Toshiba HD-A3 Upconversion?

[MrToilet]

This is probably a dumb question, but I have my HD-A3 hooked up to my Yamaha receiver via component cable. I have one component cable from my receiver running to my Panasonic AE-900 HD projector.

Playing HD-DVD's is fine and dandy- but when I try to play some standard DVD's, a window pops up and says "upconversion has been disabled for this disc, output has been limited to 480P". Do I need to hook up the player via HDMI to get upconversion? Does this player upconvert over component at all? I'm just curious since the player and my receiver can obviously handle the HD content fine.

Thanks!

 

[Shawn]

You need to use HDMI for it to upconvert the picture.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

And that's the case for most upconverting SD DVD players as well. I'm interested to hear about your comparison of how the A3 does at upconverting vs. having your AE900U do the upconverting. I honestly didn't notice much of a difference sending 480p via component/HDMI and having the AE900U convert it to 720p vs. having my Panasonic S77 DVD player upconvert to 720p.

I noticed a much more significant difference getting my AE900U calibrated with my Digital Video Essentials disc. If you haven't calibrated it already, I highly recommend it.

 

[krotchy]

Just to chime in. Legally you cannot upconvert a normal DVD over component due to some reason which I forget. Basically its limited to 480p. You can however upconvert over VGA and HDMI, but component doesn't allow it. Hence no players do 1080i/p component, but will do 1080i/p HDMI for old school DVD's.

 

[MrToilet]

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello
And that's the case for most upconverting SD DVD players as well. I'm interested to hear about your comparison of how the A3 does at upconverting vs. having your AE900U do the upconverting. I honestly didn't notice much of a difference sending 480p via component/HDMI and having the AE900U convert it to 720p vs. having my Panasonic S77 DVD player upconvert to 720p.

I noticed a much more significant difference getting my AE900U calibrated with my Digital Video Essentials disc. If you haven't calibrated it already, I highly recommend it.

Yeah, I've heard that Digital Video Essentials disc is a good one to have.... I think it was like $80 or something the last time I checked. I dunno, the picture on my 76" screen looks damn good to me.

When I first got my projector, I hooked up a regular DVD player via component cable to the projector, and it looked decent. Of course, I was blown away after buying an upconverting DVD player over HDMI, the picture was much better saturated and crisp. But my HD-A3 is even better (or maybe I just want it to be, LOL). I'll have to see how upconverted discs look, and I'll get back to ya. :

On that note, does anyone want a Samsung DVD-R135? It's sitting in my closet right now, holding down my collection of Bluntman and Chronic comics.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: MrToilet

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello
And that's the case for most upconverting SD DVD players as well. I'm interested to hear about your comparison of how the A3 does at upconverting vs. having your AE900U do the upconverting. I honestly didn't notice much of a difference sending 480p via component/HDMI and having the AE900U convert it to 720p vs. having my Panasonic S77 DVD player upconvert to 720p.

I noticed a much more significant difference getting my AE900U calibrated with my Digital Video Essentials disc. If you haven't calibrated it already, I highly recommend it.

Yeah, I've heard that Digital Video Essentials disc is a good one to have.... I think it was like $80 or something the last time I checked. I dunno, the picture on my 76" screen looks damn good to me.

When I first got my projector, I hooked up a regular DVD player via component cable to the projector, and it looked decent. Of course, I was blown away after buying an upconverting DVD player over HDMI, the picture was much better saturated and crisp. But my HD-A3 is even better (or maybe I just want it to be, LOL). I'll have to see how upconverted discs look, and I'll get back to ya. :

On that note, does anyone want a Samsung DVD-R135? It's sitting in my closet right now, holding down my collection of Bluntman and Chronic comics.

I paid $17 for my Digital Video Essentials disc I think.
http://www.deepdiscount.com/vi....htm?productId=5785851
http://www.deepdiscount.com/vi....htm?productId=5743868

 

[AnitaPeterson]

Look at the DVDTalk website... many HD DVD reviews have the following phrease, under the Video section:

"The HD DVD is not flagged with an Image Constraint Token and will play in full High Definition quality over an HD DVD player's analog Component Video outputs."

I guess this means you can freely upconvert (at least some titles) over component ?

 

[PurdueRy]

Originally posted by: AnitaPeterson
Look at the DVDTalk website... many HD DVD reviews have the following phrease, under the Video section:

"The HD DVD is not flagged with an Image Constraint Token and will play in full High Definition quality over an HD DVD player's analog Component Video outputs."

I guess this means you can freely upconvert (at least some titles) over component ?

No, that only means you can play full res HD DVD's over component. Don't try to make sense of it...because you won't find any.

 

[MrToilet]

Originally posted by: PurdueRy

Originally posted by: AnitaPeterson
Look at the DVDTalk website... many HD DVD reviews have the following phrease, under the Video section:

"The HD DVD is not flagged with an Image Constraint Token and will play in full High Definition quality over an HD DVD player's analog Component Video outputs."

I guess this means you can freely upconvert (at least some titles) over component ?

No, that only means you can play full res HD DVD's over component. Don't try to make sense of it...because you won't find any.

My brain just exploded.

 

[sdifox]

What's wrong with running an hdmi cable direct to the projector?

 

[Wuzup101]

Originally posted by: sdifox
What's wrong with running an hdmi cable direct to the projector?

I would guess (just because he's running it to a projector) that HDMI ports (and extra ports in general) are at a premium. For the life of me, I can't remember if the 900u has 1 or 2 HDMI ports. However, most people who run front projectors (especially those in the general consumer price segment) have to either use switches or receivers as their number of sources generally is greater than the number of inputs on a projector.

One thing though: I thought the legal terms only prevented the player from outputting 1080p for upscaled DVDs over component. IE: I was under the impression that if the DVD itself didn't have code to tell the player that it couldn't be up converted, that the player would up convert to 1080i. My HD-A2 outputs 1080i normally (it isn't a 1080p player as I'm sure you all know). However, it does up convert all my backed up DVDs, as well as some DVDs that I rent from netflix (those that I can't get in HD-DVD :/). I have seen the message that the OP mentioned on several occasions; however, I definitely haven't seen it for every (SD) DVD that I've played.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

It has one HDMI port

 

[sdifox]

Originally posted by: Wuzup101

Originally posted by: sdifox
What's wrong with running an hdmi cable direct to the projector?

I would guess (just because he's running it to a projector) that HDMI ports (and extra ports in general) are at a premium. For the life of me, I can't remember if the 900u has 1 or 2 HDMI ports. However, most people who run front projectors (especially those in the general consumer price segment) have to either use switches or receivers as their number of sources generally is greater than the number of inputs on a projector.

One thing though: I thought the legal terms only prevented the player from outputting 1080p for upscaled DVDs over component. IE: I was under the impression that if the DVD itself didn't have code to tell the player that it couldn't be up converted, that the player would up convert to 1080i. My HD-A2 outputs 1080i normally (it isn't a 1080p player as I'm sure you all know). However, it does up convert all my backed up DVDs, as well as some DVDs that I rent from netflix (those that I can't get in HD-DVD :/). I have seen the message that the OP mentioned on several occasions; however, I definitely haven't seen it for every (SD) DVD that I've played.

Well, there are HDMI switches if he has more than 1 hdmi source into the projector. I think moniprice has a 5 port one for 50 bux.

There is no code in the actual DVD that tells the player it cannot upscale. It's definitely on the player side. I guess I can hook up component on my A3 and try it.

I have to say, after checking a few DVDs played on the A3 upscaled to 720p, I am not sure I need to buy HDDVD for movies that I have on DVD (about 1200 legit ones).

 

[MrToilet]

I just played Equilibrium (a kick-ass movie, btw) through HDMI, and it upscaled very nicely- I'm just wondering whether to stay at 720P (the projector's native resolution) or do 1080i, which the projector does really well.... I didn't really notice a difference when I switched it. I'll just have to watch a few more movies.

 

[sdifox]

Originally posted by: MrToilet
I just played Equilibrium (a kick-ass movie, btw) through HDMI, and it upscaled very nicely- I'm just wondering whether to stay at 720P (the projector's native resolution) or do 1080i, which the projector does really well.... I didn't really notice a difference when I switched it. I'll just have to watch a few more movies.

physical resolution is what you go with. so you got a 720p projector (I have the HD72), set it to 720p.

 

[JesseKnows]

The reason for not upconverting to component output is that there is no copy protection technology on component. If the DVD is encrypted (by CSS), the player is supposed to protect the output. HDMI has HDCP, component has nothing, and VGA is an exception because Intel owns HDCP and wanted to sell PCs.

And yes, CSS has been broken for years, but the CE industry still needs to obey the MPAA rules.

 

[PurdueRy]

Originally posted by: JesseKnows
The reason for not upconverting to component output is that there is no copy protection technology on component. If the DVD is encrypted (by CSS), the player is supposed to protect the output. HDMI has HDCP, component has nothing, and VGA is an exception because Intel owns HDCP and wanted to sell PCs.

And yes, CSS has been broken for years, but the CE industry still needs to obey the MPAA rules.

That argument doesn't make sense either at this point however. As HD-DVD's can currently be played back in full resolution over component.

In addition, one could always capture the DVD over component out(not upscaled) and upscale it later. It's not like the upscaling process is adding any detail.

 

[Captante]

Originally posted by: PurdueRy

Originally posted by: JesseKnows
The reason for not upconverting to component output is that there is no copy protection technology on component. If the DVD is encrypted (by CSS), the player is supposed to protect the output. HDMI has HDCP, component has nothing, and VGA is an exception because Intel owns HDCP and wanted to sell PCs.

And yes, CSS has been broken for years, but the CE industry still needs to obey the MPAA rules.

That argument doesn't make sense either at this point however. As HD-DVD's can currently be played back in full resolution over component.

In addition, one could always capture the DVD over component out(not upscaled) and upscale it later. It's not like the upscaling process is adding any detail.

It may not make sense, but it is in fact the reason up-converting doesn't work over component anymore using current DVD players although it is possible to buy used older models on E-bay for example that will do it ... DRM is such a joke.

 

[MrToilet]

Originally posted by: sdifox

Originally posted by: MrToilet
I just played Equilibrium (a kick-ass movie, btw) through HDMI, and it upscaled very nicely- I'm just wondering whether to stay at 720P (the projector's native resolution) or do 1080i, which the projector does really well.... I didn't really notice a difference when I switched it. I'll just have to watch a few more movies.

physical resolution is what you go with. so you got a 720p projector (I have the HD72), set it to 720p.

Yeah, there really isn't a difference on my projector between 720 and 1080. It looks the same to me... the upconversion is awesome (just watched Lord of War last night).

Damn, I want another projector! And a bigger screen! 120" should just about do it...

 

[sdifox]

Originally posted by: MrToilet

Originally posted by: sdifox

Originally posted by: MrToilet
I just played Equilibrium (a kick-ass movie, btw) through HDMI, and it upscaled very nicely- I'm just wondering whether to stay at 720P (the projector's native resolution) or do 1080i, which the projector does really well.... I didn't really notice a difference when I switched it. I'll just have to watch a few more movies.

physical resolution is what you go with. so you got a 720p projector (I have the HD72), set it to 720p.

Yeah, there really isn't a difference on my projector between 720 and 1080. It looks the same to me... the upconversion is awesome (just watched Lord of War last night).

Damn, I want another projector! And a bigger screen! 120" should just about do it...

Costco.ca has the BenQ W10000 for 3K before taxes voila