Will 4K PVR display 1080p

[IslandGuy]

I now have Internet 50 but but don't have a 4K tv or PVR. If I were to get a 4K PVR would a 4K broadcast be displayed in 1080p

on my 1080p televisions. Basically looking to see if the PVR would give some programming in 1080p vs the standard 720p.

  Thanks 

[Nighthawk]

If a channel is broadcast in 720p, that is the maximum broadcast resolution. A 4K box won't fix that. Any channel broadcast in 1080i/p will show as 1080 when using any Optik box. If you can even get 4K service with only Internet 50, only a handful of channels are showing 4K content and there isn't enough of it to be full time so at times when 4K programming is not airing on those channels, it will fall back to whatever broadcast resolution the broadcaster decides.

Do you have Optik currently with your Internet 50? At your address, are you able to get internet faster than 50?

[IslandGuy]

Internet 50 is my max and the minimum for 4K. I have Optik. I watch a lot of sports so just seeing if I can get a small portion in 1080p 

before I get a 4k tv. More of an experiment then anything else..!! I'm not in any rush to get a 4K tv but if the 4K  PVR will give me some 1080p

I might upgrade.

Thanks

[Nighthawk]

For 1080 it's all going to depend which channel you're watching. If the broadcaster is broadcasting in 1080, you'll get 1080 even when using a standard Optik box. Just make sure your Optik box is set to display 1080 in the settings.

TSN and Sportsnet are both 1080i. CBC usually is also. If you're watching any other sports channels it will really depend on the broadcaster and where the content is coming from.

[dciarnie · Accepted solution]

Yes, you will be able to watch 4K broadcasts on your non-4K TV.  You just need to set the Optik box to output in whatever resolution is appropriate for your TV.  It will take care of up- or down-scaling for you.

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@Nighthawk wrote:

For 1080 it's all going to depend which channel you're watching. If the broadcaster is broadcasting in 1080, you'll get 1080 even when using a standard Optik box. Just make sure your Optik box is set to display 1080 in the settings.

TSN and Sportsnet are both 1080i. CBC usually is also. If you're watching any other sports channels it will really depend on the broadcaster and where the content is coming from.

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With my Optik box it doesn't seem to matter what resolution the broadcaster is using as the box outputs in only one resolution.  Mine is set to 4K so all non-4K channels are upscaled to 4K.

[IslandGuy]

Thanks,

Sounds like the PVR is the next step.

[IslandGuy]

How do the up scaled images compare to true 4K?

[dciarnie]

It's a little hard to say.  Things do look clearer with Telus than they did with Shaw but that also seems to be the case with my 720p plasma so it might be how Shaw is distributing signals more than the 4K upscaling.

The real comparison is the difference between the 4K and non-4K broadcasts of the Juniors and the Canucks on TSN and Sportsnet, respectively.

Overall, it seemed that things were clearer on the 4K channels compared to the HD channels but only slightly so.  From that I would say that the Optik upscaling is actually pretty good.

[IslandGuy]

That's good to hear..!! Just got the internet 50 and updated modem yesterday. Set boxes to 1080p tonight and things working

well.Previously the aspect ratio was all messed up. At least now I'll get the best res.avilable at the time.