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Anyone own an upscaling DVD player?
I'm looking online for a deal on an HD-DVD player or just a regular up-scaling DVD player (until blue-ray drops in price or I get that PS3) and I would to know if anyone on here has purchased an up-scalling DVD player. I see these things going for dirt cheap and I do need to replace my current DVD player.
Are these things any good? Do they need an HDMI cable to be useful or can they send the 1080P over component?
Are these things any good? Do they need an HDMI cable to be useful or can they send the 1080P over component?
Comments
I needed a new DVD player anyways and I think the $50 was an adequate amount to spend.
Yes, my set runs up to 1080P. It also runs at some other settings if you use the DVI port and a PC. No on Digital Cable, I'll be upgrading my dish to HD next month.
To test the difference on screen I plugged the DVD player in via the analog cords as well as the HDMI and switched back and forth between them.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but is this not a thread about RESOLUTIONS? You wish to upscale, i.e. output video on a larger resolution than it's stored in. So yes, concerning this topic 480p and 480i are the same (RESOLUTION, just to be sure you got that). And yes, 1080p and 1080i are also the same concerning the discussion in this thread. But no to a 720p set being able to display 1080p or 1080i. 480 is different from 720, which is different from 1080.
The only difference is the number of frames and the build of the frames. The p, meaning progressive, generally (in the US if I recall correctly) means 30 frames per second with every vertical line being refreshed every frame, whereas i, meaning interlaced, means 60 frames per second, only now the odd vertical lines are refreshed one frame, and the even vertical lines are refreshed the next frame.
What you thought was a "huge improvement" is only perceived quality. It's the same quality, you only notice some perceived lower quality with interlaced when a there's a fast moving scene. But it's still the same resolution and quality as it's progressive counterpart.
I've been doing a lot of reading up on HD this evening. I now understand why my HDTV was using the fact that one of its inputs is direct (no scaling/processing). I did not realize that if the HDTV has a slow processor in it there can be a certain amount of lag between the display and what is feeding it. This was shown in regards to the view-screen on a camcorder attached to an HDTV where the two pictures were not moving in sync. Clearly this could be a serious problem when it comes to plugging in your game console.
As for your lagging, that sucks. Didn't thought that processor speed might be a problem, then again, quite logical if it's a cheap(er) HD tv.
That is the one problem with LCDs, they are designed with one resolution in mind and anything other than that resolution looks like crap on it. (Change the resolution on your laptop LCD panel to see an example of this.)
So, what you are saying about 1080i on a 720P set is that the TV is not showing 1080i but is instead converting the image to 720P? If that is true I am surprised no one has sued the 720P manufacturers for false advertising because when you read about their sets it looks like they are claiming the TV runs in 1080i mode.
This is from Sharp and gives a brief overview of the set I just got. What's the best HDTV for gaming?
As for the 720p vs 1080i question, the wikipedia page for 720p says this:Which might be the reason why it's advertised as 1080i(!!!), just as a marketing ploy. Most consumers know roughly that 'HD' means higher definition, and thus (assume) higher quality. 1080 is a bigger number than 720, thus that set looks a lot more interesting for consumers who see two tv sets of similar price, only one being advertised as 720p (and also being really 720p), and the other being advertised as 1080i quality (while it's just a 720p tv set). As to what I was saying, if something is (truly) 720p it has 1280 pixels horizontally, and 720 pixels vertically. There is no way, not even with magic blue dust, to fit a 1920x1080 pixel image in there without downscaling the image. As for a potential question concerning why your resolution is 1366×768, marketing. More pixels means they can output a higher definition than 'true' 720p. This again to make it look more like a 1080i screen.
From the marketing blurb you posted I think it can just support 1080 resolutions, but requires a preprocessed signal. I.e. it might only display 1080 resolutions if you send 1080 resolutions (taken from "...ensure that images delivered via your game console's 1080p outputs..."). That way the tv set won't have to do all the upscaling processing itself and just spends it's (possibly little) processing power outputting the date received onto the screen at a fast rate (taken from "...an incredible 6ms response time...").
Of course I can be waaaaaaaay off since I know nothing about marketing, don't know the exact nitty-gritty details from either the tv set or consumer HD standards (i.e. the standards used by companies to create more profit), but logical reasoning helps tackle this a bit, since cheaper production + smart marketing = more sales = more profit = good. Those bastards. Here in the Netherlands we have (perhaps had if the trend if over by now) a period when TV's were labelled "HD READY!", whatever the hell that meant exactly I do not know and did not bother looking up. My father bought one of those things and while it does look better than standard 480 resolutions (of course with digital cable), I doubt the tv was anywhere near 1080 resolutions and perhaps barely outputting a 720 resolution.
More in depth I can not really help you I guess since I only have this much (little?) general knowledge about HD, HD tv's and HD marketing. I mean, if you look at it horribly pessimistic everything you can buy is a scam for they are trying to rip you off no matter what.
1366 x 768 = 1,049,088
True 720P is 1280x720 =921,600
20 bit number = 1,048,576
Some manufacturers looked at the math involved and decided to go with the 1366x768 panel size. They were then able to market those panels as better because they were bigger. The problem that arises is that the set has to upconvert 720P to display on the slightly oversized panel.
I'm satisfied with the set I got and the price I paid for it. I was real close to going with the 37" model for $100 more but that would have been too big and required acquiring new A/V furniture.