Roku XD 720p mode... why?

[ron2112]

I just picked up a 720p TV, and the first thing I did was change the display settings on my Roku. I realized there are settings for 720p and 1080p. I experimented with both of them, and I can't figure out why someone would set it to 720p mode. Netflix HD appears to be 720 anyway, so no difference there. I went to the 1080p Showcase channel, and the 1080 content there looked noticeably better when the Roku was in 1080p mode. Detail level wasn't even close.

So I guess I'm wondering why there's a 720p mode at all? Or what benefit one would get from selecting it?

ron

[Eugenia]

It doesn't really make any difference. I have it set to 1080p, since my TV is 1080p, but most videos are 720p, and the Roku UI is designed in 720p too. Unfortunately, the Roku does not have a feature to upsample everything to 1080p, which is what I want, because I want to set my TV to "dot by dot" mode, and that only works in 1080p (so now the TV goes in and out of that mode, screwing up my modes).

[jeffrok]

I just picked up a 720p TV, and the first thing I did was change the display settings on my Roku. I realized there are settings for 720p and 1080p. I experimented with both of them, and I can't figure out why someone would set it to 720p mode. Netflix HD appears to be 720 anyway, so no difference there. I went to the 1080p Showcase channel, and the 1080 content there looked noticeably better when the Roku was in 1080p mode. Detail level wasn't even close.

So I guess I'm wondering why there's a 720p mode at all? Or what benefit one would get from selecting it?

ron

Your TV can do 1080P, some people have TV's that only go up to 720P maximum, so they would be selecting 720P. In your case, you are correctly setting yours to 1080P. Make sense?

[mkiker2089]

I was about to say that also. The lower settings are for TVs that only support such. The box is bullet proof on that since it offers 480i, 480p, 720p and 1080p.

Well the box doesn't support 1080i but lets not get that one started again

[ron2112]

I just picked up a 720p TV [...]

Your TV can do 1080P, some people have TV's that only go up to 720P maximum, so they would be selecting 720P. In your case, you are correctly setting yours to 1080P. Make sense?

My TV displays at 720p, but will accept 1080p input. Is that what you mean?

ron

[scyber]

I just picked up a 720p TV [...]

Your TV can do 1080P, some people have TV's that only go up to 720P maximum, so they would be selecting 720P. In your case, you are correctly setting yours to 1080P. Make sense?

My TV displays at 720p, but will accept 1080p input. Is that what you mean?

ron

Some older TVs only supported 720p/1080i input, so I think that is what jeffrok meant.

[SuetyStanes]

Your TV can do 1080P, some people have TV's that only go up to 720P maximum, so they would be selecting 720P. In your case, you are correctly setting yours to 1080P. Make sense?

My TV displays at 720p, but will accept 1080p input. Is that what you mean?

ron

Some older TVs only supported 720p/1080i input, so I think that is what jeffrok meant.

So some newer 720p TVs can support 1080p input, even though they don't display that? Is that what folks are saying here?

I'm starting to get confused too...

EDIT: To fix quotes.

[jeffrok]

Some TVs I believe will only display 720P, but downscale 1080P to fit the 720P resolution, I believe.

My old Enhanced Def plasma took up to 1080i signals even though its native resolution was 480P.

[stratcat96]

my TV is 720p but will accept a 1080p signal (it even displays 1080p on the input menu overlay) but obviously will downscale this to 720p

[kc8pql]

my TV is 720p but will accept a 1080p signal (it even displays 1080p on the input menu overlay) but obviously will downscale this to 720p

+1

[SuetyStanes]

my TV is 720p but will accept a 1080p signal (it even displays 1080p on the input menu overlay) but obviously will downscale this to 720p

Is this a feature of newer TVs, and older ones just wouldn't take the signal?

Also, have you noticed a difference in PQ when inputting a 1080p signal like the OP noticed?

Hopefully I'm not derailing, I'm just curious about this and I think it's still somewhat on topic.

[djdanska]

My cheap insignia 26 inch 720p tv can display 1080p content without a problem. It's 2 years old. If the content is encoded at a half way decent way, i can't notice much difference between 720p and 1080i/1080p on it. You get a cheap 720p mkv off a torrent and compare it to a 1080p off usenet, you can start to notice a difference. Make sense?

[mkiker2089]

There's some debate on whether or not a 720 TV should get 720 input or 1080. It boils down to two theories from what I've read

1- it will display 720 no matter what since it has a fixed amount of pixels so send it a 720 signal and let the TV display it without having to muss around

or-

2- the higher the input resolution the more the TV has to work with so it can use the extra data to create a better picture

In reality is seems more complex. Does the output device do a better job of scaling than the TV? How well does the TV do scaling anyway? I still follow the first camp. I have a high powered PS3 and BR player and the Roku seems to do 720 well also. Let them do the work and let the TV just display it.

[mchasal]

I don't know if how Roku actually does it internally, but remember, the more pixels, the more data you have to download. So it seems like if your TV is only capable of 720, it would make sense to let the Roku know that so it could select the smaller stream and reduce network traffic.

[ron2112]

Does the output device do a better job of scaling than the TV?

The only testing I've been able to do is with the 1080p Showcase channel on my Samsung 720p HDTV, which accepts 1080p input. I'm firmly convinced that the quality is noticeably superior when I have the Roku set to 1080p mode. So in my personal estimation, the TV does a better job of scaling 1080>720 than the Roku.

That said, the dearth of available 1080p content makes the matter almost irrelevant, but at least I now understand why there is a 720p mode on the Roku. So... original question answered, feel free to take the thread wherever you like, folks.

ron