480p or 1080i for playback of old TV dvds? (1 Viewer)

[Hollywoodaholic]

I've got a Panasonic Blu-ray player and my question is:

What is the best output setting to play DVDs of TV shows or films that are not high-definition?

My Mitsubishi set (HT-4607 or something like that) is about six years old and doesn't support 720p, but it will play 480i, 480p or 1080i. So, will these non-HD shows look better in 480p, or 1080i (with the understanding that progressive is usually better alternative than interlaced normally, but does that matter for this software)?

Naturally, if I can just leave it on 1080i , that's easier, since I will have to use that to play Blu-ray discs. But if 480p works better for action or movement on non-HD discs, I'll use that setting for that media.

Thanks for any experienced advice!

 

[Jason Seaver]

My Toshiba HD-A1 is set to output everything at 1080i, and my TV discs usually look pretty good upconverted. I don't know the specifics of your BD player; I guess the question is how good its upconversion is and the quality of the specific DVD (math can't work miracles).

 

[Edwin-S]

My guess is that your set has component only inputs: no DVI connector. If my guess is correct, the player will automatically restrict SD DVD output to the native resolution of 480p. The reason being that the player will not upconvert 480p material to 1080i over component.

If your set has a DVI connection then your best bet would be to set the player to 1080i and use a HDMI>DVI cable to connect the player to the set.


Edit: Ah crap. I misunderstood your post. Had to modify a couple of sentences.

 

[Hollywoodaholic]

You're correct, my set is too old for HDMI or even DVI input, so I am using premium component connection. So I guess my question was ... Is a 480 progressive image output through the Blu-ray and input through my older set better than a 1080 interlaced image considering the original source - regular DVD TV shows? I don't know whether I'm getting any upconversion through component. But it is my understanding that progressive works better with motion than interlaced. If it doesn't matter, I'll just keep the output on the Blu-ray at 1080i for everything. (My set doesn't support 1080p). Thanks again.

 

[pat00139]

What's the exact model number of your TV? Is it rear-projection? LCD? CRT?

To answer your question, if you did have a DVI/HDMI port, the output resolution would depend on the upscaling/deinterlacing of both the player and the television. If the player has a better processor, then you would want to set it to 1080i. If your television has really good processing power, then you want your player to output to 480i or p, and let the television do most of the work. Like Edwin said, though, your output is limited to 480p, given that you're using component cables.

The Panasonic BD players are notorious for having bad upconversion/deinterlacing, so try outputting both ways (480i and 480p) and see which picture you prefer.

By the way, all flat-panel television sets are by their nature progressive, so all LCDs, plasmas and RPTVs are all 1080p or 720p or whatever. They'll accept a 1080i signal (given the information is more or less the same) and show it as 720p.

 

[Hollywoodaholic]

Thanks for the info. I'm dealing with a rear screen 46" Mitsubishi CRT (WT-46807) that inputs only 480i, 480p or 1080i. Since the TV is six years old, I assume the Blu-ray player has better processing outputting the 1080i. I want to just leave it at that setting to play HD discs (and I am getting good HD on the set from them) and anything else, but I was curious if that was the best setting for playing non-HD discs such as older TV shows?

I try to go by watching skin pores on an actor and whether, when they move, there is a blur or the image falters somehow. I was trying to use this to determine if the 1080i setting on the player was different than the 480p for an old show (I was watching The Mod Squad, which was excellently re-mastered). Obviously, this is a primitive method, so I was hoping for some tech-savvy help on this forum. Thanks again for your info.

 

[Edwin-S]

For all intents and purposes you should see no difference, even if the player is set to 1080i. When you put an SD DVD in the player, it would automatically detect a flag that a 480i source is present. Since you are using component outputs (no upscaling allowed) the 1080i setting on your player will be temporarily disabled. The player will automatically reset your output to 480p.

The only differences you might see would be if you compared the original 480i content on the disc to the 480p output from your player. Whether you would notice a difference is entirely reliant on how good the deinterlacing algorithm in your player is.

Now, if you had DVI or HDMI, then you might have reason to be concerned, since 480i/p content can be upscaled to 1080i over those connections. Whether, you would notice a difference between natively displayed 480i/p material and that same material upscaled and reinterlaced to 1080i is reliant on how good the upscaling and reinterlacing algorithms are in your player.

 

[Hollywoodaholic]

Great. Thank you, Edwin-S. This was the information I was looking for. The 'reset' 480p image from the Blu-ray player is pretty damn good, so I'll just leave the player at 1080i and not think about it anymore. Some day when I update the television to Plasma (or SED) 1080p, I can go with the HDMI connection upconversion, but I'm quite happy with the image I'm getting for TV DVDs, which is better than I ever saw some of this material originally broadcast. Thanks again.