[AtlCal]

I'm still new to HDTV and home theater, and have spent some time searching the archives for information. The DVD player was purchased for its progressive output, which I'm now finding out is not 'true' progressive. Given the relative newness of all of this, I am still happy with my TV/DVD combo, but what would the more informed opinions on here recommend for a player upgrade, and what improvements I could expect. I understand that my TV also does the reverse 3:2 pulldown, so would it just be simpler for now to run it in interlaced mode, since the DV-434 has no way of detecting film mode?


Thanks for the assistance...I wish I had discovered this site long ago!

 

[eujin]

What you should probably do is experiment a little. While it's true that the 434 is not a "true" progressive player, it doesn't mean that you HAVE to run out there and get a new one. You should run the player in interlaced mode and let the TV do the line doubling for you. See if you like the picture like this. Then run the player in progressive mode and compare the two. Stick with the one that looks better. If you feel like you're still missing something, even with the "better" option, then maybe it's time to look for a "true" progressive player. Be warned, however, that progressive players have their issues too. The best thing to do is really decide if what you have right now is right for you.

 

[JasonATL]

AtlCal:


I also have the XBR450, but I do not have a progressive-scan DVD player (only an interlaced one).


Two things:

1) As noted on a recent thread in this forum, using the interlaced output from the DVD will allow the XBR450 to auto-detect anamorphic DVD's and do the 16:9 squeeze mode automatically to give you the best picture. Make sure that your DVD player is set to output to a 16:9 TV. Otherwise, with the DVD player in progressive output mode, you'll have to do the 16:9 screen yourself through the setup menu (something I do not want to do). Set the DRC on the TV to "Cinemotion" when watch movies on TV or DVD. The upconversion by the TV is quite good.


2) Come over to the Atlanta HDTV Yahoo! group at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ahdtv

If you're going to get into HDTV, it should help out a bit.


Good luck.




------------------

-Jason

 

[JimL]

If you haven't done it already do a search in this (HDTV Hardware) forum for 36XBR450 and check the resulting articles also check this one in the Home Theater General Forum: http://www.avsforum.com/ubb/Forum1/HTML/003148.html


We purchased a progressive scan DVD player when we bought the 36XBR450 and DO NOT have it outputting progressive - let the XBR do it - we then wondered if we really had to buy this type of player and the older one would have sufficed - we have since decided no - since the older DVD player did not have component out jacks and the new one does.


[This message has been edited by JimL (edited 07-20-2001).]

 

[eujin]

Another thing to note about using a progressive player vs. the TV's line doubler:


A progressive player with 3:2 pulldown keeps the DVD signal in the digital domain, resulting in a cleaner, artifact-free image. A lot depends on how good the TV's doubler is, but the general rule of thumb is to let the player output a 480p signal directly to the TV. Use discs like Start Trek: Insurrection (opening scene with thatched roofs) or Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon (just about any scene with the tiled rooftops) to see how good/bad the "jaggies" look.

 

[AtlCal]

Thanks for the replies, I will give it a shot at sending the interlaced signal to the TV and see if it looks better. I really wasn't looking forward to dropping 5-600 dollars on a new player, but if it was going to be a night/day difference, I wouldn't hesitate.


I'm going to guess the XBR has a decent chip in it for doing the 3:2 pulldown, so perhaps things won't be as 'bad' as I was thinking. Oh, and thanks for the tip on the auto-widescreen mode...I was getting tired of manually switching it when using the progressive mode on the DVD player. At least my A/V remote does learning and I can program it into the 'movie watching' macro.


[This message has been edited by AtlCal (edited 07-20-2001).]

 

[Captain Spaulding]

I've tried both Sony and JVC progressive scan players with my XBR 450. In both cases it was very obvious that the picture from the progressive outputs was inferior to the interlaced output. I think the XBR 450's DRC and 3:2 pulldown features must just be that good!