I just purchased a 52" mitsu DLP 1080p set, and of course was shocked at how poor the picture from my prog scan DVD player was...

I've read through the forums here and elsewhere about certain DVD players being better than others... but can anyone definitively state whether they can see a difference between up-converting to 1080i or 1080p?

I just purchased a 52" mitsu DLP 1080p set, and of course was shocked at how poor the picture from my prog scan DVD player was...

I've read through the forums here and elsewhere about certain DVD players being better than others... but can anyone definitively state whether they can see a difference between up-converting to 1080i or 1080p?

You'll get a variety of opinions. Many say they see no difference.

I think a good progressive scan player gets you 90% of the way there. The upscaling business is an attempt to squeeze that last few percent out of 480i DVDs.

I always check this site when looking at a player; it is all about progressive-scan performance: http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/cgi-bin/shootout.cgi

I'm fanatical about my DVDs. I can see a difference between 480p and 720p or 1080p on my display. Not night and day, but enough that I want it. My player: Oppo 981, 1080p for $229.

Some of the HD-DVD and Blu-Ray players are said to have good SD-DVD playback, and are worth considering as well. I'm being patient on that front.

-Bill

Here is my opinion.

The vast majority of people just need a standard 480i output through component. The TV is going to do a good job scaling. A lot of times 480i is better than letting a cheap DVD player "progressive scan" and output 480p.

like the above, the latest digital sets with a decent component or HDMI connection will get you 90%+ there. After that it's in the details with overscan, jaggies, etc. MOST people, even the guys who make it here to these sites, probably will never notice that stuff.

Moving to 1080p native SOURCE (HD-DVD & Blueray) is a whole other story, and where the real improvement lies. But even THAT can be minimal. We're talking background detail, or the fineness of someone's hair in a close-up.

You'll get a variety of opinions. Many say they see no difference.

I think a good progressive scan player gets you 90% of the way there. The upscaling business is an attempt to squeeze that last few percent out of 480i DVDs.

I always check this site when looking at a player; it is all about progressive-scan performance: http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/cgi-bin/shootout.cgi

I'm fanatical about my DVDs. I can see a difference between 480p and 720p or 1080p on my display. Not night and day, but enough that I want it. My player: Oppo 981, 1080p for $229.

Some of the HD-DVD and Blu-Ray players are said to have good SD-DVD playback, and are worth considering as well. I'm being patient on that front.

-Bill

I have a 1080p LCD Display. And just bought an DVD that upscaled up to 480p, 720p or 1080i. The 1080i was pretty good compared to the 720p. I was able to see different. Do you think it's worth going the next step getting 1080p upconverting DVD, ie oppo 981? It's about $100 more.

I've read some prof review of the BR player, well PS3 to be specific. While PQ was amazing on hd media, it's not quite on par on 480i content. May be this has to do with the fact that it's 400-600 less than the actual hi-def player (HD-DVD and BR).

I have a 1080p LCD Display. And just bought an DVD that upscaled up to 480p, 720p or 1080i. The 1080i was pretty good compared to the 720p. I was able to see different. Do you think it's worth going the next step getting 1080p upconverting DVD, ie oppo 981? It's about $100 more.

If your display deinterlaces 1080i properly, then you should be ok as is. But, to the industry's shame, a lot of big-name displays do not deinterlace 1080i properly. See:

http://hometheatermag.com/hookmeup/0506halfrez/
http://www.hometheatermag.com/hookmeup/1106hook/

I have not tested a huge number of combinations, but it has seemed to me that with DVD players and fixed-pixel devices like LCDs it is best to use one of the progressive signals: 480p, 720p or 1080p. But trust your eyes.

I've read some prof review of the BR player, well PS3 to be specific. While PQ was amazing on hd media, it's not quite on par on 480i content. May be this has to do with the fact that it's 400-600 less than the actual hi-def player (HD-DVD and BR).


I haven't kept up with the game consoles or HD player variations. I recall that for SD-DVD playback the Toshiba HD-DVDs got good scores and the first Samsung Blu-Ray got bad scores. (http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/cgi-bin/shootout.cgi).

-Bill