A question about progressive scan.

[DanJ]

Originally posted by: MustangSVT
Are you saying quality of video will be same for

A: HDTV + NON progressive scan DVD
B: HDTV + progressive scan DVD

?

Yes, if deinterlacing is left up to the HDTV.

 

[Shockwave]

From hometheaterhifi.com......

"What Isn't Better About Progressive Players?

Sometimes you see folks commenting on the improved blacks and color saturation of their progressive players. This is a mirage. Progressive players are not supposed to improve black level or color saturation. The reason they may look different is that the standard black level on a progressive player is different from the standard black level on an interlaced player, for technical reasons having to do with conflicting TV standards. And when black levels go down, the saturation of colors on the screen inevitably goes up, because white is being removed from the color. Once you calibrate your display with Avia or Video Essentials, the color, contrast, and black level should look exactly the same with interlaced vs. progressive. The only advantage of a progressive DVD player is in the lack of interlace artifacts. Of course, if your progressive DVD player is a lot better than your old interlaced player, it may look better for a variety of reasons. But it still shouldn?t change your black level or color saturation.

It's important to keep in mind that most DVD players don't conform exactly to the standards for output voltage. And just as louder audio sounds better, brighter players (ones with higher voltage outputs) will tend to look better, with more "punch." Unfortunately, brighter players also crush the white levels on bright scenes, which is bad. So any time you compare two DVD players, whether progressive or not, you should create two memories on your display, one for one player and one for the other. Calibrate each memory separately with a good calibration disc like Avia, Video Essentials, or the Sound & Vision Home Theater Tune-up (but not THX Optimode, because it's not accurate). At this point, you should get identical color, hue, brightness, and contrast, and can concentrate on other aspects of the picture. If your display doesn't have multiple picture memories, then our advice is to ignore color, hue, brightness, and contrast, because it will look the same once the display is calibrated to whichever player you finally choose. The same applies if you are trying to compare the progressive output and the interlaced output of the same player. If the color or brightness changes, that's not unusual, and is a calibration issue. Ignore it, or set up two memories so you can calibrate the differences away."


It sounds like the picture quality would be very hard to determine between two difference players due to variances in output signal. Thus, I would *assume* it shouldnt be a big deal if you use the DVD or HDTV converter, as (again, assuming) by now they should have some pretty solid converters in the DVD players unless you buy from the budget bin.

Hey, gimme a break, this is a learn as we go kinda thing

 

[Shockwave]

Its essentially the posters question on a HT forum

 

[Mani]

Interesting..I understand what you are saying. and based on that I agree. But, if I am reading your post correctly, you will still need component outputs from the DVD player in order for your tv to Deinterlace the video. That is where you find the problem You might be able to find a DVD player that is non-progressive scan yet still has component outputs, but is it worth the risk to choose between 1 or 2 non pro-scan dvd players with component outputs, when you have 30 or 40 pro-scan ones to choose from? I would assume you could turn the pro-scan feature off in the dvd player menus...right?

Most decent DVD players even without PS have component outputs these days. But absolutely, the quality of component video is well worth the extra few bucks for PS if you find that only PS DVD players sold in your area will output component.

ok, now i'm confused.
if you have an hdtv, you *don't* need a progressive scan dvd player? so you'd only want a ps dvd player if you had a regular tv?

If you have an HDTV with onboard progressive scan, you do not need a progressive scan DVD player. If you have an HDTV that does not have a deinterlacer (progressive scan unit) onboard, then yyou need a PS DVD player. Cool?


Folks, this is really very simple. It think is obvious that you need a TV that is capable of accepting a progressive input to display deinterlaced video, noone ever questioned that. The original question was whether you need a progressive scan unit in both the TV and the DVD player. And the answer here is NO...if the TV has a deinterlacer, chances are that it will be far better than the crap job most DVD players do. Not all deinterlacing is created equal.

 

[nitrousninja]

Hitachi Ultravisions already do 4:3 pulldown (Progressive Scan) with out the need of a progressive scan DVD player. I've seen a bunch technical stuff about that when I was doing research on a new TV. PS DVD players aren't much more if at all than a regular one so getting one wont hurt.

 

[rh71]

Originally posted by: jdini76
It's pretty simple if you think about it. the only way a progresve scan video can go to a tv is through component video wires (not to be confused with Composite). If your dvd player isn't progressive scan it most likly will not have component wire outputs. therefore there is no way the HDTV can display a TRUE Progrssive scan picture. The tv may have a built in "converter" that will enhanced an "interlaced" picture, but that is like burning a cassette tape to a cd.

I went through a VERY exhaustive experiment on this (found here) and found ZERO difference. The image on my HDTV screen showed the same no matter what mode my Sony DVD player was in (interlace vs. progressive). Even my Apex showed the same resolution (just slightly worse coloring) using RCA (not component) cables.

And only now, after Mani's explanation, does it make sense why. So not even the component cabling matters if your tv is good to go for a progressive signal, right Mani ?

 

[DanJ]

Originally posted by: jdini76
So not even the component cabling matters if your tv is good to go for a progressive signal, right Mani ?

Negative, that could still have some bearing. If the cable passes a poor signal then the TV has to work with a poor signal.