playing 1080 movies via usb cable

[i_hate_technology]

hello my friends, i have a very basic "yes or no" question, hopefully...
i download 1080 resolution dvds onto my portable hard drive which connects to my 1080 HD TV via USB type A, so NOT HDMI. My question is am in fact outputting the movies from my tv in 1080, or is it downscaled to 720????
As ive noticed that whether i play 1080 or 720 movies from my portable hard drive on my tv, the quality is exactly the same

Or do i need to use somethng else to plug and play my movies that involves a hdmi cable to get maximum quality

[jagabo]

USB transfers file data, not video data. So the TV receives whatever resolution the file is. It can be hard to tell the difference between 720p and 1080p with a lot of material, especially if the TV is set to overscan. Verify your files are really 1080p with a program like MediaInfo. Try some 1080p test patterns like this one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FkBte--_Mg

You should be able to distinguish the individual black and white lines with no distortion in the 1P section.

[hello_hello]

As ive noticed that whether i play 1080 or 720 movies from my portable hard drive on my tv, the quality is exactly the same

Congratulations. It's not uncommon for people to swear 1080p is better simply because it's 1080p.
There's no guarantee a 1080p video will have more picture detail than a 720p version (video from itunes, for example, rarely does) and if it does, back at normal viewing distance, even on an above average size screen, it'd probably still be hard to tell them apart, all else being equal.

If your TV is 1080p, it's media player will be upscaling anything of a lower resolution to fill the screen, so 720p is upscaled to 1080p, but resolution and quality aren't necessarily directly related. 1080p can be of a lower quality than 720p if it's compressed to much, it can have more picture detail, it can theoretically have less, or it can be better quality, or it can look virtually the same. There's no rule.

[i_hate_technology]

ok cool thanks. So i guess theres no point in buying a portable media player with hdmi output then...
I used to go into store and ask customer service for advice on that, and theyd have no idea lol

[teodz1984]

- Duplicate post -

[teodz1984]

Unless you have some files unplayable because your TV does not support the codec or container ((which warrants a media player or link up with a computer).
You will be ok with just the TV...

also the UI on the TV may not be as fancy as a media players

[cornemuse]

I have found with my Argosy (<- still the argosy!!) media player, 1080 vids are sometimes (whats the word?) jerky with fast paced 'action' parts, where if I set player & tv to 720, its smoother. 1080 helps the 'more dramatic' films with not as much action.

Does this make sense??

[jagabo]

I have found with my Argosy (<- still the argosy!!) media player, 1080 vids are sometimes (whats the word?) jerky with fast paced 'action' parts, where if I set player & tv to 720, its smoother. 1080 helps the 'more dramatic' films with not as much action.

Does this make sense??

Only if your player can't decode the 1080p video fast enough.

[Cornucopia]

First, there's no such thing as 1080 resolution dvds. Dvds are 720x480 or 720x576 max. Period.
Second, if you truly have something 1080 (possible but now I'm sceptical), it's from a Blu- ray, or via net or camera.
Third, if it's off a disc you aren't "downloading" it but ripping it (and possibly also converting).
Fourth, normally all modern tvs are set to scale ANYTHING they're given to fit full screen (or near as possible depending on ar setting). This includes native 1080, but also 720, and even SD or lower rez. Doesn't make them all of a sudden become that quality - they're being stretched.
Fifth, if you ARE downloading something that you don't own or have legit access to, that's against forum rules to discuss.
Sixth, quality is composed of multiple factors including rez of source, bandwidth of pathway, rez of display, your distance from screen & screen size, sufficient bitrate, and your own visual acuity in being able to discern differences.
Seventh, there are some usb connections to pcs that come from cams that include true realtime video data (uvc), but that won't be supported by what you have going into your tv. As jagabo said, data only. Streamed & heavily compressed with player on the tv side, in much the same way network dlna and YouTube, netflix would be. So again quality is very dependent upon bitrate here.

Scott

[johnmeyer]

+1 Scott (Cornucopia). Great post.