how good is upscaled DVD?

[crown62]

What I want to know is, would for example the Pioneer DV490 (£100) upscaling a DVD to 720p or 1080i by HDMI look any better than my 2 year old Sony 999ES(£600) by component.
I have not seen any discs being upscaled to judge. There is such a large price difference, but have things moved on that much?? I was wondering if it would be an improvement while waiting for Blue ray and HDDVD to arrive in the UK

[T800]

What TV do you have ?

[stevogums]

was after the answer to that question myself...(got a BraviaKDL 32V2000)sorry for jumping on your thread..

[crown62]

Well at the moment I have a Hitachi pdp3000 42 inch plasma (no HDMI), but in 2 weeks It will be the 50 inch Pioneer 506 xde HD plasma.What do you think??

[satinder]

My simply answer is that unless you have spent £1000s on a decent setup (i.e. Arcams new stuff) then i think not. I have seen/heard a lot of equipment recently thanks to a certain shop in Shrewsbury so i reckon that im right. Im sad to say that im still using my TV's 5.1 because of that fact i'm broke . So basically if you want hq images you need HDTV or very expensive upconversion stuff like Arcams new stuff .

P.S I not only promotting Arcams's stuff due to the fact that i'm a typicial bloke who wants the best. My own hearing/vision has decidiced that if you are concerned about a long-term purchase then Arcam's new stuff is the biz. Please visit/arrange a visit to your local Severnoaks!


Sat

[T800]

If you own a SD TV upscaling is pointless because the player will take SD material and upscale then your TV has to downscale back to SD.
If you own a HDTV then upscaling has to happen to view SD material and can be done in two ways, the TV does it or the player does it and it all depends on which one does it better.
If your Pioneer 506 xde has a better scaler than the Pioneer DV490 then it would be a pointless buy. The chances of a £100 DVD player having a better scaler than £3000+ TV are very small.
Try your player with the new TV, if your happy with what your seeing hang on for the next couple of months until HDDVD arrives if your not it's a £100-£200 gamble.
I have a Denon 1920 using HDMI to my Panny AE900, the pj does the scaling because it's a better scaler. The picture quality through HDMI has been worth it to me.

[PinnerFox]

Hello. I have a JVC LT40DS7 HD ready TV and tried an cheap upscaling DVD player recently (SigmaTek 510).

Noted that 1080i seemed slightly more detailed but was disappointed with 720p.

I believe the JVC re-scales the picture sent to it and so the 576p setting on the DVD player is perhaps all you need.

However using an HDMI connector is the biggest difference I believe compared to SCART anyway. Picture is significantly more colourful and Sound seems way better. So thats where the investment is worth it otherwise any DVD player with progressive scan (576p) and then maybe Component out would do a decent enough job compared to this upscaling lark..letting the HDTV (w-xga panel) do the scaling.

I am interested in buying one with HDMI but see it as a temporary technology till true-HD players arrive and become cheap. I am thinking of getting the Sony N76H model.

[T800]

I was looking at a Sigmatek 510 for the bedroom, can they be made multiregion ?

[ash]

You know the best way to find out?

Order the HDMI Pineer you want from an online retailer, and then try it and cmopare it. If you don't want it, jsut return it within 7 days under the long distance sales clause. Final, you will get lots of mixed reviews here.

Good luck.

[PinnerFox]

Originally Posted by T800

I was looking at a Sigmatek 510 for the bedroom, can they be made multiregion ?

According to the friend I borrowed it from - yes they can be Multi-Region.

PS - However when I connected it via HDMI to my JVC TV - I only got picture and no sound. Couldn't understand why. WOuld be interested in the answer if you buy one for your TV and it works

However, I know its not my TV as I also connected a new Thomson DTH255E via HDMI which I bought recently. This has been returned however.

[T800]

Originally Posted by PinnerFox

According to the friend I borrowed it from - yes they can be Multi-Region.

PS - However when I connected it via HDMI to my JVC TV - I only got picture and no sound. Couldn't understand why. WOuld be interested in the answer if you buy one for your TV and it works

However, I know its not my TV as I also connected a new Thomson DTH255E via HDMI which I bought recently. This has been returned however.

On my Denon 1920 the HDMI sound has to be turned on separatetly.

Any chance of asking your friend how you make them multiregion.

[mikehb]

Have just returned my samsung 850 to Amazon as it developed a fault, very quick refund. Have decided to get my Sony RDR-HX900 recorder made multi regional (£20) so can play my region 1 discs thro componant to Samsung LE32R41BD, curently find above combination produces excellent results.

Will wait till later in year before I decide which HD player to buy.

I also want to have this question answered!

I have a 3 year old sony DVD player pushing out 525p into my Pioneer PDP 436 & the picture is amazing already, but....

having a look at the US version of this forum where everyone raves about upscaling DVD players makes me think that there is something to be said for them. The one they seem to like best is the OPPO 971H... which costs ~200US.

Since I have a HDD DVR coming in a week & another one integrated with the cable box so it seems pointless though... means I will have 4 dvd players into one tv ...

[gazzaputt]

I have a Sony and I will say the upscaling on it is great. Last night watched Terminator 2 which has never been the best quality DVD.

Me and my son were blown away with the quailty the upscaling gave on 1080i into my Panny LCD.

I'd say big thumbs up to them