[JOgden]

I have decided to wait on the HD DVD war and stay with DVD for now. I'm interested in up converting my current movies, not to make them look hi-def but to make the resolution larger.


Is this what upconverting does? Will it distort the picture quality? I was thinking about getting this player: http://www.crutchfield.com/S-esA5KWs...0&I=305DVDH860


Thanks,

 

[BillP]

Upscaling players upscale the resolution to 720p, 1080i, or 1080p, depending on the player and your display. If you have a fixed pixel HDTV display (plasma, DLP, LCOS, or LCD), the display will do so automatically as well, but the player usually does a better job than the display. No, upscaling does not introduce distortion. The Samsung player you linked to is OK but not great. Sony and Oppo make better ones, IMO, at a similar price.

 

[fugiot]

I have a Philips DVP5960(got it for the USB port), and the 1080i upconverting is beautiful. My TV(Toshiba 26HF5) actually displays DVDs more accurately, geometry-wise, in 1080i. The colors look much deeper and lines are much smoother. Summed up in one word "clean".


I only had a budget of less $100 when I got the 5960, otherwise I would've grabbed one of the Oppo players. The Oppo 970 has USB and card slots, but the Oppo 981 has the fabled Faroujda video processor. I skipped over the 971 because it only outputs digital with DVI, whereas the other 2 are HDMI-equipped.


I have heard that the Toshiba and Sony upscaling players are better than the Samsung you're looking at. Either way, yes, upscaling is the way to go.

 

[JOgden]

I have a 34" CRT, I'll have to try one of the Toshibas then. Thank you.

 

[birdie800]

BillP,


I'm a bit confused with up/downscaling. So if I've got a plasma (TH42PX60U) and it's fixed pixel, then that means that it'll take any input signal and convert it to 1024x768 (in my case). If this is the case, then why do 480i signals not look so great on the display? If it was upscaling, wouldn't the PQ look decent? Or does it only upscale certain sources? I've also heard that my panny plasma looks better feeding it 480P from an upconverting DVD player since it typically has a better upscaler than most cheapie players. What do you think?


p.s. If dvd players can take a 480i source dvd and upconvert it all the way to 720p/1080i, why can't a tv do the same with an SD (cable or dish) signal? Wouldn't they look the same as dvds do?

 

[BillP]

birdie, all pieces of equipment use different quality parts, and some deinterlacers are better than others, and some scalers are better than others. If your plasma has a good deinterlacer and scaler, then yes, PQ of 480i DVD should look great whether feeding 480i, 480p, or 720p to the display. But upscaled PQ will never look as good as true HD since the scaler has to "make up" information to enhance the resolution. Which looks better, having the upscaling player or the display do the deinterlacing and scaling, depends on which uses the better chips. And SD cable or satellite will never look as good as SD DVDs due to poorer quality signals (both cable and satellite use compressed signals).