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  1. Hi,

    If I want to watch a 720p movie, will the video quality be any worse if my desktop resolution is 1080p? Or in other words, would the movie look any better on my 40" monitor if I change my desktop resolution down to 1280x720 rather than have my media player (either MPC-HC & CCCP or Zoom Player) presumably stretch/upscale the video to 1920x1080 when I fullscreen it?
    Last edited by slipd; 31st Jan 2014 at 08:27.
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  2. Generally, no. But it can depend on the quality of the source, and the relative merits of the scaler in the TV vs the scaler in the computer. And whether the TV is simulating overscan (which causes another scaling).
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  3. Banned
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    Changing your LCD's resolution from 1920 to 1280 will generally not look as good. LCDs work best at their native resolution. A CRT worked better at that sort of thing because a CRT could change the size of its pixels. LCD's can't. If you want to avoid sampling problems with 1280x720 video, get a 1280x720 LCD monitor that might avoid rescaling of 1280x720 video (although some sets will assume 1980x1020 input and will do some rescaling anyway. It depends on the monitor and the graphics adapter. IMO LCDs are one of the worst things that ever happened with digital video). HP makes a couple of very nice 1280x720's. Unfortunately, the 1280 monitor will then rescale 1920x1080 to fit.

    As jagabo says, some monitors and TVs are better at rescaling than are others.
    Last edited by sanlyn; 19th Mar 2014 at 08:31.
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  4. Thank you both very much!

    Since I keep my desktop resolution at 1920x1080 but all of the bluray-source anime I watch tend to come in 720p, and I found an option in Zoom Player to "automatically change a monitor's resolution when switching from windowed to fullscreen modes", I was just wondering whether I should use that option to simply change down to 720p with every 720p show/movie. Seems that there's no reason to!
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  5. Some 1080p monitors have the ability to play 720p input with pixel-for-pixel mapping. That would give you the sharpest image (with no scaling) but you'll get a 1280x720 image in the center of the screen with black borders on all four sides.
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  6. Member Krispy Kritter's Avatar
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    Of course we all are speculating based on our experience. Numerous factors can affect quality (video card, video drivers, video configuration, media player, media player configuration, codec used, cable, monitor/TV).

    Having said all of that, you can simply experiment and decide for yourself what looks best, or if you can even tell a difference. There is no right or wrong answer. It's all subjective. Many of the options/changes mentioned above may have no noticeable affect on your hardware. Trial and error...and decide for yourself.
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  7. Member budwzr's Avatar
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    Doesn't VLC automatically play at the native resolution in a window.
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  8. Originally Posted by budwzr View Post
    Doesn't VLC automatically play at the native resolution in a window.
    Pretty much all players can do that. And many can play at the native resolution in a full screen windows (with black borders) too.
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