Progressive scan question (1 Viewer)

[Jon Mercer]

With a HDTV is progessive scan really going to benefit?
What exactly does it do?

 

[greg_t]

That depends on what progressive scan dvd player you have and what TV you have. All progressive scan dvd players have a chip called a deinterlacer in them, that converts the interlaced (480i) signal to progressive (480p). HDTV's also have deinterlacers built in. Some HDTV deinterlacers convert 480i to 480p, and some convert 480i to 540p. So even if you have a regular dvd player hooked to an HDTV, you can get progressive scan. The quality of that progressive scan conversion varies from dvd player to player and from HDTV to HDTV. For example, dvd players with the Farjouda deinterlacing chips are among the best and will outdo most, if not all, deinterlacers built into TV sets. But if you have a set with a good deinterlacer, like a Pioneer or Toshiba, a progressive scan player may not help much if any. It is generally considered best to let the dvd player do the deinterlacing because it is done in the digital domain and requires fewer digital to analog conversions. Hope this helps some. This topic can be pretty complex. I recommend reading the following:

http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/volum...e-10-2000.html

 

[Mark:F]

Greg - I'm about to get a Sony KV-34XBR910 TV and use my existing Toshiba DVD - 5 disc, no progressive scan, but I think it's a pretty high quality machine...have you an opinion on the Sony's "Cinamotion" Reverse 3:2 Pulldown Technology?

 

[Jon Mercer]

Thanks a bunch for the detailed info, yes it did help.

 

[Lew Crippen]

...have you an opinion on the Sony's "Cinamotion" Reverse 3:2 Pulldown Technology?

The Sony XBR 800 and 910 models are among the best. It will take a very good progressive scan DVD player to noticeably improve your picture.

 

[David Abrams]

Mark,

The Sony does do a good job of line processing; however, the Toshiba player that you have has what is called a chroma upsampling bug in the MPEG Decoder. Now, this may not be a huge issue for you if you haven't noticed what this is or what it is doing to your picture. If you are to pick up another player I would recommend a progressive scan player that has the faroudja chipset without the chroma upsampling bug. There were a few excellent players from Panasonic but they are now hard to come by that were awesome Progressive Scan DVD Players.

Regards,

 

[Mark:F]

David,
Thanks to you and Lew for the advice...I've not noticed any problems with my current DVD, maybe because I'm viewing on an even older Toshiba TV...so I may well have trouble once I run things thru the Sony 910..David, what progressive players are there now without the bug?

 

[David Abrams]

Mark,

Honestly I am not sure what is available that I would recommend. If you can find a Panasonic XP-30 or XP-50 I would pick one up quick. Those players were excellent at progressive video out. No chroma bug, excellent frequency response, correct output levels, ect...Anyhow, they were discontinued for new models and I have not seen or tested any of the new Panasonics yet.

Regards,

 

[Michael TLV]

Greetings

The new Panny DVD units like the S35 and S55 ... have both the chroma bug and much poorer deinterlacing than the previous year's line up.

Regards

 

[Chris Tedesco]

Here's a question:

I just bought a 36XBR800 unit. I was thinking about buying the Pioneer 563A Pure Cinema DVD Player. One reason is because it has Progressive Scan. But if my HDTV can do the reverse 3:2 pulldown better, I'll hold off on buying another DVD player and stick with my Panny 120-a.