[mortgagepanic]

I've searched and searched for the answer to this, but I haven't been able to find it: I'm getting the Hughes E86 with DirectTV, and I'm curious as to whether it upconverts standard def programming to one of the HDTV resolutions, 720 or 1080.

 

[Ken H]

When in HD mode, everything is output as 1080i. SD is upconverted, 720p is converted, and 1080i is native.

 

[Steve S]

Ken is correct. However with the Hughes the upconvert of 480i to 1080i is pretty ugly--very soft and artifacty and hardly anywhere near HD. You will get much better picture quality on ntsc channels if you run an S-video cable in addition to component video, switch the box to 480i mode, switch the tv to the S-video input, and let the tv do the line doubling and aspect ratio control.


The 720p to 1080i conversion is excellent, however. When I had my Toshiba Hughes clone the 720p from ABC and ESPNHD looked just as good as native 1080i.

 

[Budget_HT]

I agree with Steve.