Terrible interlacing on "upscaling" DVD player

[Ed Glaser]

Hi folks! Not sure if this topic has been discussed elsewhere; it's a little tricky to search for exactly what I need. But here's the short version:

I have a Pioneer DV-220V-K DVD player that allegedly upscales to 1080p. I have it connected via HDMI to my 1080p HDTV. However, the upscaling is pretty atrocious. When set to 1920x1080p resolution, the resulting image from the DVD player still has lots of interlacing yuckiness. The only way to avoid it is to bump the resolution all the way back down to 480i [!] -- at which point, of course, why bother with an "upscaling" player? Is there any way to fix this?

Or, since I expect the answer to the previous question is no, is there an upscaling DVD player that genuinely upscales without interlacing problems, and is also region-free?

Any assistance would be enormously appreciated! Cheers.

[edDV]

Hi folks! Not sure if this topic has been discussed elsewhere; it's a little tricky to search for exactly what I need. But here's the short version:

I have a Pioneer DV-220V-K DVD player that allegedly upscales to 1080p. I have it connected via HDMI to my 1080p HDTV. However, the upscaling is pretty atrocious. When set to 1920x1080p resolution, the resulting image from the DVD player still has lots of interlacing yuckiness. The only way to avoid it is to bump the resolution all the way back down to 480i [!] -- at which point, of course, why bother with an "upscaling" player? Is there any way to fix this?

Or, since I expect the answer to the previous question is no, is there an upscaling DVD player that genuinely upscales without interlacing problems, and is also region-free?

Any assistance would be enormously appreciated! Cheers.

At 480i or 480p the HDTV does the upscaling.

Are you playing movie DVD? Or interlace TV captures? Or files that were encoded to divx/xvid? The answer differs for each.

DVD movies are usually progressive to start.

TV captures are straight interlace or telecined film.

divx/xvid encodes were deinterlaced before encoding, often poorly.

If you are looking for close to the "best" DVD player line that also does PAL check the Oppo models.

[Ed Glaser]

Good question, edDV. I'm playing movie DVDs. For example, MGM's "Hercules" (1983, dir. Luigi Cozzi). Also the Shout! Factory DVD set of the "Home Movies" animated TV show.

Wow, the Oppo models are a bit on the pricey side! Not a dealbreaker, however, since I do want a good upscaling region-free player. But are there some sub-$200 models that can deliver what I'm looking for?

EDIT: Ah! I see it's that Oppo's DVD players are no longer being made -- only Blu-Ray.

[jagabo]

Philips 5990 or 5992. Most of the current lesser models too. Your TV will probably upscale as well as most DVD players. I suspect both of the DVDs you mentioned are encoded interlaced. It's surprising the Phioneer 220 doesn't do better with them.

[edDV]

You can still get them used.

A popular inexpensive model popular here in this forum is the Phillips 5990/92. I bought 2 at Costco for $49.99 each. They play PAL to NTSC, can be made region free and even play wmv.

There are several long threads on this model.
https://www.videohelp.com/search.php?cx=partner-pub-7958603558688719%3Agihjc8-79vb&cof=...sa=Search#1102

[Ed Glaser]

Hm, actually I'm willing to buy a more expensive player, but here are the issues I'm seeing:

First, my current player most likely does not deinterlace before upscaling, which is causing the problem. Second, it looks like the new Oppo players are not easily made region-free without a hardware mod.

I would imagine the Philips 5990 would give me the same problem as my current player?

[jagabo]

I would imagine the Philips 5990 would give me the same problem as my current player?

No. Not unless there's something wrong with those particular DVDs. The Philips players deinterlace interlaced material before upscaling.

[Ed Glaser]

I suspect both of the DVDs you mentioned are encoded interlaced.

I think you're probably right, jagabo. And apparently my Pioneer doesn't deal with them very well. Do the Philips 5990/92 deinterlace before upscaling?

(Also, thanks for all the help thus far!)

EDIT: D'oh! Apparently you already answered this! Thanks!

[jagabo]

The TV show was probably shot on video which would make it interlaced. The Hercules film was probably shot on film but telecined onto studio video tape for broadcast -- then the DVD was made from that tape.

[edDV]

Each type of video is analyzed by the player and influenced by user settings. That is why it gets complicated.

As said above, if you set the player to 480i, all processing is passed to the TV.

If you set 480p, progressive (movie) video is frame repeated 3:2:3:2 and passed as 59.94p to the TV for upscale.

If you set 480p, 480i video is inverse telecined or deinterlaced to 480p and sent to the TV at 59.94 fps.

If you set 1080i, 480p progressive (movie) video is upscaled and then telecined to 1080i 29.97 fps to the TV. The TV then inverse telecines to 24p (23.976 fps) , then frame repeats 3:2 to 59.94 fps or 5x to 119.88 fps (for 120Hz TV sets).

If you set 1080i, 480i video is upscaled and passed 1080i 29.97 fps to the TV. The TV then deinterlaces or inverse telecines to 59.94p, or frame repeats to 119.88 fps (for 120Hz TV sets).

I've skipped overscan for simplicity