[mythtv-users] Does screen resolution significantly affect image quality on SD TV?

[Gordon McLellan]

On Fri, Mar 20, 2009 at 11:58 PM, Johnny <jarpublic at gmail.com> wrote:
> I know the generic advice is to have your screen resolution match the
> native resolution of your television. I am using component out on an
> 8400 GS with the HD480i setting to an SD TV. I have had my resolution
> set to 640x480 but the resolution is cumbersome when I need to do
> anything outside of mythtv (eg software updates, change a setting)
> because most programs and dialog boxes don't fit on the screen. So I
> have to constantly alt+click to drag the windows around constantly to
> get to parts of the dialogue boxes. I have been running the display at

What kind of SD tv?  An LCD television, like an lcd computer monitor,
will have a native resolution that yields the clearest picture.
Although it might support resolutions other than native, it will be
using a scaler of some sorts to massage the given data to fit the
screen.  A CRT SD television generally has a really low resolution, so
anything over 640x480 will result in a degraded picture because the
tv's electronics can't handle that much data, it just ignores much of
it, leaving you would a fuzzier picture and harder to read text.

My mythbox right now is running at 1024x768, even thought it's
outputting to a 27" SD television.  Gnome's menus and application
windows are nearly impossible to read, but I'm not really concerned
about using the machine as a desktop of any kind.  It's sole purpose
is media playback, and the myth menus look fine, so there's no
problem.  For updates I use the built in remote-desktop server and
connect from my regular pc.  I also ssh in if I just need to fix
something quickly.  Like you, I was forced into 1024x768 because some
applications wouldn't fit on a 800x600 or 640x480 screen.

-Gordon