Does Resolution Settings Impact Picture Quality of Video Playback??

[davedelite]

I just upgraded my system to run SageTV on a second HD RPTV via a component video dongle off of an ATI AIW 9800 Pro card. (I use PVR 350 for capture and a DLP TV running at 1280 x 720 via DVI for primary display) The second TV is in the bedroom and with IR remote control I can basicly run two tvs off of same HTPC AGP card now, so long as the same program is being viewed. My question is whether or not the PQ I will get on the HD RPTV will be dependent on the display resolution I run it at? I don't think it will from my knowledge and the results I have seen.....but I wanted to make sure as I work on optimizing the PQ.

So far, I have been forced to use no greater than 640 x 480 or 720 x 480 on the second display (the HD RPTV) because I must run in "clone" or "mirrored" mode to get the video image on the second TV and, therefore, both displays must run at the same resolution. (1280 x 720 will not work well on a 4:3 second display and causes panning) Essentially, when I go into the BR I toggle to the 640 x 480 and have some overscan with XP desktop, but the beauty of Sage is that I can adjust my own centering and overscan in the application for the video playback.......so, NET of it is that I have gotten a good picture, but I am curious if my PQ would be better if I did find a way to run, for example, both displays at 1920 x 1080 rather than 640 x 480 while I am watching recorded programs in SageTV...........maybe someone will save me from wasting time if my hunch is correct that the display resolution will impact quality of desktop but not PQ of playback video

[salsbst]

Resolution definitely impacts quality if anything along the way post-processes the video. Examples of this would be ffdshow. I'm not sure how traditional deinterlacing works but it might also work better at higher resolutions.

If you aren't doing any post-processing in the PC then you need to think about the TV itself. Some TVs have processing as well.

[Cayars]

Salsbst nailed it. But there is no hard fast rule. Generally speaking we know what works best for most people but each setup is a little different and it pays to play a little to see what works best in your setup.