SD broadcast: Better in 720p or Full HD

[admin_exported]

Cant find a shop with a Pioneer 4280XD along with a Panasonic PZ80/85 for comparison in this town. I plan to go for the Pioneer 4280XD (now £1200 high street). Hopefully will be using it for both HD (Freesat or Sky + Blu Ray) and SD broadcast. Read a lot about deep black and good contrast in Pioneer but i want to ask about SD.

1) Does the SD broadcast appear better in 720p or Full HD (or say Pioneer SD Vs Pana SD). Someone mentioned it is stretched (read distorted) in Full HD screens.

2) Any comments on SD performance on Pioneer 4280

3) What about upscaling to full HD by a Blu Ray player on a 720p screen

Thanks.

 

[professorhat]

There's no right or wrong answer to your first question, it depends on the TV, not whether it's HD Ready or Full HD. The Pioneer is regarded as having one of the best pictures for SD broadcasts around and is HD Ready (720p). However, a Panasonic Full HD screen may well outperform an HD Ready LG screen. It's all dependent on the TV and the quality of the scaler and other electronics inside.
Sorry, I'm not sure what you're asking on the third question.

 

[Anonymous]

Thank You a lot for that Prof. I understand what you mean.

Regarding my third point let me try again: How well do you appreciate the upscaling of normal DVDs by a Blu Ray player on a 720p (Pioneer 428XD) screen. Or is it once again set/model which decides and not the resolution.

 

[professorhat]

Yup, entirely down to the machine e.g. the £1,000 Pioneer BDP-LX70A is a much better DVD upscaler (and Blu-Ray player) than the £300 PS3. But then you'd expect it to be! It's all down to the quality of the electronics in the box basically and how well the system's been put together by the manufacturer.

 

[professorhat]

I should add, in theory, HD Ready is better for SD sources (such as Freeview and upscaled DVD) because it has fewer lines and therefore less detail has to be "filled in" by the scaler to get the 576 lines to fit the 720 (or 768) line screen. Also, in theory, Blu-Ray should look better on a Full HD screen as you are then taking advantage of the full 1080 lines the screen has to offer rather than having to scale this down to 720 (or 768) lines.
However, for the reasons outlined above, you can't just assume any HD Ready TV will be better than a Full HD TV one for SD and vice versa for Blu-Ray.

 

[Anonymous]

I see what you mean. That does clarify more and sounds logical too. And takes me one step closer to Pioneer

This is what I wanted to compare but surprisingly enough local shops are not able to display them together.

Somewhere I read the equivalent explanation of a digital camera with more number of pixels but still not able to give a better picture than, say, SLRs.

Thanks Prof.