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General discussion

1080p question

Jul 5, 2005 4:41PM PDT

if I buy a Samsung HL-R7178W DLP tv and watch an over the air tv show, how will it show on the tv. Will it show at 480i, 480p, 720p, 1080i, or 1080p? please help.

Discussion is locked

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Aspect Ratio 4:3 vs 16:9 signal viewing
Jul 5, 2005 5:20PM PDT

Hello,

It is really quite simple. Depending on the signal that is being broadcast or for that matter whatever source you provide that is less than widescreen 1080p, you will have several options for displaying the content.

One, when it comes to the resolution you can always change the settings on your display to reflect the source. Also available are upconverts. However, in order to get a quality picture you will need to purchase a high quaulity converter.

Two, you can watch the source in it's native aspect ratio which will create black bars on the top, bottom and sides of the screen. This is the most ideal way to watch these sources rather than the next option.

Three, use your displays settings to stretch the source video to the full screen of your display which result in distortions.

So, how will a signal of less than 1080p widescreen look? Depends on what you are most interested in. I personally would watch these video sources in their native resolutions and aspect ratios.

Hope this helps and if you have any other questions, feel free to let me know.

Take Care,

Shawn Mosqueda
WireSmart LLC
www.wiresmart.com
shawn@wiresmart.com

How To Build A Home Theater PC ebook coming soon! visit www.wiresmart.com

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Re:1080p question
Jul 5, 2005 9:09PM PDT

What resolution your 1080p will display at depends whether or not the pixels are fixed. Plasma, DLP and LCD all have a specific number of fixed pixels. They are where they are. All information is then upconverted to 1080p, but like the gentleman before me indicated, you may still have letterboxing.

On the other hand, the number of pixels on a CRT are not fixed. While not on the horizon, a cathode ray tube (CRT) gun could theoretically be given different instructions to fire at 720p, 1080i, 1080p etc. The screen it fires onto has phosphors that glow, but the gun gets aimed differently depending on the format. Thus, the direct view 30, 32 and 34 CRT HDTVs that are now available can display at native 720p or 1080i depending on the signal.

The typical 4:3 TV we have been watching for years has been a 480i CRT with no options as to how the CRT gun gets fired.