viewing Vhs ... hdmi output better?

[Tom81]

I am plugging my vhs player into an Epson video projector with composite output to composite input on the Epson (the projector model does not have svhs input but does have hdmi input). If I get a dvd/vhs combo unit with an hdmi output and use that to input into the Epson will I get a noticeably, better picture projected from VHS tape?

[davexnet]

I don't think there is a clear cut answer. Will the combo unit be doing any noise reduction and/or picture stabilization? Upscale?

[GAhere]

Short answer.. NO.

SD video, is SD video quality no matter how much you process and reprocess.

In fact doing so potentially could have the opposite effect of what you are trying to accomplish as you are adding a lot of uneeded signal processing into the chain.

Longer answer..

The video inputs like composite, S-Video, Component are already "scaled up" in your viewing device. A "scaler" should already be built in to the TV or in your case projector if it has lower resolution inputs. A scaler takes lower resolutions and converts them to a more usable format which matches the viewing devices "native" resolution.

It is however possible that the built in scaler may not be as good as it should or could be. For those cases then what you want is a standalone EXTERNAL scaler which may or may not be superior to the built in scaler. A standalone scaler will not have additional extra processing that may degrade the picture further or introduce unwanted artifacts or delay the video (delayed video means the video will lag the audio causing a noticeable sync problem when folks are talking)..

Up Scalers (SD to HDMI) work by adding duplicate lines into the digital stream, they do not add more detail by doing so so they are not miracle workers.

In your case, you could by a composite to HDMI scaler and see if you get an improvement, they often will give you several settings like 720 and 1080.. But be warned, don't expect the SD video from a VHS tape to look as good as a video source that started life as 720 or 1080..

VHS is a pretty poor example of SD quality video to start with, Beta, 8mm tape, Hi8mm tape and DVD were far superior in SD video quality and if the VHS was recorded in SLP (6hr mode) it is almost not worth messing with unless you are trying to play "home movies" you recorded of your family on a camcorder..

If it is commercially available movie releases on VHS, you are better off buying DVD versions which are far superior to VHS in every aspect for video and sound quality. Granted, not every movie released on VHS have been rereleased on DVD, but most have been.

Back to home movies, you might consider the idea of doing a video capture to digital format, then you can try out making enhancements/alterations via editing software. This also gives you the chance to also upscale by saving the video in a higher resolution format. But be aware, sometimes trying to enhance details to be sharper with VHS will often create other noticeable defects, it becomes a game of trade offs..

But no matter what you do, you cannot put more detail or info into VHS recordings if that is what you are wanting to do..