I have a Mitsubishi that will display 1080i and 480i/p only. The manual says that it will downgrade an incoming 720p signal to 480p. My TV confirms this when I play the PS3 game "Heavenly Sword" (which is 720p) and push the info button on the TV remote: the onscreen display says "480p".

Here's what I don't get: when I watch my local ABC station, my HD DVR displays "720p" on the screen when I press the info button on the DVR remote; when I press the info button on the TV remote, it displays "1080i" on the screen. My TV doesn't upgrade a 720p signal to 1080i, but yet the picture looks Hi Def (not 480p). Does this mean the HD DVR is upconverting the picture to 1080i?

And here's another question: When a show I'm watching in Hi Def goes to a commercial that was obviously not filmed in Hi Def, why does my TV and HD DVR continue to display "1080i" and "720p" when I hit the info button? If all this information is digital, then how come TV's and DVR's don't recognize when a signal suddenly downgrades from HD to SD and display "480p/i"?

AFAIK, most HD channels send out a 1080i signal, even if the show itself is a 720p source. That is probably why you're getting 1080i over the cable. The PS3 is definitely downgrading the signal to 480p, though.

Actually, I receive the HD signal from ABC OTA. Would that make a difference? (By the way, do cable companies alter HD signals to fit them into their cables?)

You've hit about the limit of my knowledge on this particular subject. Sorry.

It sounds like your HD-DVR is outputting 1080i.

What is the setting for your PS3? When you first load up the HDMI cable it gives you different options.

I can't use HDMI because my HDTV is older than HDMI.

Why don't you set the PS3 to 1080i if your tv doesn't do 720p? I know some earlier games had problems, but Heavenly Sword should do 1080i?

1.Your DVR probably outputs 1080i. Which DVR do you have as that may help us anwser that question.

2. As far as the HD stations I think they will always output the 1080i signal even if the commercial is not HD. It may look like 480p/i, but the signal that is being pushed doesnt change from its HD (I don't believe its "dynamic") . This is the reason that if you record a non HD show from an HD channel it will still take up more room on the DVR than if you recorded it from the regular channel.

I am probably wrong, but thought I would give it a shot.

I believe both NBC and Fox are broadcast in 720p. ESPN is also 720p.

NBC is 1080i. FOX, ABC, and ESPN are the main 720p channels.

So far is seems to depend on how the game itself was designed. Unlike the X360, which lets all games display at 1080i the PS3 downgrades anything running at 720p to 480p. At least that's been my experience so far as I also have a TV that just does 480p / 1080i.

There are some PS3 games that support 1080i and they run in that mode, so I've gotten in the habit of checking the video modes supported stats on the back of the PS3 game to see what it supports before buying.

-Jason

You're not wrong. In fact, I think you're completely correct.