SD on a 1080p TV?

[jbarr]

I have been eyeing that really nice Westinghouse 42" LCD TV at Best Buy. Its feature set looks excellent, and from the experience of other SageTV users, it sounds like an almost perfecet match. But I'm now questioning image quality--I assume that with video (like so many other things) it's a "garbage-in/garbage-out" scenario.

My HTPC has two Hauppauge PVR-150 cards: one is a plain "raw" analog cable feed, and the other is a Motorola DCT-2000 Digital Cable box controlled via Serial cable. SageTV currently displays on a 27" tube TV. I have the SageTV HTPC set at a resolution of 640x400, and things look decent. In face, with my new nVidia PureVideo decoder, it actually looks great.

OK, so what happens when SD recordings are viewed on a slick new 1080p LCD HDTV from about 10-12 feet? Obviously, things like decent DVD's, HDTV, etc. should look great, how will SD recordings look? Am I wasting my time and money in investing in a large HDTV to watch primarily SD SageTV recordings?

[stanger89]

SD is acceptable on my 115" wide 720p CIH setup from a 1.55x viewing distance.

[evilpenguin]

I've got the 42" Westy and the SD looks pretty good to me. Granted it doesn't look quite as good as it would on a really nice SDTV, but its a small trade off for everything else the 1080p brings to the table.

[MeInMaui]

Hi jbarr,

I've found that I get pretty good SD on mine. It ain't HD, but it isn't distracting either. The biggest two factors I have found are having a clean source (like digital cable) and spending some time calibrating the TV. But it definitely takes more work to get a good picture than on a tube SDTV.
Hope this helps.

Aloha,
Mike

[IncredibleHat]

I've got the 42" WH as well. I run it currently on 720p output to DVI1. Since I have no HD source material, doing 1080p output was a bit of a waste of cpu/gpu power heh (and my HTPC isnt the most beefy either).

Picture and image quality is good. I'm no expert, nor someone who complains about one red bit out of two thousand is more 'brown' than the others... but to ME, it looks decent enough, and runs decent enough.

Plus, I like the bigger size, which means I can sit further back, and arrange the room better to utilize the fireplace etc etc fung sheui and all that bull crap. LOL

[autoboy]

Originally Posted by IncredibleHat

I've got the 42" WH as well. I run it currently on 720p output to DVI1. Since I have no HD source material, doing 1080p output was a bit of a waste of cpu/gpu power heh (and my HTPC isnt the most beefy either).

Picture and image quality is good. I'm no expert, nor someone who complains about one red bit out of two thousand is more 'brown' than the others... but to ME, it looks decent enough, and runs decent enough.

Plus, I like the bigger size, which means I can sit further back, and arrange the room better to utilize the fireplace etc etc fung sheui and all that bull crap. LOL

Shouldn't you run it at 1080p and let the video card do the scaling? The internal scaling in the westinghouse is not as good as a purevideo or avivo video card.

[avonnied]

with purevideo, the scaling of SD Content on my 1080p westinghouse doesn't look bad at all..

purevideo does a great job of upscaling...

even for DVDs i prefer the image quality going through my HTPC and being upscaled then hooking a DVD player directly to the westy..

[IncredibleHat]

The 6150 cant handle 1080p too well. I would need to go buy like a 7600GT to do that with all the bells n whistles. I may down the line, but right now... I'm using the 6150.

[aperry]

I have a Mitsubishi 65-inch DLP set, and the SD picture on it is great. I know it's not the model you were asking about, but thought I'd throw it in there anyway...

[jbarr]

But it does answer my question about how SD looks on a large screen...

[IncredibleHat]

Just dont sit too close to a large screen with SD content

[Polypro]

Just to echo...37" 1080p with "Display Adapter Scaling" and nVIDIA decoder looks good 'nuff on my analog cable too.

P

[aperry]

I have seen some butt-ugly SD pictures on big screens, so YMMV (your mileage may vary).

[evilpenguin]

I've got a gigabyte fanless 6600 that's pushing out 1080p like a pro. Of coarse, it probably also helps that I've also got an A64 +3200 playing backup

[turak]

I use digital cable boxes. On my 61" DLP the channels that are digital look good, DVD's look good and the analog channels look ok. In my experience, the quality of SD on a big screen has a lot to do with the source.

[silkshadow]

I've had one of those, avalible only in Japan, LCD 1080p TVs for almost 6 months now. I think you guys in the US are getting them now too. I had some trouble at first with figuring out how to do signal conversions but, once I got it all worked out, SD plays fine on it. I used an SLI 7600GT setup with nvida pure video. Sold that box and tried to do it with an older 6600 HTPC. That didn't work at all. I am getting a HDCP 7900gs (no SLI) and hope that works.

FFdshow does wonders in cleaning up SD from a mediocre quality digital signal and I use that for upscaling and aspect correction. However, I am far behind on what is the best solution for upscaling and stuff now. Is ffdshow the best way to do upscaling? Should I be using ffdshow just to clean up the picture and then let pure video do the upscaling? And I got a mailer from nvidia, what is Purevideo HD? Is that different from what I am using now (v223)?

[IncredibleHat]

PureVideo HD is part of their new 92.xx graphics drivers I believe... or at least, mixed in by allowing more features. Plus you need a "HD certified gpu card" to use that... which is what I think their whole scheme is by making all their current cards BREAK with the new drivers they have been releasing

[silkshadow]

LOL , I know what you mean. I've given up on "beating" nvidia and just keep upgrading my HTPC's video cards (I know, I know giving in to the corporate agenda, the consumer just keeps getting plowed). Thanks IncredibleHat!

[IncredibleHat]

If they can't get their junk in order soon, I may end up buying a new card too. I love being able to use the 6150 onboard, as its quiet, uses less power, and less heat etc. Great for HTPC use. Grr. Bastards.