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[lesch2k]

I have a 37" LCD HD TV wtih 1080i or 720 p capability and i am thinking about getting an upconvert dvd player. expert guidance requested.

Mainly what (discernable) differnece will an upconvert dvd player have vs. a progressive scan dvd player.

Technically, if the dvd disk is encoded at 480 lines of resolution does the upconvert dvd player interpolate to fill the pixels to get up to 1080 / 720 lines of resoltuion?

doesnt an HDTV automatically interpolate between the pixels anyway because a regualr dvd fills up more than 480 vertical pixels on my TV.

with an upconvert can you choose between 720p resoltuion for action and sports movies and 1080i for slower moving action (dramas)? does this even make a difference.

and is there any difference between component or HDMI cables because they both can 1080i resolution or 720p. isnt the only difference between them if they transmit a digital or analog signal? although for most tvs and dvd players i doubt there is any discernable signal loss in an extra A or D:A conversion. (although the sales people will have you believe that digital signals are better)

p.s. i have a EE degree, but i dont really know how the technology works and havent been able to find a good answer.

 

[nullpointerus]

HDMI/DVI > VGA > Component > S-Video > Composite > Coaxial

I have my DVD player connected via component to a 32" Samsung LCD TV, and it looks wonderful. The upconversion method and quality is probably far more important than any perceivable difference between HDMI/DVI and Component. As for which player to pick, you'll have to ask someone more knowledgeable about more modern DVD players.

 

[lesch2k]

^^^

 

[JesseKnows]

Either the DVD player can upconvert, or the TV, or both (and that's the poorest choice, avoid multiple scaling). Either can perform the deinterlacing as well. That said, one may be better than the other in avoiding artifacts when scaling.

The best picture will be shown in the TV's native resolution (physical # of lines) - less inrepolation. 37" is more likely 720 (or 768) lines than 1080, but your documentation should tell you that.

With good technology, you'd not see a difference between component and HDMI. If the player or TV are cheapo, you may see a difference, and the difference may be either way.

HDMI's main claim to fame is that it carries both audio and video. If your sound system is the TV, you'd have less cabling to do. If you have a separate receiver for sound, HDMI wouldn't help there. You'd need to wire audio separately anyway.

Practically speaking: If you live where you can buy a player and return it easily if you see no improvement, just try it out. The proof is in the pudding.

 

[Matt2]

Get the upconvert DVD player. I wasn't disappointed. It's no where near true HD quality (I have the xbox360 HD-DVD player), but a definite step up from progressive.

I have a Toshiba upconvert DVD player running on my 50" Samsung DLP TV and it's world's better than standard 480p. They're cheap too, you can find some for like $70.

One important thing to mention is that if you get an upconvert DVD player, you must run it via HDMI or it will not upconvert. Using component will get you nothing but 480p. This is not a limitation of component cables themselves, but rather the DVD player.

 

[JesseKnows]

This is not a limitation of component cables themselves, but rather the DVD player.

Actually a "security" requirement. To upconvert a protected DVD, you need to send the video on a protected link. Component is not protected, HDMI has HDCP for protection.

 

[Snakexor]

Get a good dvd player from harman kardon, pioneer elite, denon, mirantz and so on. You want a dvd player with the faroujda (SP) chip to do your scaling, it is basically the best scalar available in the world. The dvd player will cost you a bit more money, however, the picture quality will be very close to HDDVD or BluRay.

 

[RussianSensation]

Originally posted by: Matt2
Get the upconvert DVD player. I wasn't disappointed. It's no where near true HD quality (I have the xbox360 HD-DVD player), but a definite step up from progressive.

Do you know if the standard Xbox360 without the HD DVD player upconvert regular DVDs to 720p/1080i?

 

[giantpinkbunnyhead]

Originally posted by: Snakexor
Get a good dvd player from harman kardon, pioneer elite, denon, mirantz and so on. You want a dvd player with the faroujda (SP) chip to do your scaling, it is basically the best scalar available in the world. The dvd player will cost you a bit more money, however, the picture quality will be very close to HDDVD or BluRay.

Words of gold! I've had several different upconverting players... the one I have now, A Denon 1930CI, has the Faroujda scaler and it's AWESOME. It seems that it's closer to HD quality than it is to its own native SD quality.

The Faroujda scalers use DCDi technology... here's some info behind it.

Faroujda DCDi Explained

All else being equal, a good DVD player does a better job upscaling than your TV would, so if possible... avoid banking on your TV for the upscaling work. Feed it an upscaled signal so the TV doesn't compromise it.

 

[Matt2]

Originally posted by: RussianSensation

Originally posted by: Matt2
Get the upconvert DVD player. I wasn't disappointed. It's no where near true HD quality (I have the xbox360 HD-DVD player), but a definite step up from progressive.

Do you know if the standard Xbox360 without the HD DVD player upconvert regular DVDs to 720p/1080i?

hmmm... I actually dont. I just use the xbox HD-DVD player for HD movies and I use my upconvert DVD player for regular movies. I'll try it out on the xbox and see, but somehow I doubt it.

Originally posted by: Snakexor
The dvd player will cost you a bit more money, however, the picture quality will be very close to HDDVD or BluRay.

While I believe that the quality would be better than el cheapo DVD players, I can't in good conscience believe that the quality would be as close to HD-DVD or BluRay as you say.