[Nuck_the_king]

Good evening all,

I have just bought (from the classifieds) one of these players, and I KNOW that Sharps are not renowned for DVD upscaling. I have a Philips PFL9632D LCD, and I have a couple of questions. I also know that the whole issue of SD upscaling is full of contradictions and arguments; but I would love to have your thoughts on; so here goes:

1) What settings should I use from the Sharp BR player to get the best out of SD DVD upscaling? Am I better leaving the upscaling to the LCD? If so, what should I tell the Sharp to output? Also, if I fiddle with these, will it affect (i.e. "scr*w up) the BR picture?

2) Am I better off getting an upscaling DVD player to do the job of playing SD DVDs? Bearing in mind that I have NO budget to do this, I would be looking at a secondhand upscaler...are any worth it?

3) I have a big old Sony 925D DVD player in the loft; will this give me a better picture if I hook it up via component than either of the above solutions?

Any advice / help would be great.

Thanks in advance,

Nuck

[kingfats]

Originally Posted by Nuck_the_king

1) What settings should I use from the Sharp BR player to get the best out of SD DVD upscaling? Am I better leaving the upscaling to the LCD? If so, what should I tell the Sharp to output? Also, if I fiddle with these, will it affect (i.e. "scr*w up) the BR picture?

Hi Nuck.
What resolution can the Sharp send for DVD?
All the best.

[Nuck_the_king]

Originally Posted by kingfats

Hi Nuck.
What resolution can the Sharp send for DVD?
All the best.

KF,

Thanks for your reply. I've looked through the manual and can't find anything to tell me what the Sharp outputs on SD-DVD; there is also nothing on the (really tiny!) display to indicate this (like I had on my old Tosh EP-30).

I guess that if I look on the TV, that might tell me what image resolution is being displayed; but it might not be clear whether that would be after the TV has processed it or simply what the player is outputting; if that makes sense...

Of course, the frustration is that I haven't got any Blurays to play on it yet; so I can only try SD-DVDs; and, as it stands, they are slightly undewhelming (compared with what I remember from my EP30; but my memory could be letting me down I suppose; it has been 5-6 weeks since I sold it...!)

I will keep trying and will post anything further that I find out; or perhaps someone with this machine could help out?

Cheers,

Nuck.

[WGLOVER]

Your TV should display what your DVD player is supplying.
Sharp are not renowned for there upscaling ability. Maybe best to let the tv do it.

I have recently purchased the Toshiba XDE500 DVD player and the Panasonic BD35 Blu- ray Player, and find the Toshiba far the better at upscaling DVDs.
I am not fooling myself on this, as it would be much easier to use the Panasonic for both.

[kingfats]

Originally Posted by Nuck_the_king

KF,

Thanks for your reply. I've looked through the manual and can't find anything to tell me what the Sharp outputs on SD-DVD; there is also nothing on the (really tiny!) display to indicate this (like I had on my old Tosh EP-30).

.

Have you checked in the players on screen menu?
This the player.Looks like it upscales to 1080p so maybe best to leave it to that,no mucking about with menus then.

[Nuck_the_king]

Originally Posted by kingfats

Have you checked in the players on screen menu?

I have had a look on-screen (through the player) whilst a DVD is playing; but sadly it doesn't tell me what resolution is being output.

In the setup menus, I can set the HDMI output to 1080p or i as maximum (but it's left on auto at the moment).

However, the component setting says that DVD playback is only output at 480/576p or i through component; but because I've never used component, I don't know if this is a limitation of component output itself (i.e. it would be the same whatever player I had); or whether this leads to a better understanding of what the player might be outputting....

Is it worth looking at the TV to see what it thinks it's displaying?

Thanks again for your help.

Nuck.

[kingfats]

Originally Posted by Nuck_the_king

I have had a look on-screen (through the player) whilst a DVD is playing; but sadly it doesn't tell me what resolution is being output.

In the setup menus, I can set the HDMI output to 1080p or i as maximum (but it's left on auto at the moment).

However, the component setting says that DVD playback is only output at 480/576p or i through component; but because I've never used component, I don't know if this is a limitation of component output itself (i.e. it would be the same whatever player I had); or whether this leads to a better understanding of what the player might be outputting....

Is it worth looking at the TV to see what it thinks it's displaying?

Thanks again for your help.

Nuck.

Auto or 1080p should be fine yes,component is limited to 480/576p with DVD no scaling allowed.
Usually the TV has a display/info button which shows the signal resolution.

[Nuck_the_king]

Originally Posted by kingfats

Have you checked in the players on screen menu?
This the player.Looks like it upscales to 1080p so maybe best to leave it to that,no mucking about with menus then.

Sorry; our messages overlapped. Yep; the details for the player do say "The BD-HP21U is also compatible with standard DVDs and is capable of upscaling them via HDMI to 1080p, improving the picture performance of an existing DVD library".

So I guess it goes up to 1080p then....and I agree that it's probably best to just leave it to do it and make sure the TV is receiving that input correctly.

Thanks very much again KF for your help

But it does take me back to my original question; would my old Sony DVP-S725D DVD player do a better job? Would a cheapish HDMI DVD player?

Any thoughts?

Nuck.

[kingfats]

Originally Posted by Nuck_the_king

But it does take me back to my original question; would my old Sony DVP-S725D DVD player do a better job? Would a cheapish HDMI DVD player?

Any thoughts?

Nuck.

How do DVD's look to you via the Sharp?

[Nuck_the_king]

Originally Posted by WGLOVER

Your TV should display what your DVD player is supplying.
Sharp are not renowned for there upscaling ability. Maybe best to let the tv do it.

I have recently purchased the Toshiba XDE500 DVD player and the Panasonic BD35 Blu- ray Player, and find the Toshiba far the better at upscaling DVDs.
I am not fooling myself on this, as it would be much easier to use the Panasonic for both.

WG,

Thanks very much for your post; I don't quite think I've got the budget for one of these; but it's interesting to hear that you feel that there is a real difference in the two players....

Maybe I should keep looking in the classifieds for a £25 2nd-hand upscaler to see whether it makes a difference....

Thanks again for your input .

Nuck.

[Nuck_the_king]

Originally Posted by kingfats

How do DVD's look to you via the Sharp?

KF,

Again, the trouble is that I've only got a Panasonic DMR-ES10 DVDR to compare with; which, although fine for backing up Sky+ SD recordings (which is why I bought it), is hardly a "cutting edge" DVD player.

Having said that, I was well impressed with the image quality when I bought it; but then I saw HD.....

I would say that, broadly speaking, SD-DVD playback is marginally better on the Sharp; but it's a close-run thing....

Also, I know that I need to go through the forums and find some different settings to try with the LCD...more fiddling; sadly, neither the wife nor the two under-8 kids can see why I need to play films and then keep interrupting them to play with settings......

Perhaps I need to find someone with a new-ish upscaling DVD player and do some comparisons.....

But I am still happy; because I know that I didn't buy the Sharp for its DVD playback; and it's supposed to be A1 on Bluray. Also, it only cost me £95 2nd-hand ; so I cannot complain.

Nuck.