OT: HD-DVD player not upscaling sometimes

nolonemo wrote on 3/28/2008, 10:46 AM

On some commercial SD DVDs my Toshiba HD-DVD HD-A3 player won't upscale the DVD, but sends a 480p signal to my HDTV. A message from the player pops up on the screen about how it can't upscale (I can't remember what it says). Can any of you shed some light on this? Thanks.

Comments

Laurence wrote on 3/28/2008, 2:44 PM

The reason is DRM. You are using the component outs and watching a Macrovision protected DVD. I get this too. Yeah it sucks.

nolonemo wrote on 3/28/2008, 3:09 PM

Nope, I'm using HDMI to connect. The discs might well have Macrovison protection though (though why would you want Macrovision when you have CSS?)

Having added "Macrovision" to my googling, I wonder if it might be an HDMI handshake problem - I'm pretty sure the last time I saw this I did not have the TV switched over to the player's HDMI input before turning on the player. I'll check it out tonight.

craftech wrote on 3/30/2008, 6:19 AM

If you set the HD-A3 to 480i, the 16:9 setting sizes the image to fit and the HDTV scales it to 480p.

If you set the HD-A3 to 480p, the player does the scaling.

If you set the HD-A3 TO 720P, 16:9 mode on the player scales it to fit.

IF you set the HD-A3 to output 1080i, the HDTV may be trying to scale the image to 480p depending upon the disc. Not sure what your settings are on both the player and the TV.

Also, does your TV have DVI or HDMI?

John

RBartlett wrote on 3/30/2008, 8:16 AM

This may not help with the issue but might help with some background facts.

The Macrovision protection that a DVD-Video can have is obliged to also incorporate the CSS. Separate groups run these protection systems but they hold hands on this. It would be possible to have Macrovision without CSS but you won't find a commercial disc with it as strictly speaking, it would not be importable in many of the world's high volume consumer societies.

Also, HDMI cables do not in themselves guarantee that the wire-protocol protection scheme will be handled appropriately. HDCP controls this and encrypts the data between the player/STB and the TV. If there is a mismatch in the HDCP support then you'll be watching HD content that has been artificially degraded to something closer to SD because that is what the content owner/distributor has requested to maintain the conditions of the viewing of what remains their property.

I despise the actions of folks who release DVDs that inhibit you to skip adverts and force us to continuously view their anti-piracy warnings. For me this area of information delivery is for the booklet inside the merchandises box.

Hopefully your scaling issue is something else. It seems odd that the up-scaling circuit would inhibit you from enjoying it's functions but to continue to deliver in whatever format you are now seeing. I'm sure there is some sense behind all this but if it is DRM then how silly is this?

Jeff9329 wrote on 3/30/2008, 11:44 AM

Lawrence is correct, it's the DRM and the player firmware.

I too have seen this many, if not every time with commercial DVDs. However, when I play my backup copies of the same DVD, it upscales, as the protection is removed.

The backup copies also play better since the menu prohibitions are removed (i.e. you can't skip the intro, etc on the DRM copy)

nolonemo wrote on 3/31/2008, 10:42 AM

I can confirm that this was an HDMI handshake issue (and therefore DRM related - without a proper handshake, DRM will not allow HD output from the player).

If I had the TV swiched to the HDMI input for the player before the player booted, the player would upscale and send 1080i to the TV. If I turned on the player first and after it had booted turned on the TV, or switched the TV's HDMI input to the one connected to the player, the player would not upscale, and would send 480p to the TV.