it stands, I either have to switch to the S-video input on the TV, or adjust the resolution manually.

 

[noremac]

If the dish receiver switched automatically, I wouldn't have to adjust things every time we view a 4x3 SD channel. As it stands, I either have to switch to the S-video input on the TV, or adjust the resolution manually.

I understand your problem, and it's unique to the 4:3 set. You of course want to use its full real estate for native SD 4:3 material rather than watch a box-within-a-box picture. As more and more HD (16:9) programming takes over, your problem will go away, and you can just watch in 16:9 mode. Or eventually you'll probably end up with a new 16:9 set.

In the mean time, if the receiver switched automatically (native pass through), you would encounter another set of problems, mainly 720p programming. Since your set could not display those feeds (ABC, FOX, ESPN, etc), you would have to manually switch back to fixed 1080i.

Is switching inputs on the TV from S-video to HD that difficult? I thought Sony had a quick input button on the remote.

 

[Rukes]

I understand your problem, and it's unique to the 4:3 set. You of course want to use its full real estate for native SD 4:3 material rather than watch a box-within-a-box picture. As more and more HD (16:9) programming takes over, your problem will go away, and you can just watch in 16:9 mode. Or eventually you'll probably end up with a new 16:9 set.

In the mean time, if the receiver switched automatically (native pass through), you would encounter another set of problems, mainly 720p programming. Since your set could not display those feeds (ABC, FOX, ESPN, etc), you would have to manually switch back to fixed 1080i.

Is switching inputs on the TV from S-video to HD that difficult? I thought Sony had a quick input button on the remote.

The thing you are forgetting is that all other DVRs and equipment that offer native resolution passthrough don't just automatically force whatever it is. That would be pretty bad.

They offer a checkbox list of your TV's supported resolutions and you check what your TV supports. In our case, 480p and 1080i only. That way when it detects HD, it just goes to 1080i all the time, and when it doesn't, it goes to 480p.

 

[TheTony]

There's really two facets to the native resolution discussion that's taken place for some time now, including in a previous thread I originated. There are some who are looking for the full extent of NRP, which would pass any resolution that the networks might transmit in. This obvious presents some compatibility issues and challenges of its own.

This is different and more complex than what those with 4x3 displays are looking for, which is simply SD/HD passthrough. 480i or 1080i would satisfy most, if not all, of this group.

 

[kstile]

I was in that group of 4x3 HDTV owners wanting to use all the screen's real estate for SD content. That is, until I got my new TV (Panasonic 50" Plasma). My solution was my Harmony remote - I had one button called "Watch TV" and one called "Watch HD" the only difference was that it switched the input on the TV from DVI (1080i from the HDMI port on the 622) to S-Video. Kind of a pain, but it did it quickly.