General Video Scaler questions (1 Viewer)

[Dave F]

I've just started looking into video scalers, and have a few general questions that I'm hoping someone here can answer.
I read an article about a PC based scaler that scaled up to 1080i. However, when looking into the DVDO Iscan scaler, I read that it is only for 480i inputs, and that it will not work with a 480p feed. Do other scalers convert 480p to 1080i? I'm basically looking to improve the image of 480p DVD, 480i cable, 480p videogames & 480i videogames. Will a scaler help? And if so, what kind of price range am I looking at?
Finally, how much of an improvement do scalers provide? (an very open ended question, but I'd like to hear some general impressions.)
Thanks,
Dave

 

[ling_w]

Products like the DVDO are line doublers, or de-interlacers, where they take a 480i source and convert it to 480p.

All scalers pretty much only take a interlaced NTSC source, de-interlace it, and scale the image to your desired resolution.

Scalers cost from the low end of around $1500 for a basic scaler, to close to $30k for ones that could output 1080p. The quality between the two extremes are worlds apart, not just in the scaling aspect, but in the de-interlacing, video processing, noise reduction, and color processing. But you don't have to go to the extreme. Many scalers in the $4k range are adaquate for most needs. Faroudja's DCDI does some amazing things with video based source.

Why would you want a 1080i output resolution, is it to feed it to yor widescreen HD compatable TV than supposedly could handle 1080i? If that is the case, you can bet that the TV can accept 1080i source, but it does not have 1080x1920 resolution, so doing it that way would be moot. So if you don't see scan lines or jagged edges with 480p, then that is good enough, so an DVDO Iscan Pro would be adaquate for that situation. You would have to get a $50k projector to do that kind of resolution.