# Bolt/cable card resolution options?



## kevbo82 (Jan 22, 2016)

Hey all,
I just switched from Fios to Xfinity with a bolt (Motorola cable card) right away I noticed a drop in picture quality. I see when I press info while watching a show the info window shows me the resolution of the program on the right hand side, most HD content coming through from Xfinity is 1080i. AHHH thats why my eye is so unhappy. I always ran my fios/motorolla box at 720p (an option in the settings of the box) and let the processor in my AVR convert to 1080P. Every time Fios did any software upgrades overnight the box would revert to 1080i, and my picky eyes would pick up on a drop in picture quality, and I would go switch back to 720P. Anyone know of any way with the bolt and Xfinity cable card to change that resolution? I see you can change the output resolution of the bolt, but that doesn't help the interlaced signal coming in....
Thanks in advance


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## tarheelblue32 (Jan 13, 2014)

You need to get your eyes checked. 1080i is going to be a better resolution than 720p.

Regardless, the resolution information you are being shown in the info pop-up box is the native resolution of whatever channel you are watching. If you hit the up arrow on the directional pad it should show you what resolution the Bolt is actually outputting. As you already pointed out, you can set what output resolution you want in the Bolt video settings.


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## unitron (Apr 28, 2006)

tarheelblue32 said:


> You need to get your eyes checked. 1080i is going to be a better resolution than 720p.
> 
> Regardless, the resolution information you are being shown in the info pop-up box is the native resolution of whatever channel you are watching. If you hit the up arrow on the directional pad it should show you what resolution the Bolt is actually outputting. As you already pointed out, you can set what output resolution you want in the Bolt video settings.


Better resolution, like higher fidelity in an audio product, can reveal inferiorities in the source material, so lower "quality" sometimes looks or sounds better.

Better, of course, being a highly subjective term.


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## tarheelblue32 (Jan 13, 2014)

unitron said:


> Better resolution, like higher fidelity in an audio product, can reveal inferiorities in the source material, so lower "quality" sometimes looks or sounds better.
> 
> Better, of course, being a highly subjective term.


That's a good point.


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## kevbo82 (Jan 22, 2016)

tarheelblue32 said:


> You need to get your eyes checked. 1080i is going to be a better resolution than 720p.
> 
> Regardless, the resolution information you are being shown in the info pop-up box is the native resolution of whatever channel you are watching. If you hit the up arrow on the directional pad it should show you what resolution the Bolt is actually outputting. As you already pointed out, you can set what output resolution you want in the Bolt video settings.


If you ignore the I and P, sure 1080 is clearly a higher resolution than 720. Issue is the I and P...interlaced signals have a bunch of filler, progressive scan is every line every time. My eyes see it right away(thats how I always knew when Fios did an update and I had to check my boxes resolution), and maybe it's just a personal preference...but especially with anything fast moving, i'll take progressive scan over interlaced. You're correct though, I was thinking comcast was sending me 1080i, comcast just sends me what they get. I confirmed that by checking ABC channels, which broadcast in 720P (A choice they made partly because of ESPN and picture quality for sports) and the tivo does show those ABC channels at 720P. I think a little bit of it is the interlaced but also think i'm being extra sensitive to it because Fios had better picture quality and I just need to adjust. My AVR has a faroudja processor which does a pretty good job, but I feel like it does a better job when I give it a progressive scan picture to up convert (again this might be in my head/eyes)


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

If your Comcast is like Comcast in my area, the picture quality is far worse on Comcast. Because of them using more compression on the channels. When I visit my parents, three is an obvious difference in quality with their Comcast signal. ANd everyone else I've visited with Comcast in my area. If this is the case in your area, then you need to go back to FIOS for better quality.

As far as 720P and 1080i. Just the fact that the 1280x720 image has to be zoomed to fit on a 1920x1080 screen makes it look inferior. Since there is less detail from the blown up 720P image. Since 2005, 1080i content has always looked much sharper on all my 1080P TVs. As well as my Sony 2160P TV.


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## ThAbtO (Apr 6, 2000)

If you go to settings / video and set just the 1080p24 resolution, anything less than this will be upscaled to 1080p.


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## kevbo82 (Jan 22, 2016)

aaronwt said:


> If your Comcast is like Comcast in my area, the picture quality is far worse on Comcast. Because of them using more compression on the channels. When I visit my parents, three is an obvious difference in quality with their Comcast signal. ANd everyone else I've visited with Comcast in my area. If this is the case in your area, then you need to go back to FIOS for better quality.
> 
> As far as 720P and 1080i. Just the fact that the 1280x720 image has to be zoomed to fit on a 1920x1080 screen makes it look inferior. Since there is less detail from the blown up 720P image. Since 2005, 1080i content has always looked much sharper on all my 1080P TVs. As well as my Sony 2160P TV.


yeah Comcast in general always looked crappy to me. It's more of a price and tivo friendly thing for me right now vs Fios. It's not something i'll cancel over for home TV watching, but if all things were equal (price, features, etc) it would be enough to make me switch back to Fios

I highly doubt most people would be able to see 720p vs 1080p in any reasonable situation, so I don't buy into the idea of 720 looking bad on a 1080 panel, or by that logic people spending money right now to play 1080 content on a 4k panel. I used to sell/install/calibrate and repair TV's and remember getting some material from the Imaging science foundation showing the distance from the TV vs size of the TV and what the human eye is capable of perceiving. I don't remember every way the chart broke down, but the one we used to put things into perspective for people at the time (when 60" TV's were considered pretty large) at 10' from the screen, anything 50" or smaller, the human eye can't see the difference between 720 and 1080. I think thats probably true for me, but my eye seems sensitive to interlaced pictures, something always seems "off" to me. even from 480i to 480p


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