Please Recommend Processor(s) to Scale DVDs to 1080p

[dped91]

I need advice deciding between two schemes for deinterlacing and scaling 480 content to achieve the best results affordable on a late model 1080p 50" plasma TV. I decided against even the best Sony 48 or 55" OLED TVs as all TVs today are 4K, and however intelligent the algorithms in their processors are, scaling 480 to 4K is too likely to generate too many artifacts.


My collection of movies and TV series is sizable but only 30-odd movies and one TV series are on 1080p BD. The rest are on DVD, though pressed from Warners, Sony, Universal, Fox, CBS/Paramount, Studio Canal, et al.

Rather than my Oppo 95 or Pioneer LX500 players, I'd rather use the BD drive in the HTPC that I want to build-outputting the video via HDMI and the audio via USB to a DAC. The good news is I do no gaming, so I may not need a super powerful video card. But how much horsepower will I still need to make my DVDs look their best on a plasma?

I only know of two ways to do this. The first way is this expensive box, not that I have any experience using it. http://www.lumagen.com/testindex.php?module=radianceMini_details

The second way is certainly far most popular: Use an HTPC with a suitably powerful graphics card and madVR software, or the Jinc utility which I believe is built into JRiver player. But while Jinc's learning curve might not be very steep most users say madVR can take you days or weeks to produce decent results. I don't mind putting in reasonable time to learn as much as I can so long as my efforts bear good looking fruit.


However, the big concern here is fan noise, power draw and/or heat emission. My HTPC build is way overdue but it also needs to be virtually (~ 80%) silent-and in a
case no bigger than this. https://www.silverstonetek.com/product.php?pid=233&area=en

But a madVR user said this silent card's too weak. https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce/graphics-cards/gt-1030/specifications/

and to scale DVDs for a 1080p plasma-even when viewed 10 to 12 feet away-I'd at least need a card idling at 82 watts like this one.
https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce/graphics-cards/gtx-1650/

And the card's idling fan noise levels really aren't rated too well. https://www.anandtech.com/show/14270/the-nvidia-geforce-gtx-1650-review-feat-zotac/15

Same with this card. https://www.anandtech.com/show/15010/the-nvidia-geforce-gtx-1660-super-review-feat-evga/15

There is a fanless version of the 1650. https://www.a2kmedia.net/post/is-silent-gpu-any-good-palit-gtx-1650-kalmx

But that's assuming I wouldn't actually need some stronger and even noisier card for great looking DVDs on a 50" plasma @ 10 feet, using madVR or Jinc.

So is asking for low fan noise and stellar DVD to 1080p scaling from a video card pretty much asking for the impossible?

If so, then unless this less costly model would give exceptionally good results on my screen and viewing distance https://www.kramerav.com/us/product/vp-424c , would this processor produce indispensably better images? http://www.lumagen.com/testindex.php?module=radianceMini_details


BUT I'll be sending the audio to an external DAC via USB, so any problems syncing the video with the audio while the pc's playing the DVD via JRiver?

[manono]

...however intelligent the algorithms in their processors are, scaling 480 to 4K is too likely to generate too many artifacts.

No more than upscaling in software. Haven't you already watched DVDs on your 4K television? Anything wrong?

But how much horsepower will I still need to make my DVDs look their best on a plasma?

The only difference a more powerful processor will make is the jobs will take less time. My own opinion is the project is a complete waste of time. Again - my own opinion - your time would be better put to use by learning to 'restore' your poorer quality movies on DVD. If what you have is Hollywood's latest and greatest, then just enjoy them as-is.

[johnmeyer]

Upscaling and deinterlacing will probably give you very little benefit compared to other things you can do. Have you actually done some tests to see if the video looks better? I expect it will not.

The key thing for getting the best quality from DVDs is the DVD player and how you connect it. I don't know whether I'd use HDMI if component is available to you. Also, so much depends on what sort of processing each piece of equipment does.

But, to reiterate, any improvements you might get from all the work you are considering doing is likely to be small compared to using the right equipment and connecting it properly.

My advice: save yourself hundreds of hours of work and just watch the movies.

[ConsumerDV]

I need advice deciding between two schemes for deinterlacing and scaling 480 content to achieve the best results...

Message in a bottle from 2000.

...affordable on a late model 1080p 50" plasma TV.

No, from 2005.

I decided against even the best Sony 48 or 55" OLED TVs as all TVs today are 4K, and however intelligent the algorithms in their processors are, scaling 480 to 4K is too likely to generate too many artifacts.

It feels to me that TV/player manufacturers do not pay as much attention to deinterlacing as they did twenty years ago. I would continue using the Oppo player (I have a 981HD myself) for deinterlacing and let the TV do the scaling. As the others have suggested above, you won't see much better results with different scalers. OTOH, I would actually get an OLED TV for true black. Back then plasma TVs struggled with black. Well, maybe yours is ok. Mine is not: when about half the screen gets bright, the other half that is supposed to be black, turns grayish. So, to me an OLED TV is the first in my list of upgrades. Alas, my 2007 plasma still works, and I don't feel like throwing it away.

[Constant Gardener]

I have yet to see an upscaled DVD that can rival 1080p or 4K source. I have a 2005-vintage Oppo DVD player that upscales to 1080i, further upscaled by a 4K OLED TV. I find the result quite tolerable, particularly with B&W DVDs. The stuff that just doesn't upscale well gets watched on a tablet or a window on the desktop.

Sometimes, though, I just have to track down true HD versions, which look much better. The few that I've purchased cost much less than a dedicated video-processing computer.

[dped91]

...however intelligent the algorithms in their processors are, scaling 480 to 4K is too likely to generate too many artifacts.

No more than upscaling in software. Haven't you already watched DVDs on your 4K television? Anything wrong?

But how much horsepower will I still need to make my DVDs look their best on a plasma?

The only difference a more powerful processor will make is the jobs will take less time. My own opinion is the project is a complete waste of time. Again - my own opinion - your time would be better put to use by learning to 'restore' your poorer quality movies on DVD. If what you have is Hollywood's latest and greatest, then just enjoy them as-is.

Yes, feel free to LOL: I have neither that 50" plasma nor a 4K TV. I have a 32" Toshiba CRT that I watch from ~ 10 feet. But if one of these upscaling schemes would fly well then the plan was to buy a 2012-13 Panasonic 50" plasma. They are available, can be had for little money and there are at least four shops in my area who not only fix them but can likely find me a model from my preferred list of at least six and get it working very well.

"Restoring" DVDs? How could I make, for example, the Paramount pressed DVD release of "Chinatown" look better? Using what? Restoration software that does for video what this does for audio? https://www.izotope.com/en/products/rx.html Noooooo thanks. I was looking for a "let the hardware do the restoration in real time whenever I play the DVD" fix.

[dped91]

I have yet to see an upscaled DVD that can rival 1080p or 4K source. I have a 2005-vintage Oppo DVD player that upscales to 1080i, further upscaled by a 4K OLED TV. I find the result quite tolerable, particularly with B&W DVDs. The stuff that just doesn't upscale well gets watched on a tablet or a window on the desktop.

Sometimes, though, I just have to track down true HD versions, which look much better. The few that I've purchased cost much less than a dedicated video-processing computer.

Glad to hear that at least your B/W content on DVD so upscaled looks "quite tolerable", as at least half of my stuff on DVD are monochrome.

[manono]

...however intelligent the algorithms in their processors are, scaling 480 to 4K is too likely to generate too many artifacts.

No more than upscaling in software. Haven't you already watched DVDs on your 4K television? Anything wrong?Yes, feel free to LOL: I have neither that 50" plasma nor a 4K TV. I have a 32" Toshiba CRT that I watch from ~ 10 feet. But if one of these upscaling schemes would fly well then the plan was to buy a 2012-13 Panasonic 50" plasma.

I apologize. I saw the reference to 4K and took it from there. But it begs the question, if you neither have nor plan to buy a 4K television, why even bring it up? And why even consider upscaling to 4K?

"Restoring" DVDs?

Yes, restoring DVDs. Using AviSynth or such front ends for it like Film9. Since you wrote that many of your DVDs are black and white, I suspect quite a few could use improvement.

Film9 thread here:
https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/369010-FILM9-Restoration-software-for-old-films-%2...m%29-and-video

[dped91]

[QUOTE=manono;2654061] I apologize. I saw the reference to 4K and took it from there. But it begs the question, if you neither have nor plan to buy a 4K television, why even bring it up? And why even consider upscaling to 4K? [QUOTE] ??? Whatever gave you the impression that I would want to upscale DVDs to 4K?? Look at how much processing would be necessary. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4K_resolution#/media/File:grin:igital_video_resolutions_...VCD_to_4K).svg How likely a favorable image?

That's why instead of an OLED-which like ALL TVs today are 4K-I reasoned that choosing a used but quite serviceable 1080p plasma would give me more believable images from a standard resolution format like DVD. However, what I might do soon after installing the plasma in one room would be to install an OLED in another room just for playing BDs. They would look great while expanding the longevity of the plasma.

[dped91]

Yes, restoring DVDs. Using AviSynth or such front ends for it like Film9. Since you wrote that many of your DVDs are black and white, I suspect quite a few could use improvement.

Film9 thread here:
https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/369010-FILM9-Restoration-software-for-old-films-%2...m%29-and-video

Nope, I don't think you read my post correctly. I said that ALL of my DVDs were PRESSED-not burned. Only major movie studios or licensed distributors (Kino, Criterion Collection, ShoutFactory, Twilight Time, et al) press DVDs and BDs, and which typically have less errors and longer life spans than burned discs. And both almost invariably produce these discs using the best available picture and sound masters. So resorting to any such restoration software would likely only yield little if any benefit for the time and effort I'd have to sink into it. In any case, non-GUI software would greatly add to any learning curve, nor would I want to store movies on a server. But thanks for the thought.

[usually_quiet]

That's why rather than go for a 2022 top Sony OLED-which like ALL TVs today are 4K-I reasoned that choosing a used by quite serviceable 1080p plasma would give me more believable images from a standard resolution format like DVD.

It's true that if you want a plasma TV then you have to get a used one and it's true that new TVs with big screens are all 4K resolution or 8K resolution but it is still possible to get new LED LCD HDTVs with 40", 32", and smaller screens.

[manono]

Whatever gave you the impression that I would want to upscale DVDs to 4K??

Because you said you were at least thinking about it:

...however intelligent the algorithms in their processors are, scaling 480 to 4K is too likely to generate too many artifacts.

I'd say most people (including me) have 4K televisions these days. And I'd also say most people (including me) think their DVDs look just fine on them.

I said that ALL of my DVDs were PRESSED-not burned.

You did, yes, but that's no guarantee of quality. But if you say the quality for them all is so good that none need any "restoring", then I'd also say they'll all look fine upscaled to whatever resolution television you have or plan to get in the future.

That's why rather than go for a 2022 top Sony OLED-which like ALL TVs today are 4K-I reasoned that choosing a used by quite serviceable 1080p plasma would give me more believable images from a standard resolution format like DVD.

I thought you didn't want to buy a decent modern television set because of the cost. But I still think that's bogus reasoning. As I said at first, your proposed upscaling project "is a complete waste of time." Just my opinion, worth about what you paid for it. Feel free to have the last word.

[johnmeyer]

As for 4K TVs, you really won't see much, if any difference compared to 1920x1080 HD, even with 4K source material, unless you have a REALLY big TV screen. There are thousands of tests you can find on the Internet which will prove this out, and also mathematical models. Here's the first one Google turned up:

https://www.experienceuhd.com/blog/can-human-eye-see-difference-between-1080p-and-4k

In the showroom, I've never been able to tell much difference unless I'm super close to the set, or unless the screen is more than 80". With a typical 55-60" screen at a usual viewing distance of 10-15 feet, you won't really get much "wow" from a 4K TV with 4K source material.

[ConsumerDV]

Yep. 4K vs HD is less visible than HDR or true black on OLED. Although I've heard that several late generations of plasma were also close to true black. Extra resolution may not look cinematic (whatever that means) for black-and-white movies. Mank was shot digitally and then softened to match the look of 1930s movies.

[rrats]

...however intelligent the algorithms in their processors are, scaling 480 to 4K is too likely to generate too many artifacts.

are you sure all of the DNR and interpolations are off

[Brad]

I would go "late model plasma with deep blacks" over OLED for OP's purpose, simply because plasma is better in motion. (Compared to OLED with soap opera effect disabled.)

Personally, I have a 40" 854x480 plasma mounted on my living room wall next to my 65" 4K OLED. I can split a 480p or 480i video feed and send it to both displays to see which I prefer. I like the 480p monitor solution because it sidesteps the scaling issue. Still have to worry about deinterlacing performance though! And the downside is that any 480p display is not going to be one of the last-generation plasmas that has fantastic blacks.


The purpose for me: I watch a lot of old SD TV shows that can never be remastered.

The idea of watching your Hollywood movie DVD collection upscaled when there is an HD or 4K copy out there is not something I would do, but then I'm a crazy videophile.

But a madVR user said this silent card's too weak. https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce/graphics-cards/gt-1030/specifications/

I have a silent version of GT1030, if there are any madVR tests you want me to perform. But I'm sure the other user was correct, as madVR is a GPU resource hog and this is a very low-spec card.

[dped91]

Upscaling and deinterlacing will probably give you very little benefit compared to other things you can do. Have you actually done some tests to see if the video looks better? I expect it will not.

The key thing for getting the best quality from DVDs is the DVD player and how you connect it. I don't know whether I'd use HDMI if component is available to you. Also, so much depends on what sort of processing each piece of equipment does.

But, to reiterate, any improvements you might get from all the work you are considering doing is likely to be small compared to using the right equipment and connecting it properly.

My advice: save yourself hundreds of hours of work and just watch the movies.

I certainly agree that the quality of the hardware (and DVD/BD playing software in my case) and how you connect it will have a big impact on how DVDs look on any digital display. But don't I want to continually rely on my excellent Oppo 95 or Pioneer LX500 players, as well designed fully featured hardwired BD players are a dying breed with limited service support. So I'd rather more often play BDs and DVDs via JRiver on the BD drive (which show no signs of being phased out) in the HTPC which I'll soon have built-outputting the video via HDMI and the audio via USB to a DAC.

I especially like JRiver as it is the only Windows player I found with fully functional zoom control (like my Pioneer LX500) where (with the mouse or compatible wireless remote) you can move any part of the zoomed image to center it on the screen. I always found zoom to be lots of fun to play with since the days of using my remarkable JVC XV-NA70BK DVD player. I don't yet have the Exasound multichannel DAC for my 5.1 system to do this, but JRiver is also known for trouble free DTS MA decoding and works seamlessly with DIRAC room correction.

Indeed, while many users of JRiver and other software players (e.g. Media Player Classic, Kodi, VLC) use madVR, depending on the power of your video card, JRiver apparently does some degree of upscaling by default, as Wer mentions in his first two replies to Stream HD here.
https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=126951.0 So that at least would be a reference start point of quality for me while using JRiver to play DVDs on the plasma.

As for connectivity, I'm curious why you imply that there would be some potential for loss in video quality using my Oppo's HDMI video output to feed the plasma's HDMI input, since no D/A conversion occurs-whereas there would be D/A conversion within the Oppo player when outputting via its component video output.

In any case, the HTPC has no component video output, of course. But if there's a technically valid reason to use it I do have this box which I presently use between my Pioneer LX500 BD player (which has no analog video outputs) and my CRT TV.
https://www.blackbox.com/en-ca/store/product/detail/hdmi-to-analog-video-converter-and...vsc-hdmi-video

[dped91]

It feels to me that TV/player manufacturers do not pay as much attention to deinterlacing as they did twenty years ago. I would continue using the Oppo player (I have a 981HD myself) for deinterlacing and let the TV do the scaling. As the others have suggested above, you won't see much better results with different scalers. OTOH, I would actually get an OLED TV for true black. Back then plasma TVs struggled with black. Well, maybe yours is ok. Mine is not: when about half the screen gets bright, the other half that is supposed to be black, turns grayish. So, to me an OLED TV is the first in my list of upgrades. Alas, my 2007 plasma still works, and I don't feel like throwing it away.

Well, perhaps not 20 years ago, as the Oppo 95 came out circa 2011. https://www.theabsolutesound.com/articles/oppo-bdp-95-blu-rayuniversal-player-tpv-103

[dped91]

That's why rather than go for a 2022 top Sony OLED-which like ALL TVs today are 4K-I reasoned that choosing a used by quite serviceable 1080p plasma would give me more believable images from a standard resolution format like DVD.

It's true that if you want a plasma TV then you have to get a used one and it's true that new TVs with big screens are all 4K resolution or 8K resolution but it is still possible to get new LED LCD HDTVs with 40", 32", and smaller screens.

No, the contrast ratio and gray scale of LED LCD TVs can't come close to that of plasmas, CRTs and certainly OLEDs. And 40" or smaller would defeat the purpose my wanting to go bigger than my 32" CRT.

[ConsumerDV]

In 2011 Oppo was practically the only attainable brand that cared about image quality and customer satisfaction. Twenty years ago brands were forced to care.

[dped91]

I would go "late model plasma with deep blacks" over OLED for OP's purpose, simply because plasma is better in motion. (Compared to OLED with soap opera effect disabled.)

Personally, I have a 40" 854x480 plasma mounted on my living room wall next to my 65" 4K OLED. I can split a 480p or 480i video feed and send it to both displays to see which I prefer. I like the 480p monitor solution because it sidesteps the scaling issue. Still have to worry about deinterlacing performance though! And the downside is that any 480p display is not going to be one of the last-generation plasmas that has fantastic blacks.


The purpose for me: I watch a lot of old SD TV shows that can never be remastered.

The idea of watching your Hollywood movie DVD collection upscaled when there is an HD or 4K copy out there is not something I would do, but then I'm a crazy videophile.

But a madVR user said this silent card's too weak. https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce/graphics-cards/gt-1030/specifications/

I have a silent version of GT1030, if there are any madVR tests you want me to perform. But I'm sure the other user was correct, as madVR is a GPU resource hog and this is a very low-spec card.

Our situations are indeed very similar. As for movies, at least I can say that most of my favorite titles I now also have on BD, often because I also loved the soundtracks of them that I wanted them in lossless DTS-MA.

But I have on BD only one of the seven or so TV shows I have on DVD. And the rest have all but zero change of getting released on BD. So unless Yang's "two step" upscaling scheme would give good or better results on an OLED https://www.hometheaterforum.com/community/threads/please-recommend-processor-s-to-sca.../#post-5107491 (yes??), then a late model 1080p plasma for vintage DVDs makes more sense than a 4k OLED.

But is there a reason why you chose a 40" over a 50" plasma? For the same reason why everything in my collection looks essentially excellent on my 32" CRT? Certainly, the smaller the plasma screen the less chance of noticeable pixelation and other problems due to standard resolution source material.

But how far away do you watch the screen?

However, since you offered to run some tests with madVR and that you have a 40" rather than a 50" plasma this may yield very informative results even with the lowly 1030 fanless GeoForce 1030 card.

Do you have any DVDs in your collection (or borrowed from the public library as I often do) and were actual pressed issues from Warners, Sony, Universal, Fox, CBS/Paramount , Disney or other big names-be they in color or B/W? If yes, please set madVR to some moderately powerful algorithm-one that won't come close to overheating that 1030GT card-while playing the some of those DVDs on your computer.

Now how do a few of those color and B/W movies or TV shows look on your 40" plasma?

IF they look as good as they do when played on your Oppo or top model Panasonic or Pioneer player feeding the plasma, then would madVR, using a GeoForce 1650 4GB card-and using the same algorithm or maybe one slightly more muscular-give the same or better quality results with the same DVDs on a 50" plasma?

And how will they look ~ 11 feet away?

[ConsumerDV]

But is there a reason why you chose a 40" over a 50" plasma?

EDTV panel resolution. I think these panels had never gone beyond 42 inches.

I apologize for a snarky comment above, in fact I am kicking myself for not buying a 50-inch Kuro when it was on sale in Costco. I guess the choice would be between the Kuro and, say, 8 to 11 generations of Panasonic panels. I've read some reports that later panels would dim too quickly.

I like my 50-inch plasma for motion portrayal. Fifteen or so years ago I looked at early LCD panels and could not stand the motion, it was like an LED blinker on a car in front of you: ON-OFF-ON-OFF, without fade in and fade out. So I did not buy a Sharp Aquos and instead went with a Panasonic plasma, that is far from perfect, but it still works. Also, its native resolution is 1366x768, so it scales everything, but this have never bothered me much. Later plasma panels are native 1080-line.

LCDs are much better now, higher refresh rate, smoother. and OLED looks quite smooth to me as well.

[johnmeyer]

As for connectivity, I'm curious why you imply that there would be some potential for loss in video quality using my Oppo's HDMI video output to feed the plasma's HDMI input, since no D/A conversion occurs-whereas there would be D/A conversion within the Oppo player when outputting via its component video output.

You are probably right. I was sloppy in how I worded my post. All I was trying to say is that you need to try whatever options your equipment might offer. I was thinking of the old, rather counter intuitive discovery several decades ago where I found out that with a laserdisc player, the S-Video output provided no advantage, unlike a VCR where it made a massive difference.

I was also thinking of my own experience when I got my first HD TV in 2010 and initially hooked up my Pioneer DVD via composite. Ugh! When I switched to component, the result looked almost as good as HD.

I have also experimented with HDMI vs. component using my Hauppauge PVR 2 capture, which I have set up so I can capture either composite, component, or HDMI through a "splitter" that lets me record any HDMI stream, regardless of source. HDMI usually wins but component, from an HD source is remarkably good, and you never need to worry about copy protection issues which the splitter usually, but not always, solves.

[dped91]

But is there a reason why you chose a 40" over a 50" plasma?

EDTV panel resolution. I think these panels had never gone beyond 42 inches.

I apologize for a snarky comment above, in fact I am kicking myself for not buying a 50-inch Kuro when it was on sale in Costco. I guess the choice would be between the Kuro and, say, 8 to 11 generations of Panasonic panels. I've read some reports that later panels would dim too quickly.

Yes, most people at AVS and other forums say that the 500m Kuro was virtually unbeatable, and most who own them keep them for as long as a local shop can repair them. The only unlikeable thing about them would have to be their absurdly wide bezels (??), which could have been very distracting especially if they were rather glossy rather than flat black-and perhaps even more so when watching 1.33:1 content, at least for those like me who would rarely zoom the entire length of the movie to fill the screen, thereby losing content. However, late model Panasonic plasmas had much thinner bezels. And I only watch content in a very dimly lit room-and because I would likely also turn down the plasma's brightness doing so may also extend the life of the panel.

[usually_quiet]

No, the contrast ratio and gray scale of LED LCD TVs can't come close to that of plasmas, CRTs and certainly OLEDs. And 40" or smaller would defeat the purpose my wanting to go bigger than my 32" CRT.

I'm still using 32"LCD HDTVs backlit with either LEDs or fluorescent lights to watch my DVDs. They look OK to me, with a better picture than a 21" CRT, which is what I had before the LCDs, but I don't watch TV in a darkened room. I will be getting a 4K TV sooner or later but I will probably get another LCD with quantum dots for enhanced colors. OLEDs still cost too much and HDR can't get as bright as LCDs so they are better for watching TV in a darkened room. [Edit] For example, the 48" version of the LG C1 (a 2021 model) is the least expensive good OLED TV that I know of, now on sale for only ~$1000.

[Brad]

Personally, I have a 40" 854x480 plasma mounted on my living room wall next to my 65" 4K OLED. I can split a 480p or 480i video feed and send it to both displays to see which I prefer. I like the 480p monitor solution because it sidesteps the scaling issue.
[...]
I have a silent version of GT1030, if there are any madVR tests you want me to perform. But I'm sure the other user was correct, as madVR is a GPU resource hog and this is a very low-spec card.

since you offered to run some tests with madVR and that you have a 40" rather than a 50" plasma this may yield very informative results even with the lowly 1030 fanless GeoForce 1030 card.

Do you have any DVDs in your collection (or borrowed from the public library as I often do) and were actual pressed issues from Warners, Sony, Universal, Fox, CBS/Paramount , Disney or other big names-be they in color or B/W? If yes, please set madVR to some moderately powerful algorithm-one that won't come close to overheating that 1030GT card-while playing the some of those DVDs on your computer.

Now how do a few of those color and B/W movies or TV shows look on your 40" plasma?

Sorry, I don't understand what you're proposing. Isn't madVR's main goal to scale from 480p to higher resolutions? The whole reason for owning the 480p plasma is to avoid that scaling. If I were to test out madVR's scaling I would do it on the 2160p screen.

And how will they look ~ 11 feet away?

I would never watch the 40" that far away. I like 6 feet, going a bit further back to accommodate lower-quality sources.

But is there a reason why you chose a 40" over a 50" plasma?

As ConsumerDV answered, they never made EDTV panels that large, so there was no choice involved.

[dped91]

[QUOTE=Brad;2654251][QUOTE=dped91;2654161]

Sorry, I don't understand what you're proposing. Isn't madVR's main goal to scale from 480p to higher resolutions? The whole reason for owning the 480p plasma is to avoid that scaling. If I were to test out madVR's scaling I would do it on the 2160p screen.

Sorry, my mistake. Yes, attempting madVR scaling of DVDs to display on your 65" 4K OLED TV is absolutely the right kind of test as it will show how well DVDs will look on a screen twice the resolution and also bigger than a 1080p 50" plasma.

So again, using your low spec fanless GT1030 card and setting madVR to some moderately powerful algorithm-one that won't come close to overheating that 1030GT card-while playing the some of the pressed DVDs from Warners, Sony, Universal, Fox, CBS/Paramount, and in color or B/W, on your computer.

Now how do those color and B/W movies or TV show DVDs look on your 65" 4K OLED?

And how will they look X (??) feet away on that TV?

[dped91]

The idea of watching your Hollywood movie DVD collection upscaled when there is an HD or 4K copy out there is not something I would do, but then I'm a crazy videophile.

But a madVR user said this silent card's too weak. https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce/graphics-cards/gt-1030/specifications/

I have a silent version of GT1030, if there are any madVR tests you want me to perform. But I'm sure the other user was correct, as madVR is a GPU resource hog and this is a very low-spec card.

Sorry for this late reply. I don't often visit this otherwise invaluable forum but did today for some DVD ripping advice and saw your PM. Last year I had these guys build me a virtually silent HDPC. https://www.steigerdynamics.com/
https://www.silverstonetek.com/en/product/info/computer-chassis/GD05/
https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/products/212267/intel-xeon-w1390-processor...-5-20-ghz.html
https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/W480M-VISION-W-rev-10/support#support-dl-driver
https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/evga-nvidia-geforce-gtx_1660_super-sc-ultra
https://www.argusmonitor.com/overview_fan_control.php?language=en
Kington 32GB ECC memory
https://www.lg.com/us/burners-drives/lg-wh16ns60-internal-blu-ray-dvd-drive

Embarrassingly, I still haven't settled on a 65" Sony LED or OLED TV, as I'm still working with builders to finish my 2.3 sound system, and then the 5.3 system for TV audio. But Steiger are mad VR experts so they no doubt chose that 1660 super card for its noise vs. horsepower figures, and programmed the Argus software accordingly.

However, when the time comes I will first see how well my DVDs (e.g. of TV shows and movies unavailable on BD) look and what the fan noise levels are via JRiver's JRVR scaler, before trying mad VR.