1080i Discussion thread

[The Old Man]

I've been very excited that HD was coming to my Roku box. I forced the update today and discovered that it only supports 720p. Will this change? My TV does not accept 720.

[snarler]

What's your TV? Maybe we can help?

[lumberjack]

I have the same problem. I'm picking up a 65 inch Mitsubishi TV Model WS-65908 that my dad is giving me. The manual says it only accepts 1080i HD signals. I guess I'm stuck with 480p for now. This would be a cool feature if the box could upconvert especially with the new channels coming.

[sbufe]

Sounds like a feature deficit with your HD TV more than the Roku.

[The Old Man]

Sounds like a feature deficit with your HD TV more than the Roku.

Well when I think I high def I don't think 720, I think 1080i or 1080p. 720 seems like a half way point.

[nathug]

Sounds like a feature deficit with your HD TV more than the Roku.

Well when I think I high def I don't think 720, I think 1080i or 1080p. 720 seems like a half way point.

You need to read some stuff about this then my friend!! As 720p is pretty common, and better than 1080i. More lines!!

Nate

[-LD]

Let's be fair here, that Mitsu is from 2002. While I'm sure it's a fine TV, it's old technology, over half a decade old! That's several lifetimes in the consumer electronics world. And it was well before HD was firmly established.

You can do 480p, which gives you 480 progressive lines of resolution. Or you can do 1080i, which gives you 540 progressive lines of resolution. It only does 1080i, 480p, or 480i. It's quite ancient by modern HDTV standards.

Again, that's not to say it's not a fine set. I'm sure it is. But you have to put it in context. The Roku isn't the problem, your TV is.

[The Old Man]

FWIW I've been able to watch Hi-Def TV for over two years and Blu-Ray since it came out. This is the first "HD" product I've had that doesn't play HD on my set.

[Crow550]

They can add 1080i upconverting since even 480p content on the box is unconverted to 720p. So it wouldn't improve anything picture wise but would work for tvs like yours. It could be done easily, via an update. So request it in the feature suggestions thread. They could do it in the screen setup part and have you select HDTV then it will ask you what your tv supports which would be either 720p or 1080i. And include some notes that explain 1080i is for tvs that don't support 720p and does not provide an improvement over 720p and that 1080i is interlaced and 720p is progressive which is better than 1080i but not 1080p which the box is not capable of and since the content is limited at 720p anyways.

[DoomsDay]

Let's be fair here, that Mitsu is from 2002. While I'm sure it's a fine TV, it's old technology, over half a decade old! That's several lifetimes in the consumer electronics world. And it was well before HD was firmly established.

You can do 480p, which gives you 480 progressive lines of resolution. Or you can do 1080i, which gives you 540 progressive lines of resolution. It only does 1080i, 480p, or 480i. It's quite ancient by modern HDTV standards.

Again, that's not to say it's not a fine set. I'm sure it is. But you have to put it in context. The Roku isn't the problem, your TV is.

While this is true, there are tons of people out there with this exact problem. I am one of them. Currently we are just screwed when it comes to HD on the roku box. During the beta I and a few others voiced our concerns over this exact problem. They recognized this was an issue but this update just wasn't going to be able to help us. They do hope to add it in the future but who knows if/when it will actually come to pass.

When you pay 2 grand for a tv, you dont want to have to buy a new one because a $99 box can't output 1080i and frankly why would you even want to. Sorry, for 2 grand I expect my tv to last me at least 7-10 years for that kind of price. I think it was short sighted on the part of roku not to figure this was going to be an issue and not have some type of system in place for it for when they released HD. But what ya going to do. I guess
my only choice for HD on netflix is watching it over the xbox. it does upscaling to 1080i so I can at least see the picture.

[lumberjack]

It is old by HD standards I suppose, but it is my newest TV and I'm able to watch HD from a blu-ray player and even the off air broadcast. Seems like it would be an easy feature add for those of us who can't afford a new tv

[booyah5]

I'd say keep asking for it and they'll probably add it. In the mean time, 480p does look pretty good on the box.

[The Old Man]

Thank you to the last four posters. I'm not blaming Roku but if it's something they can address--and it appears they can--then I hope they attend to it soon. There appears to be a large number of people affected by this and it would be to Netflix's advantage to have the problem fixed.

[QuantumIguana]

Are you sure the TV will not accept a 720p signal? Many TV stations broadcast in 720p. I suppose that down the road they will add 1080, but 720 is a good first step.

[Burkhardi]

Are you sure the TV will not accept a 720p signal? Many TV stations broadcast in 720p. I suppose that down the road they will add 1080, but 720 is a good first step.

Believe it or not, some older HDTV's can't do 720P due to the bandwidth need (runs faster then 1080i since it draws 1440 in the same time as 1080i draws 1080) at least the way I understand it). I think some of the older Mitz's where that way and was one reason I bought a Sammy back in 2003.
I like 720p more then 1080i anyway becasue I hate interlace; but that may be just me? I look at 1080i as 540p...LOL

Just my 2-cents with no facts to back it up, matt