Question about 1080i DLP
 

We recently bought a 73 inch DLP HDTV for our house and I started to research the specifics on the difference between interlaced and progressive signals. I came across this article: http://www.engadgethd.com/2006/07/24...080i-and-1080/ that says:

My question is, since our set is DLP and the article says DLP sets always are progressive TVs, why does our DLP set list 1080i as one of the options for signals? Does that mean it receives 1080i signals and upconverts to 1080p? If so, what's the use of listing 1080i as a capability of the TV when all non-CRT HDTVs display in progressive?

Yes, these TVs take the interlaced signal, deinterlace it to progressive and scale it to whatever resolution the set has. Even if the set can't actually display 1080i natively, it's listed as a capability for signal input, because you need to know what kind of signals you can send to the TV. For example if a set only lists 1080i as a supported input signal, you can not send a 1080p one and expect it to work, even if the panel itself might be 1080p.

Ah okay, so the listed resolutions are the signal input capabilities. I always thought they were what resolutions the TV could display. Thanks.

Actually, that's exactly what they are. From there simply read Pycola's explanation and you've got the whole thing figured out. Basically, the set takes the supported signals and scales them to the native resolution of the screen.

I guess I should've explained it better. When I said "I always thought they were what resolutions the TV could display" I thought a TV listing 1080i meant it displays it in 1080i instead of being able to take 1080i and displaying it in its native resolution. Sorry for the confusion, but thanks for clearing it up, Metal Sphere.

Ah, don't worry. I found that a lot of people make a similar mistake when they see the supported resolutions on a display that is advertised as being a 720p/1080p.