How hard for 720p networks to change to 1080i?

[Indiana627]

I used to believe that 720p was better than 1080i since it was progressive instead of interlaced, but now that I have upgraded from a 720p TV to a 1080p TV, I can see how much better 1080i is than 720p. This got me to wondering two things:

1) Why do some networks (ABC/ESPN/Disney, FOX) use 720p instead of 1080i?
2) What would be involved for these networks to convert over to 1080i?

[harsh]

The cost would likely be considerable. Carriage may have to be renegotiated in some cases to account for the small increase in bandwidth requirements.

I don't believe that they would contemplate it as they've got too much invested (in both dollars and reputation) in 720p to change.

[Stewart Vernon]

I'm not sure on how much of the equipment is interchangable, or if everything in the whole broadcast chain would have to be replaced.

I know some movies/shows have actually been produced with 1080p or higher cameras and then converted to the 720p broadcast for those networks... so it is possible that most of the source material would be perfectly good to go... but I suspect, as already noted, there would be a substantial cost to upgrade so soon after just buying all the other stuff to go HD.

Meanwhile, also as noted, it could effect sub-channels where some of the 720p stations have been able to carry more (and in some cases lease/rent out a subchannel) than they would if their main channel went 1080i suddenly.

[Grentz]

Frankly it depends on your TV as to what looks better. Some TVs look better with 720p, some with 1080i. Most 1080p TVs will look better with 1080i, but not necessarily all. I have seen a few that do look better with a 720p feed.

The main thing is matching to the native res of the panel, and most 1080p TVs have a 1080 res while most 720p/1080i TVs have a 720 res.

I can see what you mean getting a 1080p TV though, when I got mine I switched my devices over to 1080i as it does look a bit crisper and better ;)

[Cmnore]

Many sports programmers chose 720 because it is a progressive format, and doesn't show motion artifacts during quick pans and fast-motion onscreen. 1080 looks better on more 'traditional' entertainment, where editing cuts and breaks seamlessly without exposing 1080i's natural flaws(at least at specific bitrates and refresh rates).

[n3ntj]

I thought Fox and ESPN chose 720p because of their sports programming.

[Indiana627]

ESPN I can definitely see choosing 720p for sports. But why did FOX choose it?

[bidger]

ESPN I can definitely see choosing 720p for sports. But why did FOX choose it?

While FOX may not be Sports 24/7 like ESPN, they do carry NFL, College Football, MLB, and NASCAR so they're very Sports-centric.

[jimmyv2000]

wcvb abc in boston was 720p they just switched to 1080i a few months ago.
they are sending the abc network programming upconverted i know that.

[Cholly]

As Grentz stated, it all depends on the TV. 1080i looks better than 720p on a 1080p LCD panel, because that's the native resolution of the panel. However, if the 720p signal is upconverted using a high quality signal converter, it should look just about as good as the 1080i signal on most programming, and marginally better than the q080i signal on action shots, like sports.

[steve053]

ESPN I can definitely see choosing 720p for sports. But why did FOX choose it?

While FOX may not be Sports 24/7 like ESPN, they do carry NFL, College Football, MLB, and NASCAR so they're very Sports-centric.

And don't forget all of those regional FSN's! My gusess is that all of FOX has as much and possibly more sports programing than ESPN.

[Stewart Vernon]

The problem with comparing 720p vs 1080i and declaring "720p is better for sports because of less artifacting" is that none of us get to see the original pristine image from the cameras... A couple of levels of compression before it gets to us, and what we see is largely introduced by MPEG compression and broadcasting.

People see a 1080i signal have some pixelation on a fastmoving shot and say "that must be because it is not progressive" but in about 99.9% of the cases I've seen it is really the MPEG compression that is the culprit. Fact is, 720p fits more nicely in the available bandwidth than does 1080i at the same bandwidth. Lots more compression required to squeeze the 1080i signal in there.

I firmly believe that the 1080i sports looks better than the 720p sports because of all the additional detail... and I just live with the pixelation on the fast moving camera as a result of the compression until the day they get better compression to eliminate that.

[Davenlr]

Probably not hard, fox changed from widescreen 480i to 720p. I don't know of any other networks that changed. Our local PBS station just switched from 1080i to 720p to decrease compression, since they are running two 480i subchannels.

I much prefer 1080i if there are no subchannels to suck bandwidth, but 720p if there is.

[Skull14225]

Our PBS in Buffalo recently went to 1080i from 720p. It is hard to imagine how much it would cost to switch considering all it is, is changing the output to a different resolution.

[harsh]

For all but the Disney and Fox family of channels and stations (and Smithsonian for some obscure reason), 720p is a liability. PBS's national feed is 1080i so it makes sense to broadcast it in 1080i.

[Stewart Vernon]

Our PBS in Buffalo recently went to 1080i from 720p. It is hard to imagine how much it would cost to switch considering all it is, is changing the output to a different resolution.

It's a question that is impossible to answer without knowing the capabilities of the equipment involved.

I can't, for example, use anything but unleaded fuel in my car unless I make some major (in most cases illegal) modifications to the emissions system... and yet the major difference in unleaded vs leaded is the lead.

I also don't believe I can run my Windows XP computer in a resolution lower than 640x480 even though clearly it should have the processing power to run in a lower resolution... but without making modifications to the operating system, I can't select lower resolutions anymore.

Unfortunately lots of technology is developed in such a way that it is highly specialized... which means it could be really easy/inexpensive for a broadcaster to make a change from 1080i to 720p or vice-versa OR it could require replacement of some or all of the equipment. We just don't know.