How will HD DVD quality look on a 720p plasma? (1 Viewer)

[Joe Pick]

I have a 50" Panasonic plasma (TH-50PX75U with 1366x768 [720p] native resolution) and an upconverting DVD player from Oppo. If I get into the next generation of players, will the image quality look THAT much better than what my Oppo can do (using HDMI)? I only ask because the focus seems to be so much on 1080p, and my plasma won't even do 1080i. How will it look? How about audio output? Can I use Toslink? My AVR doesn't have HDMI.

 

[JeremyErwin]

Your display will accept a 1080p image, and downsample it to the native resolution, which is slightly more than 720p.

As for whether it's worth it-- well you might already have a true HD service from satellite, cable, or over the air. If you can't tell the difference between HD and your Oppo, you might not benefit from HD-DVD/Bluray...

 

[troy evans]

Yes, if you play HD DVD or Bluray discs, on which ever format you choose, the picture quality will be amazingly different. Now for your SD DVDs the upconversion might not be any better than your Oppo player, but, I'm not familiar with that player. I have a Samsung 42" plasma display which I have set at 720p resolution(which I prefer over 1080i,even though my tv supports 1080i) and both HD formats and I notice a marked improvement over my old Samsung upconvert dvd player. My SD DVDs never looked this good on the Samsung dvd player. I suggest you take a few of your SD DVDs to a CC or BB store where they have the players hooked up and try em out.

 

[Dennis Nicholls]

My Optoma HD-72 front projector system has been improved by my Toshiba HD-2A....

Even though it's only 720P, the display really looks great with native HD-DVD software.

I'm not sure if there is much of a difference between upscaled SD-DVD between the scaler in the HD-2A or the HD-72.

 

[Mike Williams]

To compare Blu-Ray or HD-DVD quality to satellite or cable HD . . . well, there really isn't a comparison. I watched Superman Returns the other day on HBO HD. It was stunning, bright, vibrant, colorful, really breathtaking. I then put on the Blu-Ray of Superman Returns cued both the Blu-Ray and the satellite up to the same point in the movie with the Blu-Ray actually about 15 seconds behind. Then I flipped back and forth between the two for about 15 minutes.

The bright, vibrant, colorful, breathtaking picture I was watching on HBO-HD suddenly looked washed out, dark and harsh in comparison. I was devastated, since now Blu-Ray has turned me off of my HD movie channels over satellite. LOL!

To more directly answer your question, the BEST uprezed DVD will never compare with the best Blu-Ray or HD-DVD. There is a tremendous difference.

 

[Tim Glover]

My Mits 720 DLP projector looks breathtaking when displaying 1080 images from HD DVD & Blu-ray. Jaw dropping beautful. Certainly ESPN HD football telecasts might look the best but those are video feeds and not really a fair comparison to film.