Can MCE Upscale DVDs?

[Jay.Dub]

I bet this has been covered to death, so sorry in advance...

Can my Artisan upscale DVDs for playback on by screen and projector (both capable)?

I'm assuming it would be a software element required?

Anyone know whether this is possible at all?

I've tried some WMVHD files and they look fantastic on my projector I'm just looking for the same from my DVDs...


Thanks for input.

 

[hermanmunster]

I don't know about your Artisan, but my home brewed HTPC with 6600GT card and Nvidia PureDVD decoder is outputting 720p component to my screen. Looks fine but it's not true HD.

 

[Anim]

I bet this has been covered to death, so sorry in advance...

Can my Artisan upscale DVDs for playback on by screen and projector (both capable)?

I'm assuming it would be a software element required?

Anyone know whether this is possible at all?

I've tried some WMVHD files and they look fantastic on my projector I'm just looking for the same from my DVDs...


Thanks for input.

Upscaling is just a case of stretching the picture to match the output display resolution.

What your really after is the same effect as HD material from standard def DVD's?

The HD Movies you watched have 720 lines of video data but PAL DVD's only have 576. When you scale this up to 720 lines the computer is just adding in data to make it visible.

There are three solutions to making your standard def material look better.

1. Buy a dedicated hardware Scaler
2. Use Software filters
3. Get a "decent" upscaling dvd player like the Denon 1920 or the Oppo

The hardware scaler route does all sorts of clever filtering to the upscaled image to make it noise free and sharp. This is the most expensive solution usualy but also the most plug-and-play.

The second option is to use a progam called FFDShow in conjunction with a playback package like Theater Tek.

FFDShow will resize the video to 1280x720, then you setup various software filters to make that stretched image look clean again. The only problem here is that it takes cpu processing power to do all this without dropping frames.

FFDShow is free and there is loads of info about it on the forums.

The 3rd option is to get a decent upscaling DVD player that will make the picture look better not worse (some budget dvd players upscale and it looks naff) But then your moving away from your MCE device.

Anyway, you have lots to digest there so good luck and search these forums.

Anim

 

[WheresMyArtisan]

I'm just looking for the same from my DVDs...

If you could get the same quality from a standard DVD then why would anyone want hi-def? It's like saying you could put a VHS recording through some magic black box that will output DVD quality. It can't be done, and never will be.

Having ranted above, I found that by switching to an Nvidia 6600 graphics card and their PureVideo decoder, it did vastly improve the picture quality. It looks pretty brilliant, and I'm sure any posh DVD player wouldn't look any better. I'm certain it would look rubbish next to a HD system though.

 

[Anim]

I have also heard nothing but good reports anout NVidia's PureVideo Codec too.

 

[cyberheater]

Purevideo decoders are awesome.

Some of the benefits are

* NVIDIA PureVideo delivers crisp pictures by eliminating double images, blurring, and distortions.
* Jagged edges are smoothed with spatial temporal de-interlacing, inverse telecine, and advanced scaling technologies.

I've tried the ffshow route and the images are a lot sharper but I find that the purevideo decoders look smoother and more natural.

 

[Jay.Dub]

thanks all