SD Tv picture quality on a HD LCD/Plasma using a htpc

statik213

Golden Member
Oct 31, 2004
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I've heard that standard def tv looks really bad on big screen flatpanels. I was wondering if a home theather setup might help. Do htpcs do a better job scaling a SDTV to the native resolution of a flatplanel than TVs?
 

Slammy1

Platinum Member
Apr 8, 2003
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You have more control, but a good box will give better scaling and deinterlacing. PQ I'd lean towards the filtering to htpc once properly adjusted.
 

ribbon13

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Feb 1, 2005
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PCs can do edge adaptive spatial temporal deinterlacing, bilinear stretching, and frame doubling
 

Matthias99

Diamond Member
Oct 7, 2003
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Originally posted by: ribbon13
PCs can do edge adaptive spatial temporal deinterlacing, bilinear stretching, and frame doubling

Translation: PCs can look as good (or bad) as any other upconversion system. Using things like ffdshow you can get far more control than any other setup will give you. If you have a real fast CPU and you set it up right it works well.

However, it can't work miracles. Upconverted low-quality 480i material will never look great on a big fixed-pixel screen, especially if you're stretching it as well. DVDs can look pretty damn good, though.
 

jkresh

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Jun 18, 2001
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comparing cablevision hd box and a comcast hd box and a mce machine with a ati theater 550 I would say that analog tends to look better through media center then through either of the cable boxes, so yes a could media center setup can help. It wont look as good as hd, but you wont do much better without spending a lot of money on high end av equipment (line doublers or quadruplers)
 

statik213

Golden Member
Oct 31, 2004
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Originally posted by: Matthias99
Originally posted by: ribbon13
PCs can do edge adaptive spatial temporal deinterlacing, bilinear stretching, and frame doubling

Translation: PCs can look as good (or bad) as any other upconversion system. Using things like ffdshow you can get far more control than any other setup will give you. If you have a real fast CPU and you set it up right it works well.

However, it can't work miracles. Upconverted low-quality 480i material will never look great on a big fixed-pixel screen, especially if you're stretching it as well. DVDs can look pretty damn good, though.

Well, I understand that. I was just wondering if a setup like this could out-do a cheapo TV's internal scaling (like a vizio or olivia for example).
 

Venomous

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Oct 18, 1999
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Verizon FIOS = Best SD period. Mileage may vary depending on your areas phone company.
 

Dman877

Platinum Member
Jan 15, 2004
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Use Dscalar with whatever tuner you choose. It's extremely customizable and offers the best quality for sdtv pq.
 

JackBurton

Lifer
Jul 18, 2000
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Originally posted by: ribbon13
Originally posted by: mercanucaribe
Originally posted by: Snakexor
Originally posted by: ribbon13
1080P Plasma + PC equipped with decent tuner card == best SDTV experience.

fixed

Plasma? I had 1024x768 back in 1995.

Burn!

Heh, the Samsung 81 series will pwnate plasmas
LOL, yeah, not by a long shot. The Samsung 81 series looks to be a fantastic LCD, but it ain't touching the new Pioneer super plasma, or most likely not even Panasonic PZ750U. But all other plasmas, maybe. ;)
 

Slammy1

Platinum Member
Apr 8, 2003
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A STB does have some advantage with interlaced sources on a Hi-Res display. I don't mean interlaced mastering, instead anything designed for broadcast television (like anime, for example). My experience 2 years into my 1080p display is that I prefer the S-video input for those types of materials, coming from the perspective of only having a PC as a tuner. Plasma vs LCD is personal preference, but I'd say most people prefer plasma as it more closely matches tubed displays and it's what we've all grown up with. I prefer LCD technology myself, but that's specific to my viewing habits. That is all.