Toshiba SD3755: Which Video Mode to Use??? (1 Viewer)

[shankar]

Hello,

I bought a Toshiba SD3755 prog.scan player recently. My question is regarding the video mode to use while playing DVDs. The available choices are:

Auto: The player reads the flag on the DVD and sets the mode.

Video1 and Video2: Don't know what they really are (interlaced versions???)

Film: Forces the player to assume that the DVD is a transfer from film

Adapt: Player adapts itself based on the material (not the flag)

The player starts at "Auto" mopde when turned on. I believe firmly that many DVD's do not set the flags correctly. I see that the image has lot of srtifacts on some anamorphic DVDs. We watch a lot of India DVD's that claim an anamorphic widescreen transfer but they don't look good in the auto mode.

I find that I have to switch the mode to "adapt" most of the time. Has anyone else seen this behaviour or am I doing something wrong or is the player bug ridden?

Thanks.

 

[Allan Jayne]

Are you also using a TV without 16:9 mode? The player's downconversion for 4:3-only TV sets usually adds artifacts of its own. If you are using 4:3 mode, you can prove whether the artifacts are due to downconversion by trying the player in 16:9 mode and seeing if the artifacts to away.
THe player probably does not have the best de-interlacing to fall back on if the DVD flags are missing or incorrect. Otherwise it wouldn't need to have mode choices!
The problem is, during the course of the movie, the best choice keeps changing but you have to make the choice once and for all at the start of the movie.
I would have thought that 99% of film source DVD's have the flags set correctly.
Video 1 probably interpolates the entire frame (almost the same as plain line doubling) and Vidoe 2 probably makes each frame from the current field and the next one. Several months ago I heard of one player with the same choices with the same names whose "adapt" consisted of switching between Video 1 and Video 2 and the result was that, when something started moving, the entire picture seemed to soften.
Video hints:
http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/viddoubl.htm

 

[shankar]

Allan,

Thanks.

Looks like you're suggesting to keep it at the AUTO mode. I read the SD3755 manual again. The ADAPT mode switches between FILM and VIDEO modes as warranted. The manual also suggests using FILM mode for prog. scan DVDs. How would I know? Some one suggested in a different thread that all anamorphic WS DVD's are prog. scan. Are there DVD's that have it on the lable (that they are prog. scan??)

 

[Allan Jayne]

Normally we don't speak of the DVD itself as being progressive scan or not. No non-film DVD's are progressive scan. Film DVD's contain enough material to construct either progressive or interlaced video, namely one even field and one odd field for every film frame. All DVD players initially decode the DVD contents as interlaced, then those players that are "progressive scan" assemble progressive scan video frames from that.

Most anamorphic DVD's are 24 FPS film source simply because most wide screen material is movies.

It is possible for a progressive DVD player to do a much better 4:3 anamorphic downconversion than a standard player. Unfortunately it is also possible for the anamorphic downconversion to magnify artifacts caused by less than ideal de-interlacing such as when the DVD does not have proper flags for the film mode to work. I don't know which players do what, but all I can suggest is try different modes to see what looks best.