how good are upscaling hdmi dvd players?

calex71

i've seen a few listed in argos and other places from 75 - 150.
not alot of money really but my question just how good are they?

I have this tv https://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=330667
and to be honest i find that dvds are grainy and overall not great.
Played over xbox 360 via component.

Xbox via vga much sharper but color depth isnt as good as component.

normal dvd player via full scart same really.

So is it worth investing in one of the hdmi players?

8T8

Not really, the upscaling doesn't add detail because it cant there is nothing to do to the original source material.

The picture can be a little bit sharper with upscaling as you are running at the native resolution or close to it anyway of the HDTV, most of the cheap players don't really make that much of a difference. Only some AV enthusiast DVD players with specialist chips in them actually make a noticeable difference but those cost crazy amounts of money.

The spring update for the Xbox 360 is supposed to have some improvements with the VGA side of the console so I would wait until May 7th at least and see if the new update improves colour/picture quality on VGA before buying a HDMI upscaling DVD player.

(The problem with the Samsung TV is it disables the colour settings in it's own panel configuration when using the VGA input so the PC can set the colour settings but the Xbox 360 does not have such colour options hence the washed out look)

calex71

lol 8t8 are your answering all my posts today.

good info thanks alot

Wolff

Have an old xbox modded and upscaling 1080i and have to say the picture is very noticeably sharper than my standard dvd player

Also have a denon 1930 upscaling dvd player and again because of the chip it uses the difference again is very noticeable

The price difference is the Denon cost about 300 to 400 and the xbox cost 100

Cant say there is too much difference between them

But between them and an ordinary dvd player there is

Sparky

Picture via HDMI on my LCD is alot sharper than via SCART

I have watched DVDs via the XB360 to component and I went back to using the HDMI as the picture looked better.

The recent update to the PS3 adds an excellent DVD/PS1/PS2 upscaler, very noticeable improvement with most recent DVD's. The picture is much sharper. It outputs all DVD's/PS1/PS2 discs at 1080p / 1080i depending on your television.

Kenpo

Could someone recommend a good quality (and not too expensive) dvd-recorder with HDMI Upscalling?

I have ntl digital at home - looks bad on my 42" Sharp LCD (Full HD).

I'm hoping the dvd recorder will upscale the NTL picture.

Has anyone tried this?

Thanks for the help.

K

Kenpo

Bump

SouperComputer

I'm hoping the dvd recorder will upscale the NTL picture.

I'm afraid its a waste of time. While it may seem that the obvious issue is that its SD resolution, the real reason it looks like pants is because of the amount of compression that NTL use on the video streams. You should see it on a 9ft projector screen. Horrid!

No amount of upscaling will help this, in fact it will make it a lot worse!

The only thing you can do is ensure you are using the best connection. In the case of the NTL box, you want to carry RGB over SCART as the NTL box and your TV support this. This means you need a SCART cable with the correct pins wired for RGB.

kifi

SouperComputer, when you say you need a scart that's wired for rgb, is it as simple as going to local electrical store and asking for same?

I am thinking of buying a 40" LCD which will be used with ntl digital. What will it look best on? Any recommendations? Budget around 1300

Sideshow Mark

kifi wrote:

I am thinking of buying a 40" LCD which will be used with ntl digital. What will it look best on? Any recommendations? Budget around 1300

It will look best on an SD CRT TV! LCD and NTL Digital don't mix together very well, particularly on the larger screens.

To be perfectly honest, unless you have plans to use your TV with a HD source (PS3/360, BR/HDDVD/Upscaling DVD) it is really not worth upgrading.

If you absolutely have to change TV's, go for a Plasma, Panasonic do some very nice ones that cope okay with NTL on the major channels.

quad_red

8T8 wrote:

The spring update for the Xbox 360 is supposed to have some improvements with the VGA side of the console so I would wait until May 7th at least and see if the new update improves colour/picture quality on VGA before buying a HDMI upscaling DVD player.

(The problem with the Samsung TV is it disables the colour settings in it's own panel configuration when using the VGA input so the PC can set the colour settings but the Xbox 360 does not have such colour options hence the washed out look)

Hey 8T8,

Did the update have any effect?

8T8

Yeah the last Xbox update helped fix the VGA problem there is a setting in the dash that counters the washed out look when you are using VGA mode, works great.

Biro

New slant to original question :
HDMI upscaling DVD players... you know the way there's a chip basically taking a 480 signal and "filling the gaps" for want of a better explanation? Well wouldn't a progressive scan DVD player hooked to a HD TV via component not give the optimal performance as it's essentially displaying the fully original signal in the best quality possible without altering it?
What I'm asking is, how can the upscaling chips make a better picture by inventing lines that aren't there? Granted it'll probably be a good bit better than standard 480i composite picture, but is component the best? If not, why not?