720i Resolution????

[DDMPI]

I don't know about the rest of you but I am a little POed right now.  Just had Uverse installed yesterday.  The salesman that came out to our subdivision lied on two aspects when selling everyone on AT& T U-verse.  First was that they would be running fiber optic cable right to our homes and second that we would be receiving 1080i resolution on our HD TVs.  He out right lied on both issues.  The fiber optic cable is run as far as the main junction box for the subdivision and every thing else is copper wire from the main junction box to the houses.  Also resolution is 720i not 1081i as I was told.  That is a big step backward after having 1080p with Dish Network for years.  I really feel I have been lied to.  Not a good start to a new relationship with AT & T.

[texasguy37 ACE - Expert]

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DDMPI wrote:

I don't know about the rest of you but I am a little POed right now.  Just had Uverse installed yesterday.  The salesman that came out to our subdivision lied on two aspects when selling everyone on AT& T U-verse.  First was that they would be running fiber optic cable right to our homes and second that we would be receiving 1080i resolution on our HD TVs.  He out right lied on both issues.  The fiber optic cable is run as far as the main junction box for the subdivision and every thing else is copper wire from the main junction box to the houses.  Also resolution is 720i not 1081i as I was told.  That is a big step backward after having 1080p with Dish Network for years.  I really feel I have been lied to.  Not a good start to a new relationship with AT & T.

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You are mistaken.  First, 720i resolution does not exist.  Second, the Aspect Ratio on the U-verse receivers can be set to 480p, 720p or 1080i.  Third, no channels broadcast in 1080p.  Fourth, the only 1080p content available on Dish Network is some PPV movies.

From Wikipedia:

720i (720 lines interlaced) is an erroneous term found in numerous sources and publications. Typically, it is a typographical error in which the author is referring to the 720p HDTV format. However, in some cases it is incorrectly presented as an actual alternative format to 720p.^[3] In fact, no proposed or existing broadcast standard permits 720 interlaced lines in a video frame at any frame rate.^[4] 720i can also refer to technology in which only half the lines are shown each scan.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/720p

[DDMPI]

Of course there is no 1081 it was a typo,  and yes I did have Dish Network for years and did get 1080p programming from them.   I did just find in the menu on how to change the set top box from 720p to 1080i and that makes all the difference in the picture quality.  MUCH MUCH BETTER.  Much closer to what I was use to with Dish.  Not sure why the installer did not do that. I told him both my TV's were 1080i capable.   The installer did a good job and was very helpful.  

[skeeterintexas]

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DDMPI wrote:

Of course there is no 1081 it was a typo,  and yes I did have Dish Network for years and did get 1080p programming from them.   I did just find in the menu on how to change the set top box from 720p to 1080i and that makes all the difference in the picture quality.  MUCH MUCH BETTER.  Much closer to what I was use to with Dish.  Not sure why the installer did not do that. I told him both my TV's were 1080i capable.   The installer did a good job and was very helpful.  

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I am assuming you meant pay-per-view movies from Dish.

From Wikipedia :

"...satellite services (e.g., DirecTV, XstreamHD, and Dish Network) utilize the 1080p/24-30 format with MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 encoding for pay-per-view movies that are downloaded in advance via satellite or on demand via broadband internet only."

[texasguy37 ACE - Expert]

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DDMPI wrote:

Of course there is no 1081 it was a typo,  and yes I did have Dish Network for years and did get 1080p programming from them.   I did just find in the menu on how to change the set top box from 720p to 1080i and that makes all the difference in the picture quality.  MUCH MUCH BETTER.  Much closer to what I was use to with Dish.  Not sure why the installer did not do that. I told him both my TV's were 1080i capable.   The installer did a good job and was very helpful.  

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I said nothing about 1081.  I said there is no 720i

Also, the only programming that you would have received from Dish Network would have been PPV movies.  No channels broadcast in 1080p on any TV provider.  I had Dish Network for 3 years prior to switching to U-verse, thus, I am very familiar with Dish.

[cliffjg]

DDMPI --

Not sure if you got an answer to your 720 v. 1080 issue.  This happened to a neighbor of mine (he expected 1080 and was getting 720) when UVerse was recently installed in his home.  He determined (using the HELP prompt on screen and the subsequent setup menu) that his box and set had been erroneously set for 720 res.  He was able to get 1080 simply by resetting the box using the remote.

Hope this helps.

[heather9274]

As Texasguy has said there is no 720i. There is 720p and 1080i and with Blu Ray and Some Directv movies 1080p capabilities. What kind of television do you have. Some are 720p capable and others 1080p full HD capable. There are no stations that broadcast in 1080p because it;s too expensive. ABC and Fox broadcast in 720p while CBS and NBC broadcast in 1080i. Picture quality also depends on what cables you have hooked up. Component cables are not going to be as good as HDMI cables and in my experience monster cables are the best. 

[skeeterintexas]

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cliffjg wrote:

DDMPI --

Not sure if you got an answer to your 720 v. 1080 issue.  This happened to a neighbor of mine (he expected 1080 and was getting 720) when UVerse was recently installed in his home.  He determined (using the HELP prompt on screen and the subsequent setup menu) that his box and set had been erroneously set for 720 res.  He was able to get 1080 simply by resetting the box using the remote.

Hope this helps.

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Rather than resetting the box, the following can accomplish changing your aspect ratio:

Menu>Options>System Options>Aspect Ratio

[SomeJoe7777 ACE - Expert]

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heather9274 wrote:

As Texasguy has said there is no 720i. There is 720p and 1080i and with Blu Ray and Some Directv movies 1080p capabilities. What kind of television do you have. (1) Some are 720p capable and others 1080p full HD capable. (2) There are no stations that broadcast in 1080p because it;s too expensive. ABC and Fox broadcast in 720p while CBS and NBC broadcast in 1080i. Picture quality also depends on what cables you have hooked up. (3) Component cables are not going to be as good as HDMI cables and in my experience (4) monster cables are the best. 

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1. Virtually all modern HDTVs will accept either signal.  The native resolution of the display is what differs.

2. Cost is not the issue.  The problem is that many HDTVs, especially older ones, will not accept a 1080p signal from an ATSC source.  If the broadcasters were to broadcast a 1080p signal, many TVs could not decode it or tune it in.

3. From a pristine source, like Blu-Ray, HDMI can carry the video with no degredation, as well as carry the lossless digital audio codecs.  But from U-Verse, the video is already aggressively compressed, and no lossless digital audio is used.  There is virtually no difference in quality between component cables and HDMI under this condition, and in fact the component connections can slightly smooth out some of the compression artifacts.

4. Monster cables are the best at emptying your wallet.  They're not even certified cables, and carry no HDMI category designation.  Monoprice.com carries a fully certified Category 2 HDMI 6' cable for $3.50:

http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10240&cs_id=1024008&p_id=3992&seq=1&for...

[JefferMC ACE - Professor]

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SomeJoe7777 wrote:

 ..

4. Monster cables are the best at emptying your wallet.  ...

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Funny, but oh so true.