720p or 1080p?

IamBeowulf

I've read several articles about the resolution output on the X360. Apparently, 720p is the native resolution, and the console upscales the res to 1080i/p if you wish.

I've also read rumours that the 1080 res is actually 540p "doubled"---as in it generates a 540p image and doubles it in the output. Is this true? Am i better off setting it to its native res of 720p and letting the TV do the upscaling? (My TV is capable of Full HD).

On a similar note, I thought the X360 upscales SD-DVDs to 1080p---but my TV shows 576p anytime a film pops on. Is that normal?

mathias

For any device that has no display , ( xbox , dvd player , and so on ) if the electronics can handle 1080p , i.e. it can output a 1080p signal , then if the original content on the disc is 1080p , there will be no scaling taking place. It will be passed through to the display.
The Xbox itself cannot be said to have a native resolution , it can be said to cater for a range of resolutions , the content or the display have a native resolution , but not the xbox.

I've also read rumours that the 1080 res is actually 540p "doubled"---as in it generates a 540p image and doubles it in the output. Is this true? Am i better off setting it to its native res of 720p and letting the TV do the upscaling? (My TV is capable of Full HD).

Highly unlikely , any HD content will not need this , any SD content will be scaled in the usual way and the above is not the usual way. That sounds like an old hack for CRT's more than anything else. Line doubling only works with CRTs.

On a similar note, I thought the X360 upscales SD-DVDs to 1080p---but my TV shows 576p anytime a film pops on. Is that normal?

How the scaler behaves in your xbox will depend also on your connection to the TV , and also on the content on the DVD.

For instance , an elite should upscale all content over the HDMI.
The lesser models may have restrictions on what can or cannot be upscaled on the component output.
There will be no upscaling on any SD connection obviously , so scart and so on is out.

Some content , particularly some DVDs have a copy protection that will not allow upscaling. And this is not exclusive to Xbox , it applies to any player with an upscaler.

miju

I have a 1080i HD TV but I always play on 720 setting on my xbox. While I do find there is a noticable enough difference between 720 and 1080 I also find that a higher screen res for some reason ****s up my xbox live connection anytime I use it and I keep dropping out of live matches.

on 780 the problem doesnt occur

brav

Well you should use whatever is the native resolution of your tv.

if you have a 720p tv(hd ready etc) use 720p(also use this if you have a "1080i" tv because as far as i'm aware a 1080i tv still is a 720p native just interlaced).

On a similar note, I thought the X360 upscales SD-DVDs to 1080p---but my TV shows 576p anytime a film pops on. Is that normal?

if you use component then if will only upscale to 576p, but if you use vga/hdmi it will upscale to the set resolution(720/1080). But also remember your tv may be better at upscaling than the 360 so best to check both I suppose.

Zonda999

I have a 32" Lg. Its only a 720p tv obviously but it has 1080p input. As soon as i connected my 360 via hdmi, it went in at 1080p.It looks fantastic so i never considered changing it to 720p.What resolution will i get the best picture.BTW, before i bought my tv, i read somewhere that it had 1:1 pixel mapping for 1080p/1080i but is this true??Surely not if its only a 720p tv??

mathias

(also use this if you have a "1080i" tv because as far as i'm aware a 1080i tv still is a 720p native just interlaced).

No thats not true , the reason that idea is so common is that the first generation of HD ready tvs had a resolution close to 720p and would take a maximum signal of 1080i , so people associated them as being the same , they are not.

720p content is 1280 x 720 resolution.

1080 content is always 1920 x 1080 regardless of whether is interlaced ( 1080i ) or progressive ( 1080p ).
The interlaced content typically has twice the frame rate , with half the picture in each frame , convert it to progressive and it comes out exactly the same as 1080p.

All the half frames are joined so to speak and you end up with the same content as 1080p.

Concerning the Xbox output , what you should be doing is trying to set it up so that scaling happens as little as possible.

For example if you have a 1080p set and 1080 content , then set the box to 1080 and no scaling is happening.
However if you have a 720p TV and 1080 content , you really should leave the box at 1080 because otherwise the box will scale down to 720 and the TV will scale again ( because its most likely 1366 x 768 ) so you scale twice which is not good.
If you leave the box on 1080 however , only the TV scales , which is a good thing.

Obviously if your upscaling DVDs then let it , but with HD content , you should try to minimise the scaling for best results. Im most cases this means leaving the console on the highest setting and letting your TV do all the scaling. Your TV usually has the best scaler anyway.

IamBeowulf

mathias wrote: »

No thats not true , the reason that idea is so common is that the first generation of HD ready tvs had a resolution close to 720p and would take a maximum signal of 1080i , so people associated them as being the same , they are not.

720p content is 1280 x 720 resolution.

1080 content is always 1920 x 1080 regardless of whether is interlaced ( 1080i ) or progressive ( 1080p ).
The interlaced content typically has twice the frame rate , with half the picture in each frame , convert it to progressive and it comes out exactly the same as 1080p.

All the half frames are joined so to speak and you end up with the same content as 1080p.

Concerning the Xbox output , what you should be doing is trying to set it up so that scaling happens as little as possible.

For example if you have a 1080p set and 1080 content , then set the box to 1080 and no scaling is happening.
However if you have a 720p TV and 1080 content , you really should leave the box at 1080 because otherwise the box will scale down to 720 and the TV will scale again ( because its most likely 1366 x 768 ) so you scale twice which is not good.
If you leave the box on 1080 however , only the TV scales , which is a good thing.

Obviously if your upscaling DVDs then let it , but with HD content , you should try to minimise the scaling for best results. Im most cases this means leaving the console on the highest setting and letting your TV do all the scaling. Your TV usually has the best scaler anyway.

The reason a TV would be described as 1080i compatible is this: it has 768 lines. It can present half of the 1080 lines in one half-second, and the other half in the other half second. That simple.

If a TV is listed as both 1080i AND 1080p it means it has a FULL HD screen (1080).

As for the Xbox scaling down, that's not true either. All Xbox games are natively 720p (or in Halo3's and PGR3's case, 620p).

Finally, I mostly agree with the statement that the TV's scaler can be better, but not always. Cheaper manufacturers (alba, Bush, Wharfedale) use up-to-date screens but older processing technology, resulting in digital artifacting, delayed response times and overall poor quality pictures. The Xbox, on the other hand, is medium-to-decent in scaling quality (the PS3 I will happily admit is by far the superior scaler---it even beats dedicated DVD players in terms of scaling resolutions)

Riesen_Meal

miju wrote: »

I have a 1080i HD TV but I always play on 720 setting on my xbox. While I do find there is a noticable enough difference between 720 and 1080 I also find that a higher screen res for some reason ****s up my xbox live connection anytime I use it and I keep dropping out of live matches.

on 780 the problem doesnt occur

Thats Bizarre Damo!!!

andy1249

The reason a TV would be described as 1080i compatible is this: it has 768 lines. It can present half of the 1080 lines in one half-second, and the other half in the other half second. That simple.

Eh .... no , thats completely wrong , you need to read up on flat screen tech.

All flat screens are progressive , they cannot show interlaced , they have a de-interlacer and join up interlaced content to show it.

I think theres only one plasma that can show interlaced and Hitachi make it.

If a TV is listed as both 1080i AND 1080p it means it has a FULL HD screen (1080).

Mine is listed as 1080i and 1080p , its a panasonic and it has a native resolution of 1366 x 768 , it can take a 1080p signal and show it , but its still a 720 set ! So your wrong there too.

As for the Xbox scaling down, that's not true either. All Xbox games are natively 720p (or in Halo3's and PGR3's case, 620p).

What about HD DVD , how does it do that ? Thats 1080p content , so if your xbox is set to 720 output it has to scale down ....am I right ?

GAAman

miju wrote: »

I have a 1080i HD TV but I always play on 720 setting on my xbox. While I do find there is a noticable enough difference between 720 and 1080 I also find that a higher screen res for some reason ****s up my xbox live connection anytime I use it and I keep dropping out of live matches.

on 780 the problem doesnt occur

This is happening to me on a brand new tv when i set it to hdtv on the connection in the xbox on the console settings in display settings it keeps saying that its set to normal tv, then after awhile of playing or watching a dvd it drops and on the tv it says no signal and then like 5 seconds later it will say at the top sdtv and this plays fine, anyone any idead?