I noticed that my SA 3250HD cable box allows for 480i, 480p, 720p and 1080i output. I have been using just the 1080i output to my Olevia 327v HD-ready display, however I am wondering which device is likely to upconvert the non-HD broadcasts better. Hopefully they both do an equal job because using the display to upconvert may be problematic. Specifically, I find that if the SA3250HD is set to 480i/1080i when I switch between non-HD and HD channels the display briefly shows a blue screen with the component feed noted. So it seems that letting the display do the upconversion will be annoying when channel surfing. Is this typical of the LCD displays (that they show a change of state, like a brief blue screen, when switching between 480i and 1080i? Also I assume if the input isn't 480i or such, the display won't be able to do any tricks on the video to enhance it. Thanks in advance for any advice.
Jack

I don't know which way is better, but like you noticed there is a delay when the cable box is changing resolutions... I found this quite annoying as well when changing channels, so I set the box to 1080i and the non-hd pic quality is decent... the newer the program the better the picture is...
I have the SA 3250hd box and a Sharp 42" lcd...

I wonder if Olevia could fix this issue in a firmware update? It might be worth folks emailing them to request such a change so we can use their upconversion without the flashing blue screen.
Jack

I noticed that my SA 3250HD cable box allows for 480i, 480p, 720p and 1080i output...........The only way to know for sure is to try all possibilities and use the one that looks the best.

I kinda have the same problem, cept I am very new to all this and my question stems closer to which is better, Upconvert 1 does 1080i and Upconvert 2 does 720p, is there a reason I should upconvert to 720p?

I have this same SA box from COX and use the pass-thru mode which effectively lets my Pioneer panel do the converting to native resolution (which it will eventually do anyway). By doing this, the conversions only happen once. The side effect though is what you see, a sometimes time consuming/annoying flashing while the tv hones in on the correct conversions.

At any rate, I have tried the other settings and really haven't seen a lot of difference other than a reduced amount of the flashing issue because the stb is doing all of the conversions and an increased amount of audio not syncing with video. I also sometimes feel like the stb doesn't always convert right as the picture isn't as sharp for lack of a better word. I guess it just looks better when the box is just passing data through. Switching to FIOS though later this week and we'll see if there is any difference in the way things are handled.

Do the Digital HDTV Receivers upconvert to your set resolution? For example, if you're watching a 720p program and the TV only accepts 1080i, would you set the receiver to 1080i and expect the 720p program to upconvert?

Thanks much in advance!

BTW: I'm more concerned about Over the Air (OTA) boxes than Cable.

If the receiver is outputting 1080i to the set, it will convert the 720p coming in up/over to the 1080i in the receiver for output. My familiarity is with the stb though I would expect OTA to operate the same.

If the receiver is outputting 1080i to the set, it will convert the 720p coming in up/over to the 1080i in the receiver for output. My familiarity is with the stb though I would expect OTA to operate the same.

I was hoping this would be the case. Thanks for the feedback!