Upscaling DVD software?

dirtydog · 6 Feb 2007 at 16:43

Is there any mainstream software DVD player for Windows which will upscale DVDs? Do WinDVD or PowerDVD do this yet? The last time I tried them, they didn't.

Is the only way to do it, still to fiddle around with FFDShow and obscure players like ZoomPlayer?

dirtydog · 6 Feb 2007 at 19:42

Nobody?

dirtydog · 7 Feb 2007 at 02:52

sid said:
If you have a HTPC connected via DVI/HDMI/VGA at 1360X768 then the graphics card is already scaling it to panel Res

No it isn't

Filling the screen is not upscaling.

james.miller said:
what he said. besides ffdshow is a piece of cake. plenty of people here can help if you need it. im currently using ffdshow to upscale to 720p with my 40w2000 connected via vga.

What software player are you using then?

I use ffdshow to upscale DivX/XviD movies and it works well. I have not found it a piece of cake to do the same with DVDs, far from it unfortunately. Even following the well-known guide on HTPCnews to the letter. It makes me curious why the mainstream players like WinDVD haven't made this easy for people.

dirtydog · 7 Feb 2007 at 09:36

PinkPig said:
Yes it is. What else can "upscaling" ever mean? Either your screen does it (if you play a DVD using a conventional DVD player on an HDTV), or your DVD software does it, or you get something else like FFDShow to do it first. The idea of it as some magical quality-improvement process is a myth.

No, it isn't a myth

Clearly you do not know what you are talking about.

And no, WinDVD et al do NOT upscale unless they have started doing it in a recent version.

I probably should have asked this on an HTPC forum where people could be expected to know about this stuff - my fault

dirtydog · 7 Feb 2007 at 10:04

Unfortunately the graphics card and/or display device make a crap job of it, which is why it needs to be done properly in software. This is why computers make good HTPCs. I just wonder why there isn't a mainstream, user-friendly piece of software to do this. Considering what things like WinDVD cost, and what little they provide for the money, it's not a very good state of affairs. Especially with flat panel monitors and TVs nowadays which really need good upscaling for standard definition DVDs not to look poor.

dirtydog · 7 Feb 2007 at 10:08

james.miller said:
i have a question. when you play a dvd with your software, what happens? it opens in a small window. There, no scaling is involved. what happens then when you maximise the window or go full screen? you can work it out

That is not what is commonly understood as 'upscaling', even if technically it could be called such. The form of upscaling you are talking about is rubbish

dirtydog · 7 Feb 2007 at 10:10

james.miller said:
ffdshow? how hard is it, really? it takes all of a minute to set up.

Did I not already say that it didn't work for me. I also see lots of people have problems so just because it may have been easy for you, and I'd be interested to know how you did it, don't assume it is for everyone.

What software player do you personally use, and will it play back commercial protected DVDs direct from the disc, or do you have to rip the DVD to your HDD first?

dirtydog · 7 Feb 2007 at 10:11

See above post. It is not easy because when following instructions which I am told work, it doesn't work.

dirtydog · 7 Feb 2007 at 10:17

Funny, there's the same HTPCnews guide which I already referred to, and other people agreeing it is awkward and having problems. I thought it was 'easy' and could be done in a minute! :rolleyes:

dirtydog · 7 Feb 2007 at 10:20

james.miller said:
i was going to say dont use that guide because its old and its for an old version. do you want help, or are you going to be an arse?

dirtydog said:
What software player do you personally use, and will it play back commercial protected DVDs direct from the disc, or do you have to rip the DVD to your HDD first?

dirtydog · 7 Feb 2007 at 10:29

I missed your late edit above

james.miller said:
media player classic. using ffdshow is as easy as ticking the 'raw video' check box when installing. also yes, it does play dvd's straight from the disk. its easy, its free. if you get stuck, there are loads of guieds around such as this one: http://www.tweaksrus.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=7034&pid=82329&st=20&#entry82329.

Okay, thank you. Well I can tell you that doing that doesn't work on my machine as I've already tried MPC before. The only way I could get it to work was running decrypted vobs on their own which is useless. It could be due to conflicting codecs on my machine (WinDVD is also installed for example) or god knows, but for me, it certainly isn't as simple as that. Hence this thread, wondering if there was an easy way of making it work. It seems then that there isn't, and my only option is to keep trying to get ffdshow working...

dirtydog · 7 Feb 2007 at 11:53

james.miller said:
i cant help you if you are not going to try this now. it could well be a conflict with windvd. have you tried uninstalling that?

No I haven't

I think what I should do at some point is try it all again, on a clean install of Windows, to rule out other conflicts

(I will remove WinDVD first but if that doesn't work, I mean.)