Upgrading from Upscaling DVD player to 4k Blu Ray Player

[doffcocker]

Hi
I recently purchased a Hitachi 4K UHD HDR LED TV, and I have a Sony DVD player that upscales to 1080p which I have connected to the TV with a HDMI cable.

I have read all about how tricky it can be to get a nice picture out of DVD's on a 4k TV due to the upscaling/downscaling effect - I have tried all sorts of combinations of settings on both the DVD player and the TV but at best I manage to get a "just about watchable" picture. What bothers me most are these faint horizontal lines that are visible on most DVD's.

I'm not at all looking to get a HD image out of my DVD's, I'm just looking for a bit of an improvement on what I'm currently getting, and somebody suggested I buy a 4k Blu Ray Player, which although primarily intended for Blu Ray discs, should still have the ability to upscale standard DVD discs.

I'm just wondering if I'm understanding that correctly. Again, I'm not looking to get a HD/Blu-Ray standard quality picture from my DVDs, but can I expect a 4k Blu Ray Player to yield a better picture on my 4k TV from my DVDs than my current Sony 1080p upscaling DVD player?

Thanks.

[Cornucopia]

You're going to be upscaling somewhere - in the TV, in the DVD player, in the BluRay player - sometimes multiple times (possibly by accident). It just depends on the quality of the upscaling algorithm as to which is preferred. BD has the foreknowledge of being built with that in mind, so it might have some improvements, but other than that it could be anyone's guess, and you will just have to try various scenarios to see which looks best to you.


Scott

[usually_quiet]

Hi
I recently purchased a Hitachi 4K UHD HDR LED TV, and I have a Sony DVD player that upscales to 1080p which I have connected to the TV with a HDMI cable.

I have read all about how tricky it can be to get a nice picture out of DVD's on a 4k TV due to the upscaling/downscaling effect - I have tried all sorts of combinations of settings on both the DVD player and the TV but at best I manage to get a "just about watchable" picture. What bothers me most are these faint horizontal lines that are visible on most DVD's.

I'm not at all looking to get a HD image out of my DVD's, I'm just looking for a bit of an improvement on what I'm currently getting, and somebody suggested I buy a 4k Blu Ray Player, which although primarily intended for Blu Ray discs, should still have the ability to upscale standard DVD discs.

I'm just wondering if I'm understanding that correctly. Again, I'm not looking to get a HD/Blu-Ray standard quality picture from my DVDs, but can I expect a 4k Blu Ray Player to yield a better picture on my 4k TV from my DVDs than my current Sony 1080p upscaling DVD player?

Thanks.

Look at reviews for your TV to find out if there are any that rate its ability to upscale DVD resolution video. If the TV has poor 4K upscaling from DVD resolution, look for a UHD BD player or BD player that has superior 4K upscaling for DVD. Unless you plan to acquire a UHD Blu-ray collection you might be able to get away with a 4K upscaling Blu-ray player. The very best UHD Blu-ray players with the very best upscaling cost more than an average 4K TV.

[ConsumerDV]

What bothers me most are these faint horizontal lines that are visible on most DVD's.

Like short streaks? "Mouse teeth"? I am not surprised. It seems deinterlacing has not improved since the time HomeTheaterHiFi performed its now famous series of DVD players tests. If anything, it has got worse - my Sony BD player has a worse deinterlacer than my Oppo DVD player.

Can I expect a 4k Blu Ray Player to yield a better picture on my 4k TV from my DVDs than my current Sony 1080p upscaling DVD player?

I would not be very hopeful. Physical media is dying, and manufacturers are not keen on improvements, just trying to maximize ROI. OTOH, 4K still caries the flair of the latest and greatest... Maybe if you get a top of the line machine from a reputable brand... Not a lot of choice nowadays.

Gather DVDs on which you see artefacts and run them through a new machine. Also, get a DVD with test patterns, some of these can be found free on the Net. Too bad no one tests DVD/BD players as thoroughly as they did twenty years ago. You can try Spears & Munsil UHD HDR Benchmark, they also have one for BD. Sadly, the DVD version has been discontinued. Silicon Optix HQV Benchmark was a really good one, but HQV website seems has long been abandoned.

In your setup you can choose to deinterlace and upscale in the player or in the TV (two decades ago an outboard deinterlacer / scaler was also a solution). Or deinterlace in the player and upscale in the TV. Test and see which one works better. You would adjust the player's deinterlacer with a setting like "progressive scan" (this would convert to 60p, assuming it is NTSC) or "film" or "cinema" (this would convert to 24p for the content with film-like cadence).