42 inches....and then what?

HEADRAT · 4 Dec 2006 at 17:16

Can't find a better link but Xbox 360 does not upcale, it just outputs 480p

http://forums.xbox-scene.com/lofiversion/index.php/t487635.html

HEADRAT

Warbie · 4 Dec 2006 at 17:19

I know. Upscaling dvd players are a con. They're laughing all the way to the bank I tell you!!

ashagplz · 4 Dec 2006 at 17:22

cant even find a jvc 1080 crt on google or the jvc website

HEADRAT · 4 Dec 2006 at 22:35

Snip

Apparently the Xbox now does upscale due to an update!

HEADRAT

chaparral · 4 Dec 2006 at 22:44

HEADRAT said:
Erm well I'm not sure about upscaling DVD players but I know the upscaling via my MCE2005 gives a much better picture than my Xbox 360!

HEADRAT

But the xbox360 gives a very bad picture on normal DVD's...

I cannot belive how much better the picture is on my very old & cheap pioneer DV-444 player compared to the xbox360..

(Am really hoping this is not the case with the new HD-DVD add on)

crunchman · 4 Dec 2006 at 23:00

HEADRAT said:
Snip

Apparently the Xbox now does upscale due to an update!

HEADRAT

It only upscales if you are using a VGA cable.

I can only compare it to my Pioneer DV-575 via component, but the xbox definitely wins hands down.

seaviewuk · 4 Dec 2006 at 23:15

ashagplz said:
....what resolution do sky broadcast HD at?....

SKY HD channels are all broadcast at 1080i

Cyber-Mav · 4 Dec 2006 at 23:34

only time HD will look good is when you have the entire program on a HD dvd or on your hard drive. any other time the picture quality will be crap unless alternative source is used like a games console etc.

ashagplz · 5 Dec 2006 at 08:17

Cyber-Mav said:
only time HD will look good is when you have the entire program on a HD dvd or on your hard drive.

how do you mean exactly?.....you seem to be ignoring the resolution of the source...your saying a straight hd feed from sky will look crap but a sd program if run from the hard drive will look good? huh?

Corasik · 5 Dec 2006 at 13:24

Bitrate is very important, from around 8-10 feet viewing distance, the picture quality of Sky Movies 1 (A high bit rate channel), is very good on my Panasonic HD plasma, using the TV's internal upscalers. DVD also shows a very good image quality via the componant, or HDMI inputs.

However, if you watch the lower bitrate channels, the image quality quickly deteriorates, and a large high resolution screen will show the evil that is low bitrate compressed digital television.

Having looked at many 42inch sets, I felt that back projectors didnt 'do anything' for me, LCD's are still not handling fast paced action, especially space/sci-fi where LCD's blacks are less detailed as well. So I got myself a Panasonic HD Plasma, pretty good bargain at a grand, very pleased with its SD performance, and when the battle between Blu Ray, and HD-DVD is concluded it will be fine for HD material as well

.

ashagplz · 5 Dec 2006 at 13:53

which panasonic model?

any idea how it looks through a skart?

SinaiSound · 5 Dec 2006 at 15:39

crunchman said:
It only upscales if you are using a VGA cable.

I can only compare it to my Pioneer DV-575 via component, but the xbox definitely wins hands down.

I have also noticed this.

My 575 is now in the bedroom due to the fact that the 360 with a VGA cable is much better.

I was going to buy a Denon 2930, but that would be a waste of money

Corasik · 6 Dec 2006 at 16:53

ashagplz said:
which panasonic model?

any idea how it looks through a skart?

Panasonic TH42PX60PED.

As I only have SKY+, Im watching via Scart RGB mode. Picture is pretty decent on the high bitrate channels like Sky Movies, BBC, Sky1 Etc.

That said, there are some pretty awfull low bitrate channels too, and yes, if you sit 2-3 ft from the TV, it looks lousy, but at 8-10ft, its really quite acceptable.

If you forget to setup the skybox to RGB, and try Scart 'Composite Video' the picture is awfull, colours badly distorted especially yellows it seems. Svideo signal is better, but still not as good as RGB. The TV's scalers are active on all inputs.

Its worth remembering that many TV's including the Panasonic have limitations on their scart inputs. Mine can have composite/rgb on scart 1, composite/svideo on scart2, and anything on scart3.

So if you put a sky box on scart2, it wont work in rgb mode at all.

Looking forward to HD though, played a couple of DVD's in 'windows' at 1:1 scale, rather than full screen. Very nice level of detail, cant wait to be able to watch full screen video full resolution

I believe the TV upscales all inputs, and it does a pretty good job of it. Calibrated using the THX optimizer, although not 100% sure I have set contrast perfectly. But as the set is new I delibrately set the contrast a little on the low side as Plasma's are more prone to screen burn in the first 200 hours of use.