Progressive scan, is it worth upgrading?

[pharries]

I have just purchaced a HDTV. I have a 3 year old Pioneer DVD player. Is it worth getting a progressive scan DVD player. Is it all hype or is there a definate improvement in quality? I am not a Pixel counter, do movies really look better?

[jnk76]

if you see the picture side by side.......yes.
Now that you have an HDTV......it will be even more visible.
On a regular tv........almost no difference.

[louthewiz]

I got a panasonic and a denon dvd player with progressive scan and an hdtv and believe me there is a big difference in quality :P

[vandakeg]

On a regular tv........almost no difference

actually... on a regular tv there is absolutely no difference, since regular tvs cannot accept a progressive signal.

[j1d10t]

I've got an RCA non-progressive scan DVD player, and a Sony 51 inch widescreen HDTV, and it looks great. I can't imagine it getting any better with a progressive scan DVD player - It already looks like I'm looking out a window when I'm 3 feet in front of it (I don't normally sit 3 feet in front of it, but it still looks great at that distance.) It looks better than my friends progressive scan player on his HDTV. It may have to do with brands, but I can't say for sure. I'd say, if your happy with your player, wait until it dies. But if the picture doesn't looks that good, then go for the progressive scan player.

[jnk76]

Quote:
On a regular tv........almost no difference


actually... on a regular tv there is absolutely no difference, since regular tvs cannot accept a progressive signal.

Only partially true.....there are TV's that are not HDTV but do accept the 480p from a progressive scan player.

[Hardcoreruss]

There is a large noticeable diff if you ask me. Looks so much better.

[flaninacupboard]

depends on the material you are watching. there's an easy way to tell. Watch a scene from your favourite film on an interlaced TV, not too big though. then watch the same scene on your PC (which is a progressive device) and see if there's any difference. on an action film or a space adventure, you'll probably see a difference, on a romantic comedy, probably not. mind you, i'm speaking from a PAL perspective. NTSC is teleclined (ugly) on DVD wheras PAL is usually just progressive 25fps. Personally i don't think the cost of progressive equipment is justified, and i've seen some nasty results with sets that don't know when their source is interlaced, so you get interlace artifacts. i'd say the biggest idfference from an NTSC perspective is that you're watching 24fps instead of 30fps teleclined, but i may be wrong.

[vandakeg]

actually... on a regular tv there is absolutely no difference, since regular tvs cannot accept a progressive signal.





Only partially true.....there are TV's that are not HDTV but do accept the 480p from a progressive scan player.

you're right, but those are EDTVs (Enhanced Definition) which i wouldn't consider a regular tv..... look at me, starting a worthless argument!

[flaninacupboard]

it's weird, in america you have HDTV and EDTV, either of which could be fullscreen or widescreen, but you usually mean widescreen when you say HDTV, but sometimes you -just- mean wide screen but not high definition.... in short it's a bit on the confusing side. in the uk we have widescreen if it's widescreen, and progressive if it's progressive. and that's where the madness ends.......