nothappy19 wrote:I am not happy with comcast downgrading most of its HD channels to 720p. I have an older HD box, which does allow me to go into the menu settings and have the box transmit "native" signals, including "1080p passthrough". I have noticed over the past few months how the picture quality has been getting worse. Finally, I realized I was no longer getting any premium channels sent to my box in 1080i, in fact they are all being downgraded to 720p and look pretty bad, when compared to how they used to look in 1080i. Ironically, those channels owned by Comcast (NBC), Comcast Sports Channels are still being transmitted in native 1080i. Weather channel and a couple of KQED channels are still native 1080i, however that's about it. Unless I am watching ESPN, which is natively sent out in 720p, the rest of my channels (seems like 85% or more), which used to be sent out in native 1080i, now look pretty bad. Meaning, at times they look only about 70% as good as native 720p channels.
I also agree with another commentor.... Using your cable box or even TV to upscale 720p to 1080i depletes the purpose. Upscaling does not provide better picture quality... On Top of that, upscaling a 720p signal, which is currently being downgraded by Comcast from 1080i, and then asking your TV or cable box to upscale the same signal (which is being downgraded) back to 1080i solves nothing! In fact it makes the picture quality even worse.
I would like to know if the FCC is aware of the fact that Comcast is downgrading its native 1080i signals to 720p???
I can confirm this is true after speaking to Comcast Reps and verifying the signals my cable box and TV are receiving.
Are you using a CRT (tube type display)? If not, the TV is taking what appears on the HDMI port and converting it to non-interlaced to display the picture data on your flat panel TV. If you have a flat panel TV, it will probably have the best conversion circuitry to convert 720p60 to the TV's panel's own internal format. Converting a 720p to 1080i that then must be de-interlaced will add distortion that was not in the original 720p60 signal you described.