Question about SD vs HD

[Mulder]

I just wanted to know something, maybe one of you have tried this. If I connect a SD DVD player to a SD wide screen TV and then connect a Upconverting DVD player to a HDTV, which will give me better PQ?

[bignickdawg]

The Upconverting DVD player to a HDTV "Should" look better

In this case you'd have componets, hdmi or DVI as a connection option whereas SD-DVD S-video is more then likely your "best" connection option.

[Smackos]

Originally Posted by bignickdawg

The Upconverting DVD player to a HDTV "Should" look better

In this case you'd have componets, hdmi or DVI as a connection option whereas SD-DVD S-video is more then likely your "best" connection option.

.. the better connections used would make the difference.. not the supposed resolution gain you'd be getting. Don't forget an upscaling player basically used algorithms to "guess" the missing pixels that are needed to transfer an SD picture to a HD picture so it won't any better than the original picture was to start with as far as I see it. Especially with the cheapo type upscaling players out there, some of which are'nt even as good as your telly's own inbuilt upscaler.. IF you get to the upper level scalers then sure you'll get a better picture because the proccessing they use is extremely good in them.

[Mulder]

So unless I buy a REALLY good upscaler, I'd be better off watching DVD's on a normal player with a SD screen?

[bootman]

Again it depends.
Sometimes the TV itself has a good upscaler.
What TV are we talking about?
If its a high end one, this may be the case.
Otherwise, getting a player that has a good upscaling chip will be your best bet.

[Joe Cain]

Before buying the PS3 I got the cheapest upscaling/upconverting HDMI DVD player I could find, basically to test the principle in my own home on my own HDTV. As the cheapest, its flaw came glaring out soon enough: reading some DVDs & displaying them in full widescreen, a moving horizontal line wide sometimes appear that split and slightly offset the image onscreen. Maddening.

But the improvement in picture quality, even on that cheapo, was dramatic; it made it considerably easier to decide to step up to the PS3, knowing the PS3's reputation for quality upconverting. Granted my TV will only output 1080i and ain't very big (and I sit some distance from it as well), but especially when upscaling quality animation the PQ seems very nearly as good as the local over-air HD signal I pull off the antenna. Just my experience; your mileage may vary.

[SDG]

SD will look beter. The upscaling will atempt to put 480 lines of resolution into 720 or 1080 lines of resolution on the HD TV. For the most part it will double or tripple each Horizonal line on play back. Vertical will look good and horizonal will not look as good.

[Mulder]

Originally Posted by SDG

SD will look beter. The upscaling will atempt to put 480 lines of resolution into 720 or 1080 lines of resolution on the HD TV. For the most part it will double or tripple each Horizonal line on play back. Vertical will look good and horizonal will not look as good.

So in that case, if I were to upscale an image then I should rather upscale it to 720p instead of 1080, so that the lines don't need to double too much? I have a 27 inch Philips HD ready tv that goes up to 1080i. I don't think the tv has a built in upscaler because my DVD's look really bad when connected with S-Video. But on my old CRT SD tv the same player made the DVD's look perfect. So now I want to get an upscaler so that I can enjoy my DVD's on my new HD tv but I fear it won't be able to compare with SD. sigh

[Frode]

Originally Posted by SDG

SD will look beter. The upscaling will atempt to put 480 lines of resolution into 720 or 1080 lines of resolution on the HD TV. For the most part it will double or tripple each Horizonal line on play back. Vertical will look good and horizonal will not look as good.

This is rather inaccurate. It all depends on the source material and what upscaling player you're using. Horizontal vs vertical is not an issue.

480p itself is noticeably better than 480i when done right. All an upscaling player does over using a straight progressive one is scale up the image size for you, instead of letting the TV do it - the better ones don't have artifacts and don't soften the image. I think we all know that not all progressive players are not created equal, so buying a $40 wal-mart player and expecting Oppo performance isn't exactly a good idea. A good upconverting setup will look better than any SD, and a bad one will be soft and have artifacts.

[Sonny]

im selling my PHILIPS BDP9000 BLU-RAY PLAYER FOR 300.00$ & it has a very nice upscaler! that way you get BLU-RAY & DVD!!

[Pilam69]

Originally Posted by SDG

SD will look beter. The upscaling will atempt to put 480 lines of resolution into 720 or 1080 lines of resolution on the HD TV. For the most part it will double or tripple each Horizonal line on play back. Vertical will look good and horizonal will not look as good.

SD will not look better than an upconverted image in almost any situation. I came home to my wife watching a LOTR movie the other night and I almost shit my pants it looked so good. (it really made me excited for a Blu-Ray version) Will this be true for every movie and every setup? Probably not, but if you have a good upscaling DVD player (which are avail now for less than $150) with HDMI output you should see a remarkable difference in quality.