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Is Full HD needed for Freesat?


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Old 25-08-2013, 09:54
Joddle
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I have to confess to being a little thick on the subject of HD. I have heard of HD ready and Full HD and thought that HD ready tvs simply had a lower resolution than full HD ones.

My confusion began when looking for a new TV with a friend. He has BT Infinity and sometimes uses Freeview. On hearing this the guy in the shop (Currys) said there was no point getting a full HD set unless he wanted to watch Blue Ray - (which he does not want) as HDTV is only broadcast in 720 then up-scaled to full HD. We were therefore advised a cheaper and better option would to go for an HD ready set rather than a full HD one.

OK so what's that got to do with Freesat? - well I use Freesat for myself and use a 42" Plasma HD ready set which I think gives a good picture through my Humax Foxsat HD although the TV is now a few years old and lacks modern connectability and features. Would there be any point in upgrading to a full HD one?

I suppose the basic question is what is the quality of TV broadcasts - freesat or freeview - and does it matter what type of set you get.
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Old 25-08-2013, 10:33
Pollensa1946
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The broadcasts, both Freeview and Freesat, are not full HD (1080p). Some boxes can upscale the received signal to full HD, which might in some circumstances give you a better picture. So a HD ready set is capable of delivering the received HD signal.
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Old 25-08-2013, 17:19
grahamlthompson
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The broadcasts, both Freeview and Freesat, are not full HD (1080p). Some boxes can upscale the received signal to full HD, which might in some circumstances give you a better picture. So a HD ready set is capable of delivering the received HD signal.
All HD broadcast sources in the UK are full HD (ie 1920 x 1080 pixels). The signal is 1920 x 1080 pixels at 25 frames per seconds delivered in an interlaced format (some Freeview content is progressive - 1080p25). A Full HD or HDready 1080 will have 1:1 pixel mapping from the source to the display. HD ready displays normally have 768 line displays, accordingly the TV has to rescale the 1920 x 180 source to fit the 768 line screen.

All HD ready TV's will display 1080i content but not at full resolution.

Having said that on smaller screen TV's the difference in picture quality is minute. A quality HD Ready display will have a superior picture to a Full-HD panel.
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Old 25-08-2013, 18:27
Nigel Goodwin
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I have to confess to being a little thick on the subject of HD. I have heard of HD ready and Full HD and thought that HD ready tvs simply had a lower resolution than full HD ones.
Which is completely true - and is the sole difference (in the basic specifications)
.

My confusion began when looking for a new TV with a friend. He has BT Infinity and sometimes uses Freeview. On hearing this the guy in the shop (Currys) said there was no point getting a full HD set unless he wanted to watch Blue Ray - (which he does not want) as HDTV is only broadcast in 720 then up-scaled to full HD.
100% completely and utterly WRONG.

All broadcast HD in the UK is Full HD (1920x1080).

We were therefore advised a cheaper and better option would to go for an HD ready set rather than a full HD one.
A better quality HD Ready set will give a better picture than a cheap Full HD one. But in either case, to get any benefit from Full HD you need to view from considerably closer.


OK so what's that got to do with Freesat? - well I use Freesat for myself and use a 42" Plasma HD ready set which I think gives a good picture through my Humax Foxsat HD although the TV is now a few years old and lacks modern connectability and features. Would there be any point in upgrading to a full HD one?
If you're happy with your existing set, then there's no point in upgrading - although most LCD sets would probably give a far better HD picture than an old Plasma. I've got an old 42 Plasma as well, and will keep it until it's knackered


I suppose the basic question is what is the quality of TV broadcasts - freesat or freeview - and does it matter what type of set you get.
All HD broadcasts are Full HD, Full HD sets only matter if you watch from close enough to make it worth while.
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Old 25-08-2013, 19:32
Joddle
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Thanks to all the above- very interesting and informative. Still not sure 100% what the difference is between 1080i and 1080p - and does it make a difference to the viewer?
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Old 25-08-2013, 19:35
Nigel Goodwin
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Thanks to all the above- very interesting and informative. Still not sure 100% what the difference is between 1080i and 1080p - and does it make a difference to the viewer?
It makes sod all difference

1080P50 is better (but not used) as it provides double the number of frames per second, and BluRay can do 24 frames per second (which is film standard, so avoids any 'complications').

But mostly it's nothing to worry about, and you're unlikely to be able to tell which is which.
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Old 25-08-2013, 19:39
Joddle
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Many thanks Nigel - at least we base our decision on some proper information - not the crap the Curry's person was spouting.!!!
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Old 25-08-2013, 19:40
Peter the Great
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Thanks to all the above- very interesting and informative. Still not sure 100% what the difference is between 1080i and 1080p - and does it make a difference to the viewer?
I personally find it a little better set to 1080p but also remember many freesat boxes play media files from a USB device so 1080p output can be useful for that.
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Old 25-08-2013, 19:42
Nigel Goodwin
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I personally find it a little better set to 1080p but also remember many freesat boxes play media files from a USB device so 1080p output can be useful for that.
Unless the source is 1080P then the Freesat box will simply be converting (de-interlacing) it rather than the TV doing it.
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Old 25-08-2013, 19:45
Peter the Great
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Unless the source is 1080P then the Freesat box will simply be converting (de-interlacing) it rather than the TV doing it.
In many cases the source could be 1080p which was my point.
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Old 26-08-2013, 09:28
Pollensa1946
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Still not sure 100% what the difference is between 1080i and 1080p
That's understandable given that other posters here, quite correctly, describe 1080i broadcasts as Full HD, while shops describe 1080i sets as HD Ready (example being my Samsung bought 5 years ago). 1080p sets being described as Full HD (example my Panasonic bought last year). That's the context in which I posted above.
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Old 26-08-2013, 09:47
grahamlthompson
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That's understandable given that other posters here, quite correctly, describe 1080i broadcasts as Full HD, while shops describe 1080i sets as HD Ready (example being my Samsung bought 5 years ago). 1080p sets being described as Full HD (example my Panasonic bought last year). That's the context in which I posted above.
You are completely confused.

HD Ready sets are sometimes inaccurately called 720p not 1080i.

The original; HD Ready spec called for these to display

1080i

content (up to 1920 x 1080 - 1440 x 1080 was common at the time - These are 50 fields/second (25fps)). Interlacing sends a frame in two fields one with the odd lines in it and the second the even ones.

720p

1280 x 720 at 50 frames/second (720p50)


The latter was never implemented by broadcasters.

The minimum vertical resolution was 720 lines.

In fact displays with 720 lines were and are rare (a few early plasma TV's), the majority have 768 lines.

Freeview-HD using the new DVB-T2 system was designed to allow the use of progressive transmissions (The whole frame is sent in line order 1,2,3 ---- 1080 ), but only at 25fps (1080p25). Freeview-HD now switches on the fly depending on the source video between 1080i and 1080p. There is no support for 1080p50 on Freeview-HD

Most satellite boxes don't support progressive signals so all satellite sources are interlaced.

The original HD-Ready spec is now joined by 1080P HD-READY. Unlilke the original spec these sets have Full-HD panels and support 1920 x 1080 progressive signals at 24, 25, 50 and 60 frames/second. 24fps is what Blu-ray discs use, if your TV isn't 24P capable the player resamples the output to 60fps which adds some motion artefacts.
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Old 26-08-2013, 10:29
grahamlthompson
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In many cases the source could be 1080p which was my point.
Depends what you mean by 1080P. Only the latest kit will play back 1080p50/60 content.
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Old 26-08-2013, 12:41
Nigel Goodwin
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In many cases the source could be 1080p which was my point.
I would have thought the exact opposite?, in hardly any cases will the source be 1080P - and unless it's 1080P50 (even more unlikely) then there's little or no advantage anyway.
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Old 26-08-2013, 14:11
Pollensa1946
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You are completely confused
Yes I guess I must be. It was the fact that my Samsung arrived with a "HD Ready" sticker on the screen and the user guide says it has resolution up to 1080i. That information being in line with the description which was displayed in the shop at the time. Equally my Panasonic 1080p set was described as "Full HD", again in line with the shop description. Those damn shops just set out to confuse people. Thanks for putting me right
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