DVD Players: Upgrade from SD to HD

Richard Jones wrote on 10/21/2009, 4:13 AM
I recently came across an advert for a DVD player (Toshiba) which said that it could upconvert a Standard Definition disc by scaling it to show at HD resolution (on an HD TV of course). This seems just to good to be true but I wonder if anyone has any experience of this?

There seems to be a number of potential problems. For example, what is rthe quality of the upgraded image like, are there any problems on the interlacing/progressive side, how are aspect ratios dealt with and are all the features (e.g. menus) of the original retained?

Finally, if the TV had only one HDMI socket with this already being used to play HD programmes via the satellite box, how would the DVD player be connected to the set?.

Richard

Comments

Grazie wrote on 10/21/2009, 4:34 AM
I have a SONY DVD "Upscaler" - marvellous! I can't recommend them enough. I have played from my non Upscaler and the difference for me is remarkable. So much so I have had to re-watch ALL my shop bought NON-HD DVDs again.

OK, plumbing; My Bravia has 2xHDMI sockets. So I have my BT-Vision box into one ( it was only a few weeks later that I realsied I had HDMI out from this BT-Box - fool!) and my Sony DVD Player into the other. I don't need the following: http://www.tamarshop.co.uk/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=141_154&products_id=641&zenid=1a6db99677b515369592e426c9a97608HDMI Auto Switcher - 2 Inputs -> 1 Output[/link]

Looks a neat cheap solution that auto-switcher?

Grazie
A. Grandt wrote on 10/21/2009, 5:02 AM
Just don't think that an upscaled DVD can beat true HD content (there are a few early exceptions where the BD release was worse than the comparable DVD, Robocop is one such release I've heard about).
The upscaler can only sharpen the information already on the DVD, it can not add any missing fine details that may (or may not) be seen on the HD releases like Blu-ray.
craftech wrote on 10/21/2009, 5:10 AM
I have a Toshiba HD-A1 and a Toshiba HD-A2. Both do an excellent job of upscaling regular DVDs.

However, to put this in perspective, if you don't start out with a good SD DVD, it doesn't wort that well. Likewise, as I tried two years ago to explain during the HD DVD vs Blu-Ray wars the same thing holds true. What the fanboys couldn't accept was that it was the HD disc itself that made the difference and not the theoretical specs of one format over the other. Some Blu-Ray discs suck and some don't. Some HD DVD discs sucked and some didn't. Some SD DVD discs suck and some don't. Start out with a disc that is of good quality and all this stuff looks amazing.

In terms of the HDMI switch, this one works really really well. I have one and you can also read the reviews.

John
TheHappyFriar wrote on 10/21/2009, 5:20 AM
my BD player has DVD's look so nice I don't even really want to spend the extra on BD's any more. :) Yeah, they're better, but it's like sirloin tip vs t-bone better. :D
JohnnyRoy wrote on 10/21/2009, 6:02 AM
> Just don't think that an upscaled DVD can beat true HD content (there are a few early exceptions...

I'm beginning to think that the exceptions are the other way around. It's an exception that a Blu-ray movie looks *significantly* better than an upscaled DVD. The reason is that most Hollywood movies are so over-processed that there really isn't any exceptional detail left to bring out. I have Pirates of the Caribbean I & III on Blu-ray and II on DVD and we watch those moves back to back and the upscaled DVD looks just as good as the Blu-ray versions. I mean, I can tell sorta... but the wife and kids can't.

> my BD player has DVD's look so nice I don't even really want to spend the extra on BD's any more.

I'm with you on this one. I have a handful of Blu-ray titles and we stopped buying them. #1 because most of the time they don't provide a "significant" improvement over an upscaled DVD, #2 they are significantly more expensive with not enough added value, #3 they can't be played in the car DVD player or in any other room of the house so they severely limit our viewing options.

The footage from my Sony Z1U camera is another story. The Blu-ray version is exceptionally better than the DVD's I make. Titles like Discovery Planet Earth is another exception where the Blu-ray version is breathtaking but that was shot in HD. But Hollywood movies not so much... I guess it depends on the movie and that, in and of itself, is a sad, sad statement. If the quality isn't consistently better, people won't pay. I've stopped buying Blu-ray discs and am back to buying the DVD versions. :(

~jr
Richard Jones wrote on 10/21/2009, 6:34 AM
Many thanks to you all for your really helpful comments. Looks as though I was being a little too sceptical/suspicous!

Richard
gpsmikey wrote on 10/21/2009, 8:46 AM
Actually, it is kind of a gray area - there are several "bumps" in the road from SD to a HD tv. Running a LCD in it's non-native resolution generally looks bad (look at your laptop if you change the resolution), so when you have a HD tv and want to view SD, somehow it has to get to the HD resolution - if you feed the TV the SD signal, it has to upconvert it to the resolution of the screen - some TV's do a good job, others look bad (and it is tough finding which are which). The other way is for the SD source (DVD player in this case) to upscale it then feed the TV. From what I have been able to discover, it seems the DVD players in general do a better job of the upscaling, but some do it much better than others, some are SD only which leaves it to the TV. Googling around doesn't return lots of information on which players or TV's do a better job of the upscaling either. I have been tempted to wander around to some of the stores with a SD source (like from my DSLR) and plug into the various TV's until I found one that did the best job of the upsampling. Unfortunately, while the question is simple, the answer seems a bit more difficult to discover :-)

mikey
Coursedesign wrote on 10/22/2009, 6:07 PM
Sony's upscaling DVD players are really good.

I got a Sony DVP-NS75H many years ago (about $99 at the time), and the output to a 1080P screen via DVI/HDMI is simply stunning (with good source material).

Note that many of these players don't even bother to scale up to analog outputs, it's just not worthwhile IMHO.

Consumer analog is terrible for a variety of cost reasons.
craftech wrote on 10/23/2009, 5:22 AM
and the output to a 1080P screen via DVI/HDMI is simply stunning

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Exactly.

John