I have Philips 47" LCD 1080p TV (47PFL7422D) and a Panasonic DVD-S35 Progressive Scan DVD Player.

I have tried a Magnavox 1080p up-converting DVD player from Walmart (during BF 2007). Returned it since I did not see any difference between that up-converting DVD player and my Panasonic DVD player.

I have been hearing a lot of good reviews about great up-converting capability of Toshiba HD-A3. So last week I purchased this unit. But I still do not see any real difference in PQ between the upconverting DVD player and my Std progressive scan DVD player. What gives?

Also to eliminate any bias, I connected both the players directly to the TV (HDMI for HD-A3 and Component for DVD-S35). Same DVD in both the players and switched the inputs and did not see any difference in PQ.

Is my Panasonic really that good or the upconverting DVD players are just hype?

I will soon return the HD-A3.

There has been a tremendous amount of hype built around upscalers - the most ridiculous statements that upscaling players make your dvds look "near HD." With that being said, your display is already upscaling - it scales everything less than 1080 to 1080p. So, it really comes down to which does a better job of upscaling - the player or display? The reality is, upscaling is usually not the issue for SD DVD whether it be player or display - deinterlacing is the key and this is where there is a wider range of variation in terms of performance and there are much better deinterlacers out there than what's in your display, Panasonic, or A3 players.

there's only so much an upconverter can do.
if you're comparing two good ones, the differences are pretty minimal.
i really can't see much of a difference between my ps3 and my xa2. the xa2's a bit better, but nothing i'd spend money to get.

Thanks for your feedback. I was surprised since my Panasonic DVD player is not an up-converting player.

Also while making the comparison, I tried to select "Unscaled", "Wide Screen", "Automatic" on my TV to see if this makes any difference how the Video is rendered on the screen by both the sources (Panasonic regular DVD player and Toshiba HD-A3)

But I did not see any diffrence.

Thanks again for your inputs.

I was surprised since my Panasonic DVD player is not an up-converting player.



As mentioned above, your TV will upscale the Panasonic's signal to its native resolution (it'll do that for all signals that aren't already 1080p). It could be that the LCD's upscaling capabilities are equal to the upscaling players you've tried, making it indistinguishable.

If you like the Panny, I say keep it.

Upconverting is mostly hype (IMHO). Many people mistakenly think their DVD's are "HD" - because either their TV or player upconverts them. Not so.

Even the very best up-converters (Denon 3930 @ $1,500. MSRP) can't hold a candle to true HD programming (i.e. Blu-ray).

Upconverting is mostly hype (IMHO). Many people mistakenly think their DVD's are "HD" - because either their TV or player upconverts them. Not so.

Even the very best up-converters (Denon 3930 @ $1,500. MSRP) can't hold a candle to true HD programming (i.e. Blu-ray).

+1

There is only so much picture information contained within the dvd format. Upconverting is an improvement over standard dvd but real HD material will win every single time.

+1

There is only so much picture information contained within the dvd format. Upconverting is an improvement over standard dvd but real HD material will win every single time.

+2

Even a VHS connected through composite looks darn respectable on my Panny 42pz77u

Thanks for your feedback.

I'm actually a little suprised that you didn't notice a difference with the A3 at 47". I'll agree that upconvert players won't magically change SD to HD. And I'll agree that PQ benefits can be largely subjective. Still, high quality players can yield a higher quality picture.

Keep in mind 2 things: 1, that cheap upconverts (like the magnavox you tested) will do little for all but the most bargain diplays; and 2, that the A3- while solid- is certainly no where NEAR the high-end when it comes to scaling and de-interlacing.

Just a silly question: are you sure you set the Magnavox and Toshiba to output at 1080p for your comparisons? I was just thinking that if they were outputting at 480i or 480p then your display is doing the upconverting for all of them, which would explain why you didn't notice much of a difference.

Just a silly question: are you sure you set the Magnavox and Toshiba to output at 1080p for your comparisons? I was just thinking that if they were outputting at 480i or 480p then your display is doing the upconverting for all of them, which would explain why you didn't notice much of a difference.

Yes. I made sure that the output from Toshiba and Magnavox was set to 1080i/1080p. The TV shows the input signal (480i/720p/etc).

I was disappointed in upconversion players too, at first. I tried a Pioneers, a Sony, and the PS3 and was underwhelmed by all of them.

I got an HD-A2, and it does a good job, but what really shocked me is that I found a Sony 5-disc changer on clearance today at CC. It blows the A2 out of the water. This surprised me because I had tried a different Sony changer last year and it pretty much sucked.

If you can find this changer (NC85H I believe) you might try it out. You can always return it if you don't like it, but I've read a lot of reviews on this thing and almost every one of them raves about how good it is.

Of course, if you're sitting 5 feet from a 47" TV anything is gonna look bad, no matter how good the upconversion is.

The people who are impressed by upscaling players are people with crummy scalers in their TVs.

If you're not seeing any benefit, it's because you've got a good TV.

I have a Denon 3930ci, and I think it does a really terrific job of playing back an SD DVD. Much better than the more basic brand-name players I've tried. Of course it should, given the cost.

But I don't think much of that is related to upscaling. It is the whole package - deinterlacing, the quality of the color fidelity, picture stability, adjustability and so on. It a lot of small details that go into making a better picture appear on the screen. With the 3930ci the picture is rock steady with none of the little variations that you get from a regular player. And it just look more like film. Compared to the Denon 2900 I had before (a very nice non-upscaling player) the 3930 playback is pretty obviously superior.

There are other benefits to a good player too - the sound quality is really noticeably better in a variety of ways - both in move and in music playback.

So while upscaling may be very oversold, that doesn't mean a good player is a waste of money. There are a lot of ways to improve the playback of a SD DVD, not just upscaling, and it sure seems to me that they are mostly done right in this player.

It clearly is not HD player, but with this I can wait a bit until there is a player out there that I like.

I have a Denon 3930ci, and I think it does a really terrific job of playing back an SD DVD. Much better than the more basic brand-name players I've tried. Of course it should, given the cost.

But I don't think much of that is related to upscaling. It is the whole package - deinterlacing, the quality of the color fidelity, picture stability, adjustability and so on. It a lot of small details that go into making a better picture appear on the screen. With the 3930ci the picture is rock steady with none of the little variations that you get from a regular player. And it just look more like film. Compared to the Denon 2900 I had before (a very nice non-upscaling player) the 3930 playback is pretty obviously superior.

There are other benefits to a good player too - the sound quality is really noticeably better in a variety of ways - both in move and in music playback.

So while upscaling may be very oversold, that doesn't mean a good player is a waste of money. There are a lot of ways to improve the playback of a SD DVD, not just upscaling, and it sure seems to me that they are mostly done right in this player.

It clearly is not HD player, but with this I can wait a bit until there is a player out there that I like.
Well put. I couldn't agree more. Makes me go crazy hearing all this talk about "upconverters." It is more about DVD playback than upconverting.