Upscaling DVD Players - do they generally work well ?

[garywork]

Hi

not seen an upscaled pic - amazed the players can do this given
the data isn't there so i guess its like making a guestimate
or interpolating

in general do they work well ?

are they usually "on" all the time or would you expect a setting to turn this
feature off if needed ?

thanks

 

[lord filbuster]

I'd imagine it is on all the time. i don't really see the point in them, in theory they could do the job better than the tv, assuming they use a more advanced algorithm to upscale, but to be honest i couldn't see any difference when i turned off upscaling. I guess it could help if scaler chip in the tv is terrible.

 

[garywork]

ta

so they wouldn't upscale any divx files just dvds ?

think i'll have to see one in action really

 

[BiGT-]

yes they work very well, I use my PS3 to upscale my DVD's, an example, Lord of the Rings, looks so bad when not upscaled, but when using my PS3 it actually looks like HD at parts.

 

[Rroff]

Depends on the quality of the hardware - some I think just stretch the pixels, others just run it through an unsharpen mask and then use a better resizing filter... the upscaler on my projector will also process jagged lines on edges to make them look sharper and smoother (and does quite well) so while it can't add back extra detail into areas of the picture it does remove some of the pixellated jaggy bits on resizing it.

Like above watching the LOTR DVD through the projectors upscaler is like watching at 75% HD or so - some parts look very much like HD.

 

[JoshAFC]

I've got a Samsung DVD player that upscales to 1080i feeding my 32" Samsung LCD TV. The picture looks fantastic, stuff like Planet Earth looks near HD quality. Believe it's the HD-870 model, it received 5 stars in What Hi-Fi magazine.

I also have a Toshiba DVD upscaler, this upscales to 1080p which I've got connected to the 46" Toshiba LCD TV in the living room. Like the Samsung, I bought this as What Hi-Fi magazine rated it so highly. Personally, I prefer the Samsung piece of kit; the picture quality isn't quite as good as the Samsung but still miles better than a standard DVD player. Also, the Samsung kit just feels much more better built.

I believe Samsung do a 1080p upscaler now, exactly the same as the one I've mentioned above just 1080p instead of 1080i.

 

[[DOD]Asprilla]

Your TV should do a decent job of upscaling anyway so why get an additional device to do it?

 

[Random Guy]

Some TVs are not that great at upscaling. Your argument can be akin to saying "you get integrated graphics in motherboards so why buy a dedicated GPU".

However, I think the majority of TVs are quite good at upscaling. Some are not - I have an upscaling DVD player and it is pretty damn sweet. It all depends on the chip and processing being used apparently.

 

[[DOD]Asprilla]

True, I was just wanting to point out, although I didn't have time, that there are a limited number of upscaling chipsets and that you'll probably end up with the same capability from the DVD player that you already get from your TV.

Unless you've really skimped on the TV the the TV should do an equal or better job, in my opinion.

 

[markop2003]

I've noticed the PS3 does it pretty well, doesn't make the image as vibrant or detailed as blu-ray but its nice and smooth.

 

[garywork]

TV Upscaling - i've seen dvd players advertised as upscaling their o/p but not seen TVs advertised as upscaling their input ?

think if it was switchable that would be interesting so you could compare pic quality

but from you guys it seems a good feature

 

[probedb]

TV Upscaling - i've seen dvd players advertised as upscaling their o/p but not seen TVs advertised as upscaling their input ?

think if it was switchable that would be interesting so you could compare pic quality

but from you guys it seems a good feature

TVs have to upscale standard DVD. How else do you expect they fit a 720x576 pixel image on something like a 1366x768 screen?

For decent upscaling you also need a decent deinterlacer in the player as well. Players like the Oppo ones are great at this.

 

[Random Guy]

I used to have a Vanilla Xbox with XBMC. Playing DVDs from it on my 1080p screen at the time was above average. I later decided to switch to a dedicated Yamaha 1080p Upscaling DVD player (good offer etc.) and this one has the Faroudja chipset and DCDI processing. Comparing the two, the Yamaha really seemed to pull a lot more detail out of the DVD than the XBox. So I think the in-built TV upscaling is not that great on my TV.

I suppose the only way to test is to do a side-by-side with a DVD player without upscaling and a DVD player with upscaling on the same TV.

 

[garywork]

probedb

"TVs have to upscale standard DVD. How else do you expect they fit a 720x576 pixel image on something like a 1366x768 screen?"

fair point !

 

[Ross1234]

They tend to be far better than the TV's internal upscaler so well worth it.

 

[AndyC]

I bought a £60 LG DVD Player (matches TV ) when my £100 Sony broke the LG had a HDMI upscaler and the piture was night and day so much clearer, I even tested the LG with scart and the quality dropped striaght off, would never go back to a scart only player,