Video Upconversion: Facts and Fallacies

[crackinhedz]

Video Upconversion: Facts and Fallacies

The types of video processing commonly described as upconversion fall into three basic categories:
• Transcoding. Changing one signal format to another, such as composite-video to S- or component-video.
• Deinterlacing. Converting an interlaced video signal to progressive-scan, such as from 480i to 480p or 1080i to 1080p.
• Scaling. Changing the signal from one display resolution to another, such as from 480p to 720p.

Understanding how each of these works will help you decide when upconversion is necessary or desirable (and when it's not) and where in the signal chain the processing is best applied. At the end, I'll give you some basic rules for figuring all that out.

[arush5268d]

Sweet. Ought to help a lot of people out

+1

[jomari]

i know where you got that thread...

[crackinhedz]

Originally Posted by jomari

i know where you got that thread...

[crobert0247]

Originally Posted by crackinhedz

[meckel]

Awesome read, thanks

[jomari]

Originally Posted by crackinhedz

i dont get it.

anyways, the more people are informed, the better the understanding.

[Stephan.klose]

BTW: There are worlds of difference in PQ depending on which machine does the upscaling. I have a BD-P 1400 (Samsung) and a noname DVD Player for around $65..

When the Samsung does the upscaling to 1080p it looks almost like a BD. When the Xoro does the upscaling to 1080i it doesn't look that much better than if it were not upscaled..

I just though it might be useful to know that

[jomari]

Originally Posted by Stephan.klose

BTW: There are worlds of difference in PQ depending on which machine does the upscaling. I have a BD-P 1400 (Samsung) and a noname DVD Player for around $65..

When the Samsung does the upscaling to 1080p it looks almost like a BD. When the Xoro does the upscaling to 1080i it doesn't look that much better than if it were not upscaled..

I just though it might be useful to know that

thats why i dont really 'like' the world of upscaling dvd players. sometimes, the hdtv that you have might already be showing off some great upscaling/upconverting compared to a 'dedicated' upscaling/upconverting dvd player.

results vary considering
- the source - upscaling dvd player or progressive scan dvd player
- the display unit - hdtv or not, and its size of course is a variable
- the link - hdmi, component or what have you...

[kx11]

Originally Posted by Stephan.klose

BTW: There are worlds of difference in PQ depending on which machine does the upscaling. I have a BD-P 1400 (Samsung) and a noname DVD Player for around $65..

When the Samsung does the upscaling to 1080p it looks almost like a BD. When the Xoro does the upscaling to 1080i it doesn't look that much better than if it were not upscaled..

I just though it might be useful to know that

i agree , my samsung dvd player upscale dvd's really good through hdmi
while LG did'nt do a very good job with upscaling 480p to 1080p

[jomari]

as i stated earlier, there is a number of variables i posted to get the 'best' picture you can from a standard dvd.

not bad for my 500th post right? hehehe.

[ADRiiAN`]

I've got a question.
Can my Sony BDP-S550 upconvert through component?
Or only HDMI because of HDCP?

[crackinhedz]

Originally Posted by ADRiiAN`

I've got a question.
Can my Sony BDP-S550 upconvert through component?
Or only HDMI because of HDCP?

HDMI only.

[gatorlangman]

here is a wierd question.. but can you upconversion a Nintendo Wii?

from 480 up to 1080?

[RandDawg]

Originally Posted by gatorlangman

here is a wierd question.. but can you upconversion a Nintendo Wii?

from 480 up to 1080?

Some TVs will upconvert automatically.

[crackinhedz]

Originally Posted by gatorlangman

here is a wierd question.. but can you upconversion a Nintendo Wii?

from 480 up to 1080?

Some receivers can take the Component cable input and output it over an HDMI cable at 720p/ 1080i/p

...but it really does nothing for the quality...I think mine looks the same either way.

[kubrick]

I have my Wii running through a component, it upscales a little and is definately needed, I personally found the Wii to look terrible on a 40" set.....

[welwynnick]

Originally Posted by gatorlangman

here is a wierd question.. but can you upconversion a Nintendo Wii?
from 480 up to 1080?

I use my DVDO EDGE to convert 576i from our Wii to 1080p for our Panny plasma.

Thats an improvement on the TV processing, but it not great (and looks daft on the projector!)

Nick

[NuSoardGraphite]

My TV (an LN40A530 Samsung LCD) must have a flipping AWSOME scaler in it, because all I'm using for a DVD player is a Playstation 2. One of the worst commercial, name-brand DVD players you can use (sure, better than a chinese knockoff, but only just) and it doesn't scale my DVD's at all, just sends a progressive signal at 480. My DVD's look so rich and clean its insane. I honestly didn't expect them to look as good as they do on my TV. In fact, my DVD's look better than most of the HD channels on my HD cable service, except for some of the best 1080i channels (CNN, Palladia etc)

It boggles my brain

[Toptube]

Originally Posted by NuSoardGraphite

My TV (an LN40A530 Samsung LCD) must have a flipping AWSOME scaler in it, because all I'm using for a DVD player is a Playstation 2. One of the worst commercial, name-brand DVD players you can use (sure, better than a chinese knockoff, but only just) and it doesn't scale my DVD's at all, just sends a progressive signal at 480. My DVD's look so rich and clean its insane. I honestly didn't expect them to look as good as they do on my TV. In fact, my DVD's look better than most of the HD channels on my HD cable service, except for some of the best 1080i channels (CNN, Palladia etc)

It boggles my brain

You might even gain a little more quality by sending the signal as 480i and letting your TV do the de-interlacing as well. Because the PS2 is not a very good de-interlacer.