Just been reading on AVForums that SKY HD is now going to be broadcasting only in 1080i. They say that the digibox will be able to convert the signal to 720p for those that want it. As yet nobody knows how that scaling is done. However I read that on all current HD displays, if you feed it a 1080i signal, the TV does the easiest conversion, which apparently is do downscale the 1080i to 540p, then upscale that to 720p.

In essence if you feed a 1080i signal into an LCD display then all you really end up with is an upscaled SD feed rather than the HD feed that was broadcast. Or at least that’s how it sounds. Unless of course it downscales from 1900x1080i to 1900x540p then scales that to 1280x720p. In which case at least it’s still got lots of vertical lines to work with.

It’ll be interesting to find out how the scaling is done in the Sky Box too as this potentially makes a mockery of HD on any screen which can’t natively do 1080i. Currently there’s only the Philips 37PF9830 that can do that, and given the issues I’ve had with Philips this year, when I finally get shot of mine, Philips will be the last manufacturer I’d go with.