Upscaling DVD Players and PC DVI Out

[mehmetmunur]

Upscaling DVDs with HDMI or DVI outputs are the latest craze. But dropping another $150-3000 on a DVD player before the release of BR and HD-DVD does not make a lot of sense. So, if I were to have a fixed-pixel screen, say a 42" plasma, what would the difference between an upscaling DVD player and a PC running a DVD software player with a DVI out graphics card be?
Does a PC upscale the DVD the same way a DVD player with an HDMI out would?
Obviously one of them uses a chip (faroudja etc) and the other a GPU, CPU and software. But a 6600GT (which is what I have) could output to a plasma with 1024*768 resolution with no problem?
So does the PC ultimately " upscale" when it is playing a DVD in a similar way that an upscaling DVD player might? If it does, what are the differences in quality?
Thanks for the input in advance.

 

[Rage187]

I have had the Samsung HD931 and 941, they look fantastic at 1080i, and it's very noticeable.

Well worth the $120


Not sure about PC but I think they just play content in its original format.

 

[mehmetmunur]

Correct me if I am wrong but DVDs are 480i (NTSC), and they have to be de-interlaced and the resolution has to be changed, so there is some sort of upscaling going on. What is the difference?

 

[mehmetmunur]

Bump.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: mehmetmunur
Correct me if I am wrong but DVDs are 480i (NTSC), and they have to be de-interlaced and the resolution has to be changed, so there is some sort of upscaling going on. What is the difference?

Yeah, DVDs are 480i so if your player is outputting anything other than 480i it's doing some scaling and deinterlacing.

I haven't gotten into computers for playing DVDs, but there are some decent upconverting DVD players in a reasonable pricerange.

The Oppo 971 and Panasonic S77/S97 are nice players in the $200-$300 range for image quality and they upscale via their digital video outputs. They all have a Faroudja scaler/deinterlacer chip in them which is quite a good one. Unfortunately they all suffer a bit from the macroblocking problem which may or may not be an issue for your display.

 

[mehmetmunur]

As I suggested earlier, I would not spend any money for a DVD player that is going to be outdated in the next 6 months when my PC can do a similar/better job then that DVD player. So the question still remains, WHAT is the DIFFERENCE in quality?

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: mehmetmunur
As I suggested earlier, I would not spend any money for a DVD player that is going to be outdated in the next 6 months when my PC can do a similar/better job then that DVD player. So the question still remains, WHAT is the DIFFERENCE in quality?

I think if you ask here you'll get a better response (naturally searching too)

 

[mehmetmunur]

Since answers have not been very forthcoming here, I just posted a similar question there as well.
The problem is that this is a question that it concerns both PC and AV, and I am waiting for that guy who is knowledgeable in both.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

I didn't read this one, but I did a quick search for you and found it
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=608469

And you might want to check out info on ffdshow

 

[mehmetmunur]

Thanks, I had not done an in depth research at AVSForum.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: mehmetmunur
Thanks, I had not done an in depth research at AVSForum.

No problem. I hope it has some good info for you.

 

[kurt454]

Upscaling with a PC can look very good, BUT you need a healthy CPU in your machine to run ffdshow. You also will need lots of time on your hands to tweak settings and read forums to get much out of a PC. If you want to plug and go, then get the standalone upscaling DVD player.

 

[mehmetmunur]

Loads of info, thanks yoyo. A lot of free time on my hands, thanks for the heads up kurt.