HD Receiver Vs. HDTV Upconversion
Most High-Definition Televisions (HDTVs) currently available provide both the ability to receive and display a native high definition (HD) signal and the ability to upconvent a standard definition (SD) signal to HD.
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Resolution
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The difference between HD and SD is resolution. Resolution refers to the number of pixels on screen, which are the tiny dots that make up a television image. Standard definition resolution is 640 X 480, with 640 being the number of pixels on the Y axis of the screen and 480 being the number of pixels on the X axis. High definition ranges between 1280 X 720 (720P) and 1920 X 1080 (1080P).
Native HD
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High definition channels as received by an HD receiver are currently all 720P, as a 1080P signal requires substantially more data transmission than is currently feasible. A 1280 X 720 image contains over three times the number of pixels as an SD image, meaning the picture quality of even the lowest resolution HD image is at least three times greater than an SD image. The only way to receive native HD channels is with an HD receiver.
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Upconversion
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Many HDTVs advertise a feature called upconversion. Upconversion refers to the process of taking an SD image and displaying it in an HD resolution. Although this process does increase the picture quality of the image, it does not improve an SD image to HD quality levels. There is still a noticeable difference between native HD and upconverted SD.
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References
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