CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

donr · Joined: 04 Nov 2006 Posts: 162 Location: Montreal

My pj is not high grade (4000G Ampro) so, I believe it should not be used at 1080p. I was wondering what the pro's and con's of using a resolution other than the HD resolutions would be.
Let me explain. I would like to run my HT with my pc again instead of my defunct Toshiba HD DVD player. I purchased a BR drive that can also read HD DVD. Instead of using the usual 1080i or 720p resolutions, I was wondering what the pj quality or rather, the image on screen would be at say 1440 x 960p. I believe my pj can handle the scan rate and has enough bandwidth. Would this still be considered as hd if playing a BR disk for example? Would it look better than any of the 2 HD resolutions I mentioned? Would I be better of at 1080i but with a higher refresh rate of say 72 or 96Hz? My desktop is presently set at 1680 x 1050 but, I believe this is to high a setting for this pj.
All opinions appreciated.
Don

ecrabb · Posted: Sat Jan 17, 2009 4:57 pm Post subject:

1440x960p made sense when we were trying to scale up SD DVD and not introduce scaling artifacts, but I don't know that it really makes much sense for an HD source like BD or HD - especially since it's a 4:3 resolution. Yes, you can run non-square pixels, but why?

How does 1080i look on your machine? Can you see scan lines? 1080i is a great resolution for lower-end machines. If you ran 1080i/96, that's the same bandwidth as 1080p/48 and gives the same benefit of judder-free playback for film-source material.

I'd just do some tests and see what looks best to you. Get yourself a copy of Digital Video Essentials on BD and try some different thing and see what works best on your machine.

You definitely don't want to run 1680x1050 - that's 16:10 (1.6:1) and doesn't match the aspect of any source material I'm aware of.

What size is your screen and how close do you sit?

SC

donr · Joined: 04 Nov 2006 Posts: 162 Location: Montreal

The screen is 92" wide 16:9 AR. I sit approximately 19 Ft from the screen. I am running it at 720p right now. I think I will connect my pj to the pc and follow your advice and try 1080i at different refresh rates although my pj 's bandwidth is only 70Mhz. This might limit my refresh rate to 72Hz (36p)

**AnalogRocks** · Posted: Sat Jan 17, 2009 7:28 pm Post subject:

Hi Donr. If your RGBS input card can handle it try 1080i/72 and 1080i/96 they both look good on my 4000G. I do have some flagging of the image but that's atributed to the version of the RGBS input card I have.

It does look good at 1440x960 for regular DVD, damn good infact. I run that at 72Hz.

I went through and set up my memory blocks for 640x480 ( Boot screen ), 800x600, 1024x768, 1152x864 <---this is my desktop resolution, then 1440x960p/72 and 1080i/30 ( for ATSC tuner box ), 720P/60 also for ATSC box and 1080i/96 for HD-DVD and Bluray. I never did try 1080P/48

If you find that 1440x960P.72 is a little soft you can try 1440x960i/72. I didn't run that much but I remember trying it and IIRC correctly the Ampro liked it fine. My Sony G520P CRT monitor wasn't so happy with it.

Do you have an ATi card or Nvidia?

donr · Joined: 04 Nov 2006 Posts: 162 Location: Montreal

Hey thanks. It's good to know that the pj can handle these refresh rates and I sure will give them a try.
Don

**AnalogRocks** · Posted: Sat Jan 17, 2009 10:57 pm Post subject:

donr · Joined: 04 Nov 2006 Posts: 162 Location: Montreal

Saphire Radeon 4600 HD

Spanky Ham · Joined: 22 Mar 2006 Posts: 5643 Location: Comedy Central

You might want to try 1080p and see if you like it. tse used to do 1280x1024 with his Ampro 2000. I think he was running 1080i on his 4000.

**AnalogRocks** · Posted: Sun Jan 18, 2009 7:45 am Post subject:

Edit: I changed the thread title to better reflect the contents and to make it easier to search.

**AnalogRocks** · Posted: Sun Jan 18, 2009 7:45 am Post subject:

I tried 1080P/60 on mine. That was one of the times it blew up shortly after. I think it makes it run too hot.

**AnalogRocks** · Posted: Sun Jan 18, 2009 7:54 am Post subject:

Oh yeah. Mike Ebby just reminded me....

Try 1920x800/72Hz for 2.35:1 movies

donr · Joined: 04 Nov 2006 Posts: 162 Location: Montreal

I am missing a sound card to complete my new htpc. I only have on board sound with no digital out. As soon as I find one, I will try those resolutions and redo a complete setup.
Don