what does HDMI output with upscaling to 1080p mean?

[johnny37]

How does a freeview box change a normal transmission up to 1080p? Does it mean only for things like games? For tv broadcasts does it need a dish or am I expecting too much?

[Hammer]

It basically takes a standard resolution picture and works out what it thinks it would have looked like if it was HD. It will never be as good as true HD but might be slightly better than standard resolution.

Here's an extreme example to explain what happens. Think about a field full of tiny red and yellow flowers. HD will show you tiny red and yellow flowers. Non-HD will show you an orange fuzz. No upscaler will ever be able to take a non-HD orange fuzz and turn it into HD red and yellow flowers - that information is just not there in the non-HD broadcast. What you will get is an HD orange fuzz.

[ZXR]

Here's an explanation with pictures to explain it all

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upscaling