Which HD format?

[DK6732]

Which HD format (720p or 1080i) does everyone use on the output settings of their HD reciever? Anybody swich based on programming (ie watching sports in 720 progressive)?

I use 1080i personally, having a 1080p TV.

 

[garys]

It gets a little tough channing the output everytime you change the channel. Most view each on their tv to see which give the best picture overall and leaves it on that one. In my case, my one tv does not do 720p so that does not work at all, and my computer model which doubles as an HD tv won't do 1080i, again giving no choice.

 

[EricBskiVT]

The installer wanted to set mine at 1080i, but I have a 720p set so I changed to that. My set would have rescaled to 720p anyway. If I had a 1080i or 1080p native TV, I would have gone with 1080i.

 

[Carl B]

My prior Dish HD receiver, an 811, did a terrible job of scaling 1080i to 720p for my 720p Sammy DLP HDTV, so I always left the 811 set to output 1080i and let my Sammy do the conversion. Now that I have a 211 and a 222, I still leave them set to output 1080i to my two 720p HDTVs. I tried the 720p output and it was better than the 811's 720p output. But, on most HD channels, the picture still looks better using a 1080i output from the Dish receivers. I made some sense to reset the Dish 811 receiver to 720p when I knew the native signal was 720p, but it was a hassle so I just left it on 1080i. With the new receivers it is even more of a hassle to change output resolution as needed or desired, so after a couple of tries, I gave up on that idea.

If your HDTV is 1080i or 1080p native, then set the Dish receiver's output to 1080i. If your HDTV is 720p native, try both and see which you like better for PQ. Use HDNet for a 1080i cable channel for the test and your local ABC channel or ESPN for the 720p test channel. Most of what Dish is providing in HD is 1080i and most good HDTVs do a better job of scaling that 1080i output to 720p than do the Dish receivers.

 

[HiDefRev]

Resolution

I keep mine set on 1080i. All of my channels look fine at this setting.

 

[Yes616]

For me, my sets look best when the Dish receivers are set at 720P.

All anyone can say is look at them both and make your own decision.

 

[Nick1Toast]

I have a Pioneer 50" plasma rated at 768P. In the tv biz for 32 years, and at all the tech meetings we had, they were always in favor of letting the tv scale up rather than down. The less scaling done the better. So if you have a 720 to 768p, set the receiver to 720P. If you have a 1080i or P use 1080i. I will admit that in my comparisons any differences were slight if even noticeable, so I stayed with 720P on my setup. In the end its what looks best to your eyes.