What Resolution Do OTA Local Channels Broadcast In?

Golf Nut

Yep, total noob here.

I suppose my question dependent on where I live? I live in the greater Houston, Texas area (Richmond to be exact). I ask because I am trying to decide, if I upgrade my TV and signal in the next couple of months, if it is wise to go all the way to 1080p now? Or should I take a baby step and just upgrade to 720p for now? I do not plan to get a BluRay or HD-DVD player anytime soon either.

I'm still using a 27" TV and a non-digital cable package through Comcast. Go ahead and have a good laugh at my expense, I know it's pathetic.

Thanks for your help!

adamwilkes20

nobody is broadcasting in 1080P.The lines of resoultion are the same between 720P and 1080i and from what I have been told there is only about 15% more unique info per second on a 1080i set. 720P is likely better with motion in the program you are watching, where 1080i is better without motion. But the difference is so small between 720P and 1080i you arent going to notice much. If you plan on getting a Blue-Ray disc player you might want to get a 1080P set. But right now that is the only way a 1080P set is going to benefit you.

Golf Nut

No kidding? So are you saying that if I like to watch a lot of sports, there would be less ghosting of the action on a 720p set versus a 1080p set?

rm00k

Depends on the broadcast. If its in 720p (like Fox is in my area) than sports action might be better because there isn't any processing that needs to be done to the signal (with a 720 tv). But if the broadcast is 1080i than either tv will have to deinterlace it and then either convert it to 720p or 1080p which could degrade it slightly and slow it down. Complicated? Confusing? You bet. I don't know how people new to this HD stuff figure out what to do. I guess thats the value of this forum. But unless you go online and do lots of reading about it its hard to make sense of it all. Buying a tv ain't as easy as it used to be...

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Scottnot

is a dangerous thing:

That's correct; and likely to stay that way for a very long time.
The only 1080p sources around are BD, HD DVD, and some games on some game sets.

Huh??
First, comparing 720p to 1080i and talking about "lines of resolution" really has not meaning.
There are two things to consider -
1 - the input signal format
and
2 - the display resolution, or native resolution of the set.

For more on input signal formats you should check our:
DTV Formats and How That Relates to HDTV

For display resolutions, (with the exception of some Hitachi models) there are three possibilities:
720p, 768p and 1080p
Depending on the set that you purchase, no matter what the input signal format, the set will always display at its native resolution or either 1280x720p, 1366x768p or 1920x1080p (yea, there are a few others, but this ain't no book).

that just makes no sense - what were they smoking?

No motion difference between 720p and 1080p.
Plasma typically handles motion better than LCD because of LCD pixel response time.
Also, people are looking at higher refresh rates for similar reasons.

If comparing a high quality 720p broadcast signal vs a equal quality 1080i broadcast there will probably be only a small difference in picture quality on any given TV.
However either of those signals when scaled and displayed on a 720p or a 1080p display may result in a rather noticeable difference depending on screen size, viewing distance and other factors.