Monitor resolution questions

[IIDXStyleG2]

What's up guys. I have kind of an odd, possibly stupid, couple questions about my monitor. :lol:

I have an HP 2159m and have been using my PS3 and Xbox 360 with it. I've noticed that with my PS3 hooked up through just an HDMI cable, the current settings on the monitors OSD says "1080p-60hz" only when I'm watching an upscaled dvd or a blu ray movie. When I'm on the XMB, playing a game, or doing anything other than watching a movie it says "1920x1080-60hz". Now I got curious and found out if I have it hooked up to the DVI input with an HDMI to DVI adapter between the cable and monitor, it will always say 1080p-60hz no matter what I'm doing. I also noticed over just the HDMI cable without the adapter, the OSD will say 480p-60hz/720p-60hz/1080i-60hz all the time no matter what I'm doing when I'm under those resolutions like 1080p through the adapter for 1080p. Any idea why this would be happening and am I actually getting a full 1080p signal over the pure HDMI cable outside of movies and the monitor is just not reading it correctly? Or could it be being deinterlaced or something? I just want to make sure I'm getting a true 1080p signal and would prefer to use just the HDMI cable if possible without going into the DVI input as it saves me a lot of extra hassle. Also, if the DVI adapter is the only way to get a true 1080p signal, is there any quality loss from the adapter?

My second question is along the same lines except for the 360 over the VGA cable. With the VGA cable connected to the 360, you are given a resolution list instead of just HDTV modes. I never see 720p or 1080p in the monitors OSD when I select their respective resolutions, just 1280x720-60hz, etc. Is a VGA cable not capable of carrying a progressive signal or is it just the way the 360 handles resolutions over the vga connection.

Sorry if that came out as a mouthful but I'm getting kind of confused trying to figure this out. I'd greatly appreciate any help anyone can lend me on this.

Edit: I just talked with HP tech support over the phone and their online chat as a last ditch effort to try and get some answers on this. I thought maybe I could talk to someone with some knowledge of their products.... no such luck. Some tech support they were haha. The people I talked to I could barely understand and apparently could not concive of the idea of someone building their own PC and not buying OEM. My questions also seemed to go far over their heads so I'm leaving this one to the real experts

 

[rofl_my_waffle]

There is no quality loss with the adapter. DVI = HDMI. The pins and wires inside the cable is identical except the head of the cable looks different, and HDMI can carry sound.

For your second question. The Xbox can't display 1080P. Also 1280x720 = 720P. 1920x1080 = 1080P. So your xbox is displaying at the correct resolution. Monitors resolutions were never interlaced so when it say 1280x720, that automatically means progressive.

Now for your first question. I don't have a PS3 but I have setup my friend's to his HDTV one time. The PS3 will not display 1080P for every single game or movie. HD DVD movies and some games would be at 720P. I think your monitor is just saying 1080P with the adapter at all times even though it might not be.

 

[jaguarskx]

DVI = HDMI quality so as long as crap components are not being used.

I do not play console games, so my general statement is all Xbox & PS3 games are rendered at 720p (1280 x 720) then stretched to fill the screen of a 1080p HDTV.

As far as I know all HD movies are 1080p so they will be outputted as 1080p. I recall watching a DVD movie on a PS3 and it was stretched to fill the screen. DVD movies are mostly stored as 720 x 480 resolution on the DVD. The correct aspect ratio (encoded in the DVD) is then applied so that any and all DVD players will display the movie in the correct aspect ratio on a TV / HDTV.

The PS3 and current generation DVD player has something called progressive scaling (or something similar) that will then stretch the DVD movie to fill the entire screen. Otherwise, you will have black borders around the screen.

 

[IIDXStyleG2]

There is no quality loss with the adapter. DVI = HDMI. The pins and wires inside the cable is identical except the head of the cable looks different, and HDMI can carry sound.

For your second question. The Xbox can't display 1080P. Also 1280x720 = 720P. 1920x1080 = 1080P. So your xbox is displaying at the correct resolution. Monitors resolutions were never interlaced so when it say 1280x720, that automatically means progressive.

Now for your first question. I don't have a PS3 but I have setup my friend's to his HDTV one time. The PS3 will not display 1080P for every single game or movie. HD DVD movies and some games would be at 720P. I think your monitor is just saying 1080P with the adapter at all times even though it might not be.

So what you are saying is on 360, if I have 1920x1080 selected as the resolution, it's being upscaled since it's not capable of displaying that resolution natively? Also, I assume then since all monitors are progressive that VGA is capable of carrying a progressive signal and if I set my output to say 1280x720, I'm getting true 720p since the signal is already progressive and, obviously, the resolution matches.

As far as the PS3 goes, I have some downloaded games that have been confirmed to be native 1080p such as Wipeout HD and I still will only get "1920x1080-60hz" displayed as the current resolution instead of "1080p-60hz". I figured if the reason I'm getting the 1080p-60hz reading on blu rays is that the source is native 1080p, that it would do the same for a native 1080p game. That still leaves the oddity of the upscaled normal dvds showing up as 1080p-60hz though.

I was unaware that all monitors are progressive. Still unsure if that means when I'm not seeing "1080p-60hz" if there is some sort of deinterlacing going on with the monitor or if it's just showing 1920x1080 when it actually is full 1080p and the monitor is just not detecting it as such or something. I still find it strange that it will show 1080p for all blu rays and upscaled dvds but won't for even games that are native 1080p. Also the fact that it will always displays any other HDTV modes as it's name "720p/1080i/etc" when it's in that mode, but won't for 1080p outside of movies.

Sorry for all the noobness and thanks a lot for the replies guys.

 

[rofl_my_waffle]

1920x1080 = 1080P if you didn't catch that.