Quote:
|
Originally Posted by snash22
I have seen a lot of discussion regarding the quality of SD content on HD displays and I have a question of how it is implemented. I don't own a HD display but I'm planning on purchasing in the next few months.
Is the problem that it is difficult to convert the SD resolution (480 lines) up to a HD resolution with a number of lines (720, 1080) that is not a multiple of the SD resolution?
If this is the case, wouldn't the 1080 displays be able to cleanly show the SD content by just scaling to only 960 lines of resolution? This would leave small black bars at the top and bottom as well as the sides.
Is my initial assumtion correct? Is this scaling an option in 1080 displays?
I am really concerned about this - although I have a HT for movies, 80% of the viewing will be SD content for a few more years.
|
No, the problem is two fold -
1) SD (meaning NTSC) quality stinks, especially when coming in compressed by cable/sat. It was originally created for 12 inch black and white screens back in the 50's and it is a wonder that it even looks as good as it does.
2) Not only does it stink, but the majority of people making the jump to HD are also increasing the size of their screens. So where you used to have a SD picture that is optimized for your small NTSC TV set, suddenly you have it blown up to big screen size and displayed on a set that is supposed to display HD. Add to that any stretching of the 4:3 picture to fill the 16:9 space and the faults of NTSC are magnified about 10 times over.
