Question SD vs HD TV

[jeyges]

Hello - I'm late getting on board with UHD TVs. For years, I've only had a 32" Vizio D series 1080p TV. I even still have an old CRT TV in my bedroom.

I recently got a 55" LG 4K model for my living room, and I was *shocked* by the difference between SD and HD channels. I wasn't aware that some channels were still being broadcast in 480p; I didn't even know HD channels were still only 1080p. I just assumed everything was being broadcast in 4K, as for the past several years the industry has been pushing 4K TVs on us (and now of course, they're starting with 8K). I can't believe the FCC allows them to get away with it.

I don't watch a lot of TV any more, but of what I do watch, a lot of it is PBS, and the World and Create channels are still being broadcast in SD. C-Span as well, although their resolution is sometimes somewhat better (I assume they're using newer equipment).

I've since bought and returned a series of TVs, going smaller each time. ( I noticed that when I look at the cable guide and the image retreats to the corner, it's much sharper. I understand it's because the pixels aren't spread out as much. I thought going smaller and going back to 1080p might help.) I just returned a 40" 1080p Vizio, part of their redesigned D series. None of them had decent SD images.

My question is: is there any fix for this? Are some TVs better at upscaling than others? Do the processors even upscale 480p content, or are they designed only to upscale 1080p to 4K? I tried an OLED model; it had a beautiful picture but of course, it didn't affect the resolution of SD channels. Would quantum dot be any different?

Or if I want a new TV, do I just have to live with this (which I don't think I can do)?

Thank you for your help.

 

[Gam3r01]

Generally speaking, you just need to start watching UHD content if you want UHD quality.
A big portion of the push to UHD (and beyond) involves streaming, blurays, etc. The market is not really concerned with broadcast content these days.

 

[hotaru.hino]

The major problem with OTA TV broadcasting is that the amount of bandwidth stations have to use is effectively the same since the analog days, because if there's one thing TV standards really want to make sure happens, it's that old TVs can still work. In addition to the RF spectrum being crowded by lots of other things.

Though more to the point about 4K broadcasts, ATSC 3.0 (which the FCC approved of in 2017) can support it, but it's not mandatory for broadcasters to adopt it. And even if broadcasters did adopt it, that doesn't mean they'll start using 4K. Especially if said broadcaster has several sub-channels.

In any case, what are you expecting out of upscaling SD resolutions to fit the TV? Going by RTings, this is what a 9.0/10 image looks like:

This is what a 6.0/10 image looks like:

And this is what a 3.0/10 image looks like

(ignore the color differences, they're generally looking for clarity of finer details and avoidance of "smudging" the picture)

 

[kerberos_20]

I didn't even know HD channels were still only 1080p

they are not, its either 720p or 1080i
1080p is full HD (FHD)

 

[jeyges]

The major problem with OTA TV broadcasting is that the amount of bandwidth stations have to use is effectively the same since the analog days, because if there's one thing TV standards really want to make sure happens, it's that old TVs can still work. In addition to the RF spectrum being crowded by lots of other things.

Though more to the point about 4K broadcasts, ATSC 3.0 (which the FCC approved of in 2017) can support it, but it's not mandatory for broadcasters to adopt it. And even if broadcasters did adopt it, that doesn't mean they'll start using 4K. Especially if said broadcaster has several sub-channels.

In any case, what are you expecting out of upscaling SD resolutions to fit the TV? Going by RTings, this is what a 9.0/10 image looks like:

This is what a 6.0/10 image looks like:

And this is what a 3.0/10 image looks like

(ignore the color differences, they're generally looking for clarity of finer details and avoidance of "smudging" the picture)

They don't look much different to me, but when I watch the PBS SD channels, I can see a tremendous difference compared with the HD channels (except for my 32" FHD Vizio, but I'd like to get something a little larger than that, even if it's only 40" or 43").

A young man at Best Buy told me he hears people complain about it all the time - but no one has a fix for it, and the broadcasters aren't being required to update.

 

[jeyges]

Generally speaking, you just need to start watching UHD content if you want UHD quality.
A big portion of the push to UHD (and beyond) involves streaming, blurays, etc. The market is not really concerned with broadcast content these days.

I don't really care about UHD quality. I just don't want PBS World and Create to look like old home movies.

 

[BFG-9000]

For SD content, smaller is much better and I'll watch that on a 21" or 24" TV. Looks just like it did on the 25" wood-encased monstrosity of a console TV I had in the 1970s. It used 400w so was always warm enough to attract cats to sleep on it.

Yes, some TVs, cable boxes and disc players are way better at upscaling than others. To reduce the work on the upscaler though it's best to have a monitor that has a native resolution a multiple of the source resolution, so a 1440p one would be very sharp for both 480p and 720p DVD. Upscaling to a completely different resolution results in extra blurriness, which looks especially bad if the screen is also large.

 

[hotaru.hino]

They don't look much different to me, but when I watch the PBS SD channels, I can see a tremendous difference compared with the HD channels (except for my 32" FHD Vizio, but I'd like to get something a little larger than that, even if it's only 40" or 43").

A young man at Best Buy told me he hears people complain about it all the time - but no one has a fix for it, and the broadcasters aren't being required to update.

Lower end TVs will have upscalers that don't do as good of a job of trying to preserve the detail of the original. From the pictures I linked, the images were basically from a top-end TV, a midrange one, and a low end one.

There's also the issue of if the broadcast content was even mastered with high quality. SD resolution can mean anything from DVD quality all the way down to some VHS tape someone managed to salvage. So even if you get a top-end TV, there's no guarantee you'll get something as nice looking as the example image.