Please Clarify, Is anyone actually getting decent/good PQ from SD DVD's on HDTV's? (1 Viewer)

[Stephen Tu]

Current tech TVs don't have options to scale or not scale. The rule is basically this: if you feed the (modern, non-CRT based) TV its native resolution, it doesn't scale. If you feed it anything else it does, deinterlacing interlaced signals first. CRT displays have different considerations I won't discuss here.

For 1080p TV vs. 720p TV, yes there are different considerations. One, unlike the vast majority of 720p LCDs/Plasmas, which are really 768p, 1080p TVs are actually 1080p so you don't have the double scaling issue if you scale to 1080p. Only 720p DLP projectors were true 720p, along with a small number of LCD projectors. "720p" LCDs are almost all 768 native res. For those upconverting is dubious since you can't feed native res and avoid rescaling. 1080p doesn't have that problem.

However a lot of 1080p TVs do have a problem that they aren't stellar at 1080i deinterlacing, dropping effective resolution when the scene is panning. So upscaling to 1080i (older DVD player w/ no 1080p option) may not be a great idea either, again 480p may be just fine & the best option.

 

[oldac3]

Thanks for the info Stephen. Any thoughts on the Oppo line or other players that scale to 1080p?

 

[Scott Merryfield]

I recently added an Oppo 980H to my setup (I needed a DVD player for our bedroom, so decided to move my old Panny RP-91 there). I think this player does a slightly better job of upscaling SD-DVD to 1080p than my Sony S350 BluRay player. It's zoom mode for non-anamorphic widescreen DVD's, though, really does not work properly -- certainly not as well as the Panny RP-91. However, my newer display has a decent zoom mode that functions on all input resolutions, including 1080p, so having such a zoom mode in the player is not as critical to me as it was with my old display.

The Oppo also gives me DVD-Audio, SACD, and jpeg/mpeg capabilities, and greatly simplified my cabling to the receiver vs. my old RP-91. At one time, I actually had ten cables running from the RP-91 to my old Pioneer Elite receiver. The Oppo has a single HDMI cable running to the new Elite receiver.

 

[oldac3]

Good info Scott, although myself I've never played SACD discs on my Denon 2910. I checked today and only have about 15 non-anamorphic dvds in my collection any more. So, for me it really is about getting the best picture from the standard dvd collection I have. I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm not replacing my 700+ collection with bluray. Just not gonna happen, even if they come down to 5 or 10 bucks a piece over the next years. I looked on Netflix today and they are already building a bluray collection for rental. Really, I'm not sure why I spent all this time building such a large collection. As soon as we get hard drive boxes big enough to hold a lot of ripped movies, that's where the whole collection is headed. Ultimately I'd like all of my movies on one box (or even IPOD sized device) and not have to hassle with the dvds themselves.

 

[TheBat]

I had a samsung rear projection. it could only do 720/1080I. I was never really happy with it.. it had alot of images and other problems.. when it did work.. the SD would be nice and well as the BD.. now I got myself the philips 47 7403 and this tv is amazing.. makes everything look so much better. if you are looking to get a new tv, try one with the 120 refresh rate. I think you will be happy with the results.

Jacob

 

[Scott Merryfield]

I am in a similar situation as I do not have many non-anamorphic discs anymore. Some titles, though, may never be released in BD, so I just need to be able to play them properly. Based on this, I can live with the limitations of the Oppo over my old RP-91 in this regard, since the Oppo has a much better image quality for 4x3 and anamorphic widescreen SD-DVD material.

With approximately 1,100 SD-DVD titles in my collection, I do not forsee replacing them all with BluRay. Therefore, having a top-notch upconverting SD-DVD player was important to me. I probably could have lived with just using the Sony BDP-S350 BluRay player for SD-DVD playback, but the added features of DVD-Audio, SACD, and jpeg/mp3 USB playback made this an easy decision. Besides, I had an Amazon gift certificate from Christmas that paid for almost the entire purchase.

 

[oldac3]

Well, aren't you the lucky boy Scott! Must have good friends getting you Amazon cards that add Oppo to your life. I'll try the Denon first when I get an HDTV and see how it's upscaling works out for me.