Why does 1080p look horrendous on my TV?

a2jfreaka2jfreak Houston, TX Member
edited May 2009 in Hardware
I have a 42" 1080p LCD TV. It looks fine for OTA HD broadcasts and for video games and blu-ray movies. I do get clayface on "low quality" blu-rays and on DVDs, but I think that's a different issue.

I hooked my computer up to the screen (HDMI port). Actually, I've used two computers (one had an HDMI port and the other I used a DVI-to-HDMI adapter). Having the computers send 1080p signals looks bad. Text is especially horrible. However, when I use 720p (or 1366x768) as the output resolution on the computer everything looks fine. (Big, but fine.) Why is this? I would think running at the native resolution of 1080p would be better for two reasons:
1) It's the native resolution and therefore no interpolation is required.
2) Higher resolutions normally give a less "jagged/pixelated" look.

If this is posted in the wrong location then please move it to the correct forum.

Comments

  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited January 2009
    List the specs of all the gear in the chain

    (output device, etc.)
  • a2jfreaka2jfreak Houston, TX Member
    edited January 2009
    primesuspect wrote:
    List the specs of all the gear in the chain

    (output device, etc.)

    Computer 1 (from memory, it's dead now) was running Windows 2000 and had a GeForce 9650 AGP with DVI out. I used a DVI-to-HDMI adapter to plug it into the HDMI port on the TV.

    Computer 2 is running Windows Vista Home Premium and has GeForce 7100 onboard video with a built-in HDMI port. (Actually, here is my computer, except I didn't buy it from TigerDirect and I have DDR2-800.)

    The TV is a 42" 1080p LCD made by Proscan.
  • KhaosKhaos New Hampshire
    edited January 2009
    My inclination is that sending a 1080p signal looks like crap because one of the devices is not HDCP-compliant, so 1080p video gets scaled down to (I think?) 480p and then scaled back up to the 1080p resolution. This would make text in particular look terrible due to a lack of anti-aliasing.

    720p may not be subject to scaling, which could explain why it looks better.

    Where I am puzzled, though, is that a quick search of Google seems to indicate that the GeForce 7100 on-board video with HDMI and the Proscan 42" 1080p LCD are HDCP-complicant.

    Then again, if the GeForce 7100 has HDMI... Why were you using a DVI-to-HDMI adapter?

    It really sounds like an HDCP problem, but something doesn't add up.
  • a2jfreaka2jfreak Houston, TX Member
    edited January 2009
    Khaos wrote:
    My inclination is that sending a 1080p signal looks like crap because one of the devices is not HDCP-compliant, so 1080p video gets scaled down to (I think?) 480p and then scaled back up to the 1080p resolution. This would make text in particular look terrible due to a lack of anti-aliasing.

    I doubt it. Everything appears too sharp to have been downscaled and then upscaled.


    Khaos wrote:
    Then again, if the GeForce 7100 has HDMI... Why were you using a DVI-to-HDMI adapter?

    Computer 1 required the adapter because the video card only had VGA and DVI output. The second computer has VGA and HDMI and therefore I didn't use the adapter with the second computer.
  • SonorousSonorous F@H Fanatic US Icrontian
    edited February 2009
    Double check and make sure that both the TV and the graphics card support 1080p. I always start with the simple stuff when trouble shooting, and that's the only thing I can think of.
  • SoundySoundy Pitt Meadows, BC
    edited April 2009
    My first guess would be that the TV is not actually 1080p *native*, but merely accepts a 1080p signal and is performing a down-scaling internally. 1366x768 is likely its native resolution.

    What's the actual model number of the TV?
  • RMFRMF
    edited May 2009
    a2jfreak wrote:
    I have a 42" 1080p LCD TV. It looks fine for OTA HD broadcasts and for video games and blu-ray movies. I do get clayface on "low quality" blu-rays and on DVDs, but I think that's a different issue.

    I hooked my computer up to the screen (HDMI port). Actually, I've used two computers (one had an HDMI port and the other I used a DVI-to-HDMI adapter). Having the computers send 1080p signals looks bad. Text is especially horrible. However, when I use 720p (or 1366x768) as the output resolution on the computer everything looks fine. (Big, but fine.) Why is this? I would think running at the native resolution of 1080p would be better for two reasons:
    1) It's the native resolution and therefore no interpolation is required.
    2) Higher resolutions normally give a less "jagged/pixelated" look.

    If this is posted in the wrong location then please move it to the correct forum.

    I'm guessing that your TV isn't giving you 1:1 pixel mapping on your PC's input. You should be able to set it to do so from within the TV's menu. On my Samsung full HD TV the option is called 'Just Scan'. Enabling it makes sure that the TV does not overscan the picture which you do not want it to do.
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