when set to auto what does the sky hd box output - is it 576i for standard definition but then is it 720p or 1080i for hd material?
Sky HD resolution output set to auto
- Thread starter matengawhat
- Start date
my sky hd box runs through an onkyo 876 on to a 720p projector - the onkyo is better at upscaling than the sky box so have set the onkyo to output at 720p to match the output of the projector how much picture alteration goes into changing a 1080i signal to 720p and is there a better way of doing it?
It's best to scale only once, so decide which is better at scaling - your Onkyo or the Sky HD box (probably the onkyo). Depending on which, you could set the sky box to 720p, so it up/down scales everything iteself, or set it to auto so that it sends everything in it's native resolution (576p for SD material and 1080i for HD material) and the receiver scales as appropriate.
Unless a firmware update has changed how they work (And I havnt heard of such). 1080i is the best setting as otherwise AUTO forces the SD content to deinterlace to progressive and the deinterlacer in sky boxes is awful. So its better to let the skybox scale to 1080i and let the tv deinterlace
AliEnRik:Unless a firmware update has changed how they work (And I havnt heard of such). 1080i is the best setting as otherwise AUTO forces the SD content to deinterlace to progressive and the deinterlacer in sky boxes is awful. So its better to let the skybox scale to 1080i and let the tv deinterlace
The deinterlacing in the Sky box may well be poor, but I'm not sure the scaling will be much better. If the scaling that's taking place away from the Sky box (TV/amp/whatever) is sufficiently better than the scaling in the SkyHD box, then you may find you end up with better PQ by using the 'Auto' 576p feed, as the TV's better scaling may make up for the Sky box's poorer deinterlacing. If you get what I mean
As with anything else, it just takes a bit of experimentation. With my own set-up, SD is better when output from the HD box at 576p than it is using 1080i. But then, I think I sometimes get even better results over a Scart cable with a carefully set-up corresponding input on the TV, as both scaling and deinterlacing is done on the TV. But then, I'm a bit sad, and most other people will be happy to be rid of Scart!
The deinterlacing in the Sky box may well be poor, but I'm not sure the scaling will be much better. If the scaling that's taking place away from the Sky box (TV/amp/whatever) is sufficiently better than the scaling in the SkyHD box, then you may find you end up with better PQ by using the 'Auto' 576p feed, as the TV's better scaling may make up for the Sky box's poorer deinterlacing. If you get what I mean
As with anything else, it just takes a bit of experimentation. With my own set-up, SD is better when output from the HD box at 576p than it is using 1080i. But then, I think I sometimes get even better results over a Scart cable with a carefully set-up corresponding input on the TV, as both scaling and deinterlacing is done on the TV. But then, I'm a bit sad, and most other people will be happy to be rid of Scart!
The_Lhc
Well-known member
I'd agree with that, I've had my HD box outputting 1080i ever since I got the plasma and I've been really disappointed with the SD picture quality. Then someone on here suggested setting the box to auto, I did so, allowing the TV to upscale and the difference in picture quality is night and day, the soft, almost blurry look it had before has gone, edges are much sharper and the whole picture is crisper.
I don't care how bad the Sky box's deinterlacer is, its upscaler is far worse, there's no comparison for me, I'm leaving the box on auto!
I don't care how bad the Sky box's deinterlacer is, its upscaler is far worse, there's no comparison for me, I'm leaving the box on auto!
I agree 100% with the_lhc.
I had my sky outut set at 1080i and I was always dissapointed with how poor SD looked.
Its difficult trying to justify why we spent so much money on a HD TV and the SD pic looks worse than my previous SD plasma telly.
After my TV had been calibrated although SD looked slightly better the difference between SD & HD was even greater.
After I switched the setting to Auto, it now outputs SD at 576P and the pic is much much sharper and clearer.
Only downside is when flicking through sky anytime as you alternate between SD & HD programmes (and sky shows a preview of the programme) the resolution changes which involves the screen going blank for a second or 2 while it changes resolution.
I had my sky outut set at 1080i and I was always dissapointed with how poor SD looked.
Its difficult trying to justify why we spent so much money on a HD TV and the SD pic looks worse than my previous SD plasma telly.
After my TV had been calibrated although SD looked slightly better the difference between SD & HD was even greater.
After I switched the setting to Auto, it now outputs SD at 576P and the pic is much much sharper and clearer.
Only downside is when flicking through sky anytime as you alternate between SD & HD programmes (and sky shows a preview of the programme) the resolution changes which involves the screen going blank for a second or 2 while it changes resolution.
the_lhc:
I'd agree with that, I've had my HD box outputting 1080i ever since I got the plasma and I've been really disappointed with the SD picture quality. Then someone on here suggested setting the box to auto, I did so, allowing the TV to upscale and the difference in picture quality is night and day, the soft, almost blurry look it had before has gone, edges are much sharper and the whole picture is crisper.
I don't care how bad the Sky box's deinterlacer is, its upscaler is far worse, there's no comparison for me, I'm leaving the box on auto!
Fair opinion. I dont actually have sky myself so cant comment either way for certain. I was relaying what ive read elsewhere (Others have said 1080i was better so im going to have to assume their tvs scalers were awful then)
Possibly different boxes differ in quality? Or even possibly a firmware update has made the upscaling quality even worse somehow?
I'd agree with that, I've had my HD box outputting 1080i ever since I got the plasma and I've been really disappointed with the SD picture quality. Then someone on here suggested setting the box to auto, I did so, allowing the TV to upscale and the difference in picture quality is night and day, the soft, almost blurry look it had before has gone, edges are much sharper and the whole picture is crisper.
I don't care how bad the Sky box's deinterlacer is, its upscaler is far worse, there's no comparison for me, I'm leaving the box on auto!
Fair opinion. I dont actually have sky myself so cant comment either way for certain. I was relaying what ive read elsewhere (Others have said 1080i was better so im going to have to assume their tvs scalers were awful then)
Possibly different boxes differ in quality? Or even possibly a firmware update has made the upscaling quality even worse somehow?
The_Lhc
Well-known member
aliEnRIK: Fair opinion. I dont actually have sky myself so cant comment either way for certain. I was relaying what ive read elsewhere (Others have said 1080i was better so im going to have to assume their tvs scalers were awful then)
Yeah, obviously it's going to depend on the quality of the TV.
Possibly different boxes differ in quality? Or even possibly a firmware update has made the upscaling quality even worse somehow?
Hmm, I'd hope the upscaling is being done in hardware, rather than software, even on a Sky box. I can well believe something like a Samsung box might do a better job of it than the Amstrad I've got.
Yeah, obviously it's going to depend on the quality of the TV.
Possibly different boxes differ in quality? Or even possibly a firmware update has made the upscaling quality even worse somehow?
Hmm, I'd hope the upscaling is being done in hardware, rather than software, even on a Sky box. I can well believe something like a Samsung box might do a better job of it than the Amstrad I've got.
sonycentre
Well-known member
I have my sky hd box set to 1080i,i use a sony kdl32d3000 and have had no issues with picture,remember its worth noting that watching c4hd,sky 1 hd,fx hd and so on is better cos the picture is then in its native format with 5.1 sound if you have the sound system of course.normal tv pictures look fine to me.i would think you will see a diffrence on a larger set,And the setting on your tv help the picture along to,best thing to do is tinker with your tv,s picture settings.
The_Lhc
Well-known member
sonycentre:I have my sky hd box set to 1080i,i use a sony kdl32d3000 and have had no issues with picture,remember its worth noting that watching c4hd,sky 1 hd,fx hd and so on is better cos the picture is then in its native format with 5.1 sound if you have the sound system of course.
You still get the HD channels in 1080i if you set Sky to auto, the box outputs EVERY channel in its native resolution (whether thats 576p or 1080i), it just means you take advantage of the superior upscaler in the TV, which, for SD content makes a massive difference on my TV. Clearly it makes no difference to the HD channels as they aren't being scaled at all.
You still get the HD channels in 1080i if you set Sky to auto, the box outputs EVERY channel in its native resolution (whether thats 576p or 1080i), it just means you take advantage of the superior upscaler in the TV, which, for SD content makes a massive difference on my TV. Clearly it makes no difference to the HD channels as they aren't being scaled at all.
digigriffin
Well-known member
Hmmm, I have was an early adopter of Sky+HD and have always had my box set to 1080i.
Reading this thread just to be sure I have tried setting to Auto but to no obvious improvement.
I was under the impression having read on various forums that Sky+HD receives its channels in 1080i.
If this is the case for a non HD channel, then auto will be down scaling the image to 576p?
So then your HD TV scales this up again?
If this is the case wouldn't it be better to leave it at 1080i so the Sky+HD is doing no scaling?
Reading this thread just to be sure I have tried setting to Auto but to no obvious improvement.
I was under the impression having read on various forums that Sky+HD receives its channels in 1080i.
If this is the case for a non HD channel, then auto will be down scaling the image to 576p?
So then your HD TV scales this up again?
If this is the case wouldn't it be better to leave it at 1080i so the Sky+HD is doing no scaling?
digigriffin:
Hmmm, I have was an early adopter of Sky+HD and have always had my box set to 1080i.
Reading this thread just to be sure I have tried setting to Auto but to no obvious improvement.
I was under the impression having read on various forums that Sky+HD receives its channels in 1080i.
If this is the case for a non HD channel, then auto will be down scaling the image to 576p?
So then your HD TV scales this up again?
If this is the case wouldn't it be better to leave it at 1080i so the Sky+HD is doing no scaling?
Thats not true. SKY HD is output in 1080i (Although I believe the odd programme is in 720P). SKY SD is output in standard definition
Hmmm, I have was an early adopter of Sky+HD and have always had my box set to 1080i.
Reading this thread just to be sure I have tried setting to Auto but to no obvious improvement.
I was under the impression having read on various forums that Sky+HD receives its channels in 1080i.
If this is the case for a non HD channel, then auto will be down scaling the image to 576p?
So then your HD TV scales this up again?
If this is the case wouldn't it be better to leave it at 1080i so the Sky+HD is doing no scaling?
Thats not true. SKY HD is output in 1080i (Although I believe the odd programme is in 720P). SKY SD is output in standard definition
digigriffin
Well-known member
So what you are saying is that Sky broadcast the signal for SD at 576p?
So the broadcast signal is varying in its resolutions and its not he box that does the sampling?
IMHO considering that 576p is not standard for SD as that is progressive, do they broadcast at this having re-encoded it?
Or is it the Sky+HD that does this?
So the broadcast signal is varying in its resolutions and its not he box that does the sampling?
IMHO considering that 576p is not standard for SD as that is progressive, do they broadcast at this having re-encoded it?
Or is it the Sky+HD that does this?
digigriffin:So what you are saying is that Sky broadcast the signal for SD at 576p?
So the broadcast signal is varying in its resolutions and its not he box that does the sampling?
IMHO considering that 576p is not standard for SD as that is progressive, do they broadcast at this having re-encoded it?
Or is it the Sky+HD that does this?
Thats exactly where the problem appears to be. It seems some boxes are better than others at SD content. Information is fed to the box in interlaced SD. If AUTO is selected then the sky box 'de-interlaces' to progressive (Which results in a generally worse picture as nearly all tvs will have a better deterlacer than the sky box). The only way around this is to output 1080i which keeps SD content interlaced so the tv can deinterlace BUT the sky boxes are also terrible at scaling. So it seems its down to what make box you have, what tv you have and (Possibly) the firmware in the box.
All told sky+ boxes are better with SD content than sky HD boxes (So long as a decent scart cable is used and the tv has a good scaler)
So the broadcast signal is varying in its resolutions and its not he box that does the sampling?
IMHO considering that 576p is not standard for SD as that is progressive, do they broadcast at this having re-encoded it?
Or is it the Sky+HD that does this?
Thats exactly where the problem appears to be. It seems some boxes are better than others at SD content. Information is fed to the box in interlaced SD. If AUTO is selected then the sky box 'de-interlaces' to progressive (Which results in a generally worse picture as nearly all tvs will have a better deterlacer than the sky box). The only way around this is to output 1080i which keeps SD content interlaced so the tv can deinterlace BUT the sky boxes are also terrible at scaling. So it seems its down to what make box you have, what tv you have and (Possibly) the firmware in the box.
All told sky+ boxes are better with SD content than sky HD boxes (So long as a decent scart cable is used and the tv has a good scaler)
At the end of the day it comes down to which setting you prefer on your system. I personally use the AUTO setting as my TV does a better job upscaling SD than the Tompson HD box I have does with the only downside being a slight pause in picture as you switch fro SD to HD as the TV adjusts its resolution.
Regarding the SKY HD box Auto resolution setting.
I must apologise if this has already been addressed. First, I keep my SKY HD box set to AUTO o/p resolution because if it is set to 1080I and an SD 4x3 programme is being transmitted the picture will be stretched horizontally that is to say the automatic aspect ratio facility is not available for HD resolutions.
However I am finding that often HD programmes - such as the BBC preview channel or Sports HD are being displayed in SD on my Sony. I can confirm this by having the TV display show the resolution and it will show 576.
If I go into settings on the Sky box and switch between 1080 and back to Auto output and the picture is once again displayed as 1080i. for HD and 576 for SD channels
This seems to happen about once a week IE most of the time the Auto setting does indeed switch but other times it forgets! F
or what its worth the box is a Thompson HD box and all the power supply mods / upgrades have already been done. G
I must apologise if this has already been addressed. First, I keep my SKY HD box set to AUTO o/p resolution because if it is set to 1080I and an SD 4x3 programme is being transmitted the picture will be stretched horizontally that is to say the automatic aspect ratio facility is not available for HD resolutions.
However I am finding that often HD programmes - such as the BBC preview channel or Sports HD are being displayed in SD on my Sony. I can confirm this by having the TV display show the resolution and it will show 576.
If I go into settings on the Sky box and switch between 1080 and back to Auto output and the picture is once again displayed as 1080i. for HD and 576 for SD channels
This seems to happen about once a week IE most of the time the Auto setting does indeed switch but other times it forgets! F
or what its worth the box is a Thompson HD box and all the power supply mods / upgrades have already been done. G
All of this is mind boggling! & mine is not even installed yet!
I, like many others want to get the best out of SkyHD & this issue of SD/HD 576/720/1080i is so confusing!!!!!
Can people post their set-up info up in easy steps how they have found the best picture - especially those going through amps.
I have the Yam 863SE & my skyhd will go into that & then into my 1080p panny 42G10, so im looking at suggestions on best performance for my set-up!!!!!
The amp can upscale etc or be on passive (not got the hang of these settings either yet
) so do i set the skyhd at the 1080i & let the amp sort it out, or 576 or 720 etc!??!?!?!?!?!?
I, like many others want to get the best out of SkyHD & this issue of SD/HD 576/720/1080i is so confusing!!!!!
Can people post their set-up info up in easy steps how they have found the best picture - especially those going through amps.
I have the Yam 863SE & my skyhd will go into that & then into my 1080p panny 42G10, so im looking at suggestions on best performance for my set-up!!!!!
The amp can upscale etc or be on passive (not got the hang of these settings either yet
Your best off taking your sky hd to your tv direct via hdmi and then connect to your amp via optic cable or digital coax for your surround sound, plus this way save's the other half having to fire up your hole set-up just to watch eastenders. and leave the sky on 1080i had no problems with mine.
hope this helps.
hope this helps.
daveh75
Well-known member
digigriffin:So what you are saying is that Sky broadcast the signal for SD at 576p?
So the broadcast signal is varying in its resolutions and its not he box that does the sampling?
IMHO considering that 576p is not standard for SD as that is progressive, do they broadcast at this having re-encoded it?
Or is it the Sky+HD that does this?Sky Sd material is broadcast 576i not progressive. Linowsat is an excellent site for info on what resolution, bitrates,aspect ratio and audio bitrates etc channels broadcast on satellite.
http://www.linowsat.co.uk/0282/all/0282.shtml
http://www.linowsat.co.uk/0285/all/0285.shtml
So the broadcast signal is varying in its resolutions and its not he box that does the sampling?
IMHO considering that 576p is not standard for SD as that is progressive, do they broadcast at this having re-encoded it?
Or is it the Sky+HD that does this?Sky Sd material is broadcast 576i not progressive. Linowsat is an excellent site for info on what resolution, bitrates,aspect ratio and audio bitrates etc channels broadcast on satellite.
http://www.linowsat.co.uk/0282/all/0282.shtml
http://www.linowsat.co.uk/0285/all/0285.shtml
69stretch01:
Your best off taking your sky hd to your tv direct via hdmi and then connect to your amp via optic cable or digital coax for your surround sound, plus this way save's the other half having to fire up your hole set-up just to watch eastenders. and leave the sky on 1080i had no problems with mine.
hope this helps.
Thanks for that, i will give that a go & see what the outcome is, but i am still wondering if my amp can do better pics with its own display gubbins/trickery?
Your best off taking your sky hd to your tv direct via hdmi and then connect to your amp via optic cable or digital coax for your surround sound, plus this way save's the other half having to fire up your hole set-up just to watch eastenders. and leave the sky on 1080i had no problems with mine.
hope this helps.
Thanks for that, i will give that a go & see what the outcome is, but i am still wondering if my amp can do better pics with its own display gubbins/trickery?
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