# 1080p format vs. 1080p pass-thru only?



## epstewart (Mar 1, 2003)

I recently discovered that certain Amazon Prime videos were causing problems on my Bolt. Trying to play them would result in a black screen or a message saying I do not have enough bandwidth to play the video. I would have to power-cycle the Bolt to get out of the situation. I found that the videos in question were all from PBS and were in 1080p format. I checked my video settings and found that the only format check-marked was 1080p. I check-marked "1080p (pass-thru only)" and found that the problematic videos now play fine. Can someone explain the difference between these two settings and why check-marking the latter made my problem go away? Thanks.


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## mdavej (Aug 13, 2015)

I think 1080p will make it upconvert (deinterlace) all 1080i material. In my experience, it doesn't do this very well (makes picture look worse), so I leave it off. The pass-thru, on the other hand, will play native 1080p content but leave 1080i as is. Furthermore, the 1080p setting is 1080p60, not 1080p24 like the streaming services send.


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## epstewart (Mar 1, 2003)

I think I found I had to check mark 1080p in order to be able to check mark "1080p (pass thru only)." Otherwise, the latter was unavailable.


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

epstewart said:


> I think I found I had to check mark 1080p in order to be able to check mark "1080p (pass thru only)." Otherwise, the latter was unavailable.


That's probably true now. But there was a bug where you could check ONLY 1080p(pass thru) and that caused everything to be converted to 24fps. It looked bad. But you should be able to check 1080i, 1080p and 1080p(pass thru). The up arrow can let you change between the two 60fps resolutions to see which looks better on your TV. On my Sony 1080p I only have 1080i and 1080p(pass thru) checked. To test with Prime, play the trailer of "Fury". That's in 1080p24 and DD+ 5.1. The Play indicator should show HD 1080p.


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## epstewart (Mar 1, 2003)

Oops, I got it wrong above. I didn't realize I had to select Continue and then press thumbs up 3 times to change the video format settings list. This time, I was able to check mark just 1080i and "1080p (pass-thru only)" without also checking 1080p. That seems to get the problem Amazon Prime videos working without a hitch.


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

epstewart said:


> Oops, I got it wrong above. I didn't realize I had to select Continue and then press thumbs up 3 times to change the video format settings list. This time, I was able to check mark just 1080i and "1080p (pass-thru only)" without also checking 1080p. That seems to get the problem Amazon Prime videos working without a hitch.


Many people feel that you should only check 1080p and 1080p(pass thru). That is something you may wish to investigate. Since 90% of my time is spent watching 1080i, I don't want to overwork my TiVo.


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