Looking for a list of that will state which HD format TV networks use

[the_importer]

Hi there,


I'm looking for a list of that will tell me which HD format (720p or 1080i) TV networks use (for both US and Canadian channels).

Also, if a TV network uses 1080i and I leave my resolution to 720p or vice-versa, what are the consequences?


Thank you

[edDV]

Hi there,


I'm looking for a list of that will tell me which HD format (720p or 1080i) TV networks use (for both US and Canadian channels).

Also, if a TV network uses 1080i and I leave my resolution to 720p or vice-versa, what are the consequences?

Thank you

If you are using a tuner in a digital TV, it will self adjust to any of the 18 ATSC formats. If you are using a cable or sat tuner, you usually set the interface connection to 720p or 1080i and the box does all the conversions.

North American networks today are either all 1080i or all 720p. In the future this may change program to program. The current 720p networks are ABC, FOX and ESPN. The rest are 1080i. I haven't heard what the Canadian networks plan to do. Sports/Animation focused networks tend to 720p.

Some satellite and next generation cable systems will be adding MPeg4 channels in HD and SD. Current TV sets won't be able to tune these directly.

Hope that helps.
http://www.hdtvprimer.com/ISSUES/what_is_ATSC.html
http://www.digitalhome.ca/hdtv/idx/0/426/article/Canadian_OTA_HD_Channel_Lineup.html

[the_importer]

Hi there,


I'm looking for a list of that will tell me which HD format (720p or 1080i) TV networks use (for both US and Canadian channels).

Also, if a TV network uses 1080i and I leave my resolution to 720p or vice-versa, what are the consequences?

Thank you

If you are using a tuner in a digital TV, it will self adjust to any of the 21 ATSC formats. If you are using a cable or sat tuner, you usually set the interface connection to 720p or 1080i and the box does all the conversions.

North American networks today are either all 1080i or all 720p. In the future this may change program to program. The current 720p networks are ABC, FOX and ESPN. The rest are 1080i. I haven't heard what the Canadian networks plan to do. Sports/Animation focused networks tend to 720p.

Some satellite and next generation cable systems will be adding MPeg4 channels in HD and SD. Current TV sets won't be able to tune these directly.

Hope that helps.
http://www.hdtvprimer.com/ISSUES/what_is_ATSC.html

I do have a cable box. Now if I were to leave my resolution at 720p and watch NBC which would run at 1080i, what are the consequences? I am missing anything?

Man, these resolution wars are a PITA for consumers. It's not like buying different game systems because of exclusive titles. HD-DVD Vs BlueRay, 720p Vs 1080i, in the end, it's for the same thing with minor differences. I wish industries would settle on a standard

[edDV]

Hi there,


I'm looking for a list of that will tell me which HD format (720p or 1080i) TV networks use (for both US and Canadian channels).

Also, if a TV network uses 1080i and I leave my resolution to 720p or vice-versa, what are the consequences?

Thank you

If you are using a tuner in a digital TV, it will self adjust to any of the 21 ATSC formats. If you are using a cable or sat tuner, you usually set the interface connection to 720p or 1080i and the box does all the conversions.

North American networks today are either all 1080i or all 720p. In the future this may change program to program. The current 720p networks are ABC, FOX and ESPN. The rest are 1080i. I haven't heard what the Canadian networks plan to do. Sports/Animation focused networks tend to 720p.

Some satellite and next generation cable systems will be adding MPeg4 channels in HD and SD. Current TV sets won't be able to tune these directly.

Hope that helps.
http://www.hdtvprimer.com/ISSUES/what_is_ATSC.html

I do have a cable box. Now if I were to leave my resolution at 720p and watch NBC which would run at 1080i, what are the consequences? I am missing anything?

Man, these resolution wars are a PITA for consumers. It's not like buying different game systems because of exclusive titles. HD-DVD Vs BlueRay, 720p Vs 1080i, in the end, it's for the same thing with minor differences. I wish industries would settle on a standard

In your case, try 1080i and 720p with your TV and use which is better in your eyes. The cable box will convert 1080i to 720p and visa versa. Most stations will be 480i or 1080i native. If you connect 1080i, it puts the processing load on your TV to deinterlace and downsize 1920x1080i to 1366x768p. If you choose 720p, the conversion is done in the cable box. The HDTV would then upscale 1280x720p to 1366x768p.

HD/BD store bought DVDs will be 1920x1080p native. your TV would accept 1080p, 1080i or 720p from these players only over HDMI. For a 32" LCD-TV, HD/BD won't show much advantage.

[the_importer]

Hi there,


I'm looking for a list of that will tell me which HD format (720p or 1080i) TV networks use (for both US and Canadian channels).

Also, if a TV network uses 1080i and I leave my resolution to 720p or vice-versa, what are the consequences?

Thank you

If you are using a tuner in a digital TV, it will self adjust to any of the 21 ATSC formats. If you are using a cable or sat tuner, you usually set the interface connection to 720p or 1080i and the box does all the conversions.

North American networks today are either all 1080i or all 720p. In the future this may change program to program. The current 720p networks are ABC, FOX and ESPN. The rest are 1080i. I haven't heard what the Canadian networks plan to do. Sports/Animation focused networks tend to 720p.

Some satellite and next generation cable systems will be adding MPeg4 channels in HD and SD. Current TV sets won't be able to tune these directly.

Hope that helps.
http://www.hdtvprimer.com/ISSUES/what_is_ATSC.html

I do have a cable box. Now if I were to leave my resolution at 720p and watch NBC which would run at 1080i, what are the consequences? I am missing anything?

Man, these resolution wars are a PITA for consumers. It's not like buying different game systems because of exclusive titles. HD-DVD Vs BlueRay, 720p Vs 1080i, in the end, it's for the same thing with minor differences. I wish industries would settle on a standard

In your case, try 1080i and 720p with your TV and use which is better in your eyes. The cable box will convert 1080i to 720p and visa versa. Most stations will be 480i or 1080i native. If you connect 1080i, it puts the processing load on your TV to deinterlace and downsize 1920x1080i to 1366x768p. If you choose 720p, the conversion is done in the cable box. The HDTV would then upscale 1280x720p to 1366x768p.

HD/BD store bought DVDs will be 1920x1080p native. your TV would accept 1080p, 1080i or 720p from these players only over HDMI. For a 32" LCD-TV, HD/BD won't show much advantage.

Excellent information, thank you very much.

[jman98]

I don't know what the situation in Canada is, but barring another extension (always possible), in early Feb. 2009 the USA will switch to all digital TV. There will be no more analog TV. Do note that the HD standard used in North America does allow for 480i/p broadcasting and I suspect that a lot of channels are not going to bother converting to 720p or better, at least in the USA. Your situation in Canada may be completely different.

At the time the ATSC standard was proposed, it was considered more or less impossible to broadcast 1080p, so that's why 720p and 1080i both became choices. Each TV station could decide if they preferred higher resolution but interlaced frames or lower resolution but progressive frames.

[the_importer]

Do note that the HD standard used in North America does allow for 480i/p broadcasting and I suspect that a lot of channels are not going to bother converting to 720p or better, at least in the USA.

I don't quite follow you with this. Are you saying that some channels will disappear when everything goes HD because they don't want to convert to HD?

[neomaine]

the_importer,

Now there's the rub. Stations are required to go digital, not necessarily high def. That is, stations will send a digital signal, versus analog, but the ATSC definition says that digital signal can be many variations of resolution 480i/p, 720i/p, 1080i/p and some in between.

[jman98]

I don't quite follow you with this. Are you saying that some channels will disappear when everything goes HD because they don't want to convert to HD?

No. I'm saying that after Feb. something 2009, here in the USA everything will go digital. That is NOT the same as saying everything will "go HD". Some channels will choose to not convert to HD format and will broadcast at 480i or 480p. People look at digital TV as being all in HD, but in fact as neomaine said, the standard allows for non-HD resolution broadcasts. 480i/p is NOT considered to be HD. Many people incorrectly assume that everything will "go HD" as you say, but that is not correct. Everything will "go digital" and individual channels may or may not be in HD at that time.

[the_importer]

Oh that's right, I forgot that Digital does not mean HD. Thank you

[edDV]

If you stay on cable, none of this Feb '09 change will affect you. The cable company will just tune to the digital version of the station if they haven't already. Canadian stations may remain analog in the smaller cities for some years.

Someday they will offer a new cable box that tunes MPeg4 as well as MPeg2. That will allow them to either double the number of SD channels or offer more HD services.