Upscaling DVD Players

[mf1462]

Could anyone compare the quality of a dvd on an Upscaled dvd player using hdmi output. To a HD broadcast movie such as on HBO HD or TNT HD movie that was not filmed in HD.

example: Spiderman broadcast on TNTHD compared to the DVD on an upscaled HDMI DVD Player.

I Understand the results may be mixed, but would the DVD be as good as those HBO HD movies.

[edDV]

Could anyone compare the quality of a dvd on an Upscaled dvd player using hdmi output. To a HD broadcast movie such as on HBO HD or TNT HD movie that was not filmed in HD.

example: Spiderman broadcast on TNTHD compared to the DVD on an upscaled HDMI DVD Player.

I Understand the results may be mixed, but would the DVD be as good as those HBO HD movies.

The TV networks can broadcast in true HDTV (HBO and TNT use 1080i) or upscale SD "D1" versions of the movie (480i) to 1080i. When they upscale they use multi thousand $ upscalers.

A home DVD player can play a 23.976 480p progressive DVD in 480i, 480p or upscale to 720p or 1080i.

480i (720x480 29.97 telecined fps) - this would be similar to TV 480i

480p (720x480 59.94 progressive fps) - this would be the best raw DVD display. Quality of the HDTV display depends on how the TV displays 480p

720p (upscaled 1280x720 59.94 progressive fps) - This would look best on a LDC or plasma display with ~720p native screen resolution. These HDTV sets also have internal scalers thet will upscale 480p inputs to native screen resolution so you don't need an upscaling DVD player after all.

1080i (upscaled 1920x1080 29.97 telecined fps) - this places all the conversion burden on the upscaling DVD player. It bypasses all the internal HDTV 480p processing. To answer your question, a TV station would be using expensive equipment for this upscale. Your $150 upscaling DVD player is not likely to be as good. It may not be as good as the internal 480p display modes built into the HDTV.

[jagabo]

Could anyone compare the quality of a dvd on an Upscaled dvd player using hdmi output. To a HD broadcast movie such as on HBO HD or TNT HD movie that was not filmed in HD.

Not exactly what you were looking for but:

http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/autumn_2007_video_shootout/

The next time someone claims that upsampled DVD looks just as good as Blu-ray, you should point them to this article. Sure, you can do a lot of hand waving or argue that if you sit 25 feet away from your 25” TV that DVD and Blu-ray are identical, but for rest of us, high-definition media such as Blu-ray and HD DVD will clearly provide a step-up in terms of performance.

[Krispy Kritter]

You can't compare DVD/upscaled DVD to HD. After you see the difference, you will understand. There is some improvement, which varies greatly with the hardware being used, but is not even close to HD quality.

Upscale debate aside, choose a dvd player based on playback quality and reviews (such as Oppo http://oppodigital.com/dv981hd/dv981hd_index.html ), and/or take the plunge into HD-DVD/Blu-Ray.