New “up-Converting DVD Player” Good Info

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billlindley
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Post by billlindley » Fri. Jan. 09, 2009 1:47 pm

Picked up a 37” Samsung LCD after the holiday. When we watched our DVD though we noticed we didn’t get the greatest picture, although much better then the old TV. We decided to buy a new DVD player which are “Up-Converting Players” which enhance the DVD output. The picture is much better then previous so obviously we are happy. However as a warning there is some interesting marketing going on with these players.

DVD’s can only handle up to 720P with Blue-Ray’s able to display in 1080. However when you look at the DVD players some, from the same manufacturer, will claim they support 1080 while they also have models that only support 720 which may be $15-40 cheaper. It is basically BS though since DVD technology does not permit a display higher then 720.

 
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Post by Richard S. » Fri. Jan. 09, 2009 2:14 pm

BS to some extent but if done right you can really get some good results. For example photoshop has a plug-in called Genuine Fractals that works excellent for enlarging images. What this software does is examine the image for edges with contrasting color. It will expand the edges and fill in the areas where you have the same color. You're not producing any detail but you're keeping the edges of contrasting color nice and sharp. Even with standard software and using the right method for scaling images you'll get soft edges, you don't get that with Genuine Fractals. There's also many filters available for enhancing and bringing out detail. All that requires a lot of processing power but I'm sure they employ similar technology using hardware. Lastly video offers a unique opportunity because you can examine many frames and pull a lot of detail from multiple frames for one. This is actually quite important for MPEG2 which is used for DVD, by it's very nature it destroys detail. A detail in one frame may very well be obliterated in the next...


 
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mozz
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Post by mozz » Fri. Jan. 09, 2009 7:10 pm

Are you sure on the 720? I didn't look it up but I thought 480p was the best dvd resolution on disk. The older dvd players were 480i output, then the later ones had 480p outputs such as component or dvi or hdmi. Sometimes it is better to let the player do the upscaling, other times it's better to let the tv do the job. If you really want to see good hdtv, get an over the air box. They pull in the signal with the full 19mhz bandwith, 3 of the local stations here are 720p and the other is 1080i, no compression on over the air channels unless they are pushing 2 or 3 channels in the bandwith. All satellite hd or cable hd is compressed.
480p is the best you will see from regular dvd player no matter what they are selling it as. Blue ray will do up to 1080p.
"Although many resolutions and formats are supported, most consumer DVD-Video discs use either 4:3 or anamorphic 16:9 aspect ratio MPEG-2 video, stored at a resolution of 720×480 (NTSC) "
720 is the width 480 is the height(how many lines are squeezed into the picture. 480i does 1 lines, then skips one, then does line 3, then line 5, when its done, it goes back to the top and does the even numbered lines 2,4,6. 480p does them all in sequence. From what I have heard, you need a really big tv to see the difference between 1080i and 1080p. Then there is the refresh or scan rate which can be 60hz or 120hz higher the better. Find the tv size you like and I can bet you the 120hz version cost quite a bit more than the older style 60hz. Me, I have a old 30" 16x9 sony hdtv crt with no digital tuner but boy does it have a nice picture with 720p or 1080i.

 
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Post by BeerMonley » Tue. Jan. 13, 2009 5:36 pm

there is a difference between 1080i and p , although not everybody notices it. hell my wife didnt even notice when we upgraded to HD directv, but there is a difference. and your right about upconvert they will say 1080p but its just doubling the resolution that ssalready there its not "actually" 1080p,there a nite and day difference betwwen a upconvert and a blu-ray which is 1 really 1080p

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