Upscaling DVD player with PJ TX200 - Help !?

[True-Blue]

HI,

My new PJ and Screen turned up this morning

But I've got a question, will this PJ 'upscale' signals from a dvd player ?

If it does, would I still get a better result by feeding it with an upscaled picture from a decent upscaling dvd player ?

I'm untending to feed the PJ via HDMI so I need to buy a new dvd player anyway (my old pioneer 656 has served me well!!) What I need to establish is whether to buy an upscaling player or not ?

My budget needs to be limited to around £250.

Any thoughts or suggestions on the new DVD player?

Cheers.

[matt_p]

Funny you should post this - I discovered something interesting with my TX200 last night...

I've got a Panasonic s97 - generally regarded as one of the better upscaling players in the ~£200 bracket (now discontinued though), and have had it connected to my tx200 via HDMI. Trying it at 576p, 720p and 1080i, I always got the best results from 1080i.

Here's the interesting thing though... Last night I had a bit of a rearrange, which meant connecting the s97 to the TX200 by component. This player doesn't upscale over component, so I was stuck with 576i and 576p.

*drum roll*

Feeding the tx200 576i straight from the disc produced by far and away the best picture I have ever got out of my kit! Switching between 576i and 576p on the player (i.e. switching between the player's deinterlacer and the projector's) showed a massive difference. There was grain and artifacts all over the place using the player to output a progressive picture. Using the tx200's deinterlacer/scaler created a fantastically smooth picture - on a completely different level to anything I've had before.

So, moral of the story, save your money. Don't bother with upscaling, just get a reasonably decent component player, output the interlaced signal and let your tx200 do the hard work.

[dUnKle]

Originally Posted by matt_p

Funny you should post this - I discovered something interesting with my TX200 last night...

I've got a Panasonic s97 - generally regarded as one of the better upscaling players in the ~£200 bracket (now discontinued though), and have had it connected to my tx200 via HDMI. Trying it at 576p, 720p and 1080i, I always got the best results from 1080i.

Here's the interesting thing though... Last night I had a bit of a rearrange, which meant connecting the s97 to the TX200 by component. This player doesn't upscale over component, so I was stuck with 576i and 576p.

*drum roll*

Feeding the tx200 576i straight from the disc produced by far and away the best picture I have ever got out of my kit! Switching between 576i and 576p on the player (i.e. switching between the player's deinterlacer and the projector's) showed a massive difference. There was grain and artifacts all over the place using the player to output a progressive picture. Using the tx200's deinterlacer created a fantastically smooth picture - on a completely different level to anything I've had before.

So, moral of the story, save your money. Don't bother with upscaling, just get a reasonably decent component player and let your tx200 do the hard work.

Matt

Out of interest what settings have you got your at ?

[matt_p]

Originally Posted by DuncanWardle

Out of interest what settings have you got your at ?

I'm in settings limbo at the moment! I just got a new screen yesterday, and lack of a properly light-blocked room means that I've got to change settings according to the time of day.

I'm going to have a session tonight with the Digital Video Essentials calibration DVD; I'm going to wait until it's totally dark outside, so I should hopefully have some optimum settings I can use all year round. Will post back with settings in the morning, although I might put them in a new/more applicable thread.

[hornydragon]

your projector like all fixed pixel digital displays will SCALE ALL Signals to native. Upscaling DVD players are 99% of the time a total waste of money just like HDMI!

[darkmavis]

if you want results that will knovk your socks off, buy a dedicated scaler... iscan hd or hd+ or a lumagen, or zinwell if your on a budget. the quality will blow you away

[True-Blue]

Mmm,

So I may get best results from a decent second hand 'higher end' player using 'component' with no upscaling from the DVD deck ??

And I'm really not likely to see an improvement using HDMI over component ??

[True-Blue]

Originally Posted by darkmavis

if you want results that will knovk your socks off, buy a dedicated scaler... iscan hd or hd+ or a lumagen, or zinwell if your on a budget. the quality will blow you away

I'm sure it would but i'm, trying to limit my budget and keep things simple.

[Tony Hoyle]

Originally Posted by True-Blue

Mmm,

So I may get best results from a decent second hand 'higher end' player using 'component' with no upscaling from the DVD deck ??

And I'm really not likely to see an improvement using HDMI over component ??

HDMI may or may not be an improvement.. it's certainly not going to be any worse.

Upscaling DVD players are IMO a waste of money - the scalers they use are no better than the ones in the displays.. if you want quality scaling budget for a lumagen, otherwise just connect your DVD directly.

[dUnKle]

With my PJ TX200 (and I assume its case with all of them) when I select an input it tells me what resolution it is

Is this however not the resolution I am watching ? for example if I watch Sky+ which is connected to my amp using an RGB to component adaptor and then to PJ via component will it be in exact same res as an Oppo DVD player set to 1080i ?

If so - what about XBOX 360 ? also via component to amp and on into PJ ?

A thread on this PJ on the AVS forums makes mention to 1:1 pixel mapping and an overscan setting that must be used - can anyone shed light on this ?

The stupid person in me tells me that an upscaled image "should" be better than just a bog standard progressive one

[Jammyb]

whatever you watch on your TX200, whether it be a composite feed, component, svideo, PC, HDMI etc it's ALL at 1280x720. The onboard 10bit processor scales and deinterlaces everything and does a better job at it than most things you could buy, except an expensive scaler.

I'm using an ancient Pioneer DV-737 but I'm pretty sure the component output on it is excellent.

[darkmavis]

you can get scalers cheaper than you think mate. second hand iscan hd fir about 300 lumagens a little more, theb budget ones like zinwells can be had fir 170ish :@) theres a few in the classifieds mate, oh, and i havent seen a scaler that isnt better than the inbult ones in pj's

[dUnKle]

Originally Posted by darkmavis

you can get scalers cheaper than you think mate. second hand iscan hd fir about 300 lumagens a little more, theb budget ones like zinwells can be had fir 170ish :@) theres a few in the classifieds mate, oh, and i havent seen a scaler that isnt better than the inbult ones in pj's

How does using a scaler help ? (remember im none too clever)

If I sent a 576p signal and the PJ converts to 720p then why does it not convert a signal sent into it via a scaler ?

[Ian56]

matt_p,

Got exactly the same set up as you - tx200+PanaS97 and like Duncan would be very interested in your settings after you re-calibrate yer system.

I've had my gear for awhile now and connect the S97 to the projector via a QED hdmi 3m cable and let the S97 do the upscaling to 720p which I prefer - I was always under the impression from opinions on various AVS websites that this was the best way to get the best possible picture.

So basically what you're saying is to connect the S97 via component and let the tx200 handle everything instead. Can you tell me if there is a setting in the S97 menu's I have to disable in order to make sure the tx200 is doing this and not the dvd player?

This is a fascinating topic and any further information or help would be much appreciated by myself and other tx200 users.

Ian.

[PJTX100]

The Oppo upscales well but there's not much in it. A Pioneer 575 via component does a very good job.

Upscaling DVD players are much over-rated IMHO. Much of it is marketing BS trying to ride on the back of true HiDef.