Getting Dish vip 722 have a couple of questions.

:hi:eyecrazy:helpmeI suppose you could call me new to high def since I just got my first high def TV last week. I have been looking forward to getting a high def TV and have been waiting for the right deal for some years now. I got a Sony kdl-40xbr4 last week.

I am getting dish turbo HD gold package installed Saturday. They are giving me the VIP-722. This receiver looks nice. However, I have some questions.

1. It looks like most of Dish network is only displayed in 1080i or 720p, except for some of the movie channels right now. Those are in 1080p. My TV is 1080p. Should I set the receiver to 1080i or 720p? I have always been told that 720p is better than 1080i due to the fact that it is progressive. I was fully anticipating setting the receiver to 720p when I get it. However, I saw a post somewhere on these forums saying that, with a 1080p TV, I should set it to 1080i for the full picture size and that my TV would upscale it to 1080p. Is this so?

2. The vip-722 has an optical out on it. If I connect this to my home theater will I always get sound or only when watching an HD channels? The reason I ask is because, while all of the sat channels will be high def, the locals are not yet. I do not believe that I should have to connect analog cables as well. The receiver should simply send the receiver the 2 channel sound through the optical connection correct?

Any help that can be offered is greatly appreciated.

1. You should try one then the other and make your own judgment on which looks better to you on your tv.
2. Correct.

That is kind of what I figured. Thanks.

Set the 722 to 1080i, it will look the best on your TV.

2. That is how you want to do it.

Why would it look better? Is there some link that you can provide that can explain this in detail. I can see what they are talking about with the 1080i signal having the most detail, but I was always told 720p is better no matter what.

I will try both and have a feeling that you are correct LovestoWatch. Thanks.:gamer

I tried 1080i and 720p on my 1080p tv and it looked the same to me.

Yes you can connect optical out to your receiver, that's what I did and you'll get 5.1 Dolby on HD channels, the rest will be 2.0, that's why I get pic and sound to the tv with HDMI for when I watch tv where the sound doesn't matter much, but when I watch HD stuff where I want good sound I turn the volume down to 0 on the tv and turn on the HT system to get 5.1, so it's nice to have HD pic and 5.1 sound out of the DN box.
One thing about the optical plug on the DN box is that it's hard to make it "click" when you put it in so put some pressure on it.

Why would it look better? Is there some link that you can provide that can explain this in detail. I can see what they are talking about with the 1080i signal having the most detail, but I was always told 720p is better no matter what.

I will try both and have a feeling that you are correct LovestoWatch. Thanks.:gamer

Since most channels are broadcasting in 1080i and just a few in 720p it would make sense to give your 1080p TV the higher resolution signal rather than using 720 which your TV would have to upconvert. Less conversion = better picture quality.

Loves2Watch, thanks for the info on the 1080i signal, it makes sence.:)