Upscaler

[WasimPa]

Hi
firstly, if someone has aalready asked this somehwere else i apologise for posting it again but i saw on the argos website a freeviewbox with hdmi port which upscales to 1080i resolution.
i have a HD tv so is it worth gettin this? what i am asking is does the upscaler make that much of a noticable difference?

Thanks

 

[LV426]

Does the TV have onboard Freeview, or do you have an existing Freeview box, or neither?

If the TV has onboard Freeview then "probably not" is the answer.
If you already have an external Freeview box AND it is connected to the TV using RGB (which is known to be working properly) then "probably not" is again the answer.

Basically the TV's internal scaler will upscale the incoming signal anyway. It's unlikely that the scaler in a Freeview box will do it any better - provided that you aren't doing anything to degrade your existing signal (say, by using composite video).

To get the best out of any large Hi Def TV and a standard defintion signal, the best things you can do are

- turn off or down or to their "null" values any noise reduction and sharpness/detail enhancing "features" the TV might have
- don't expect High Definition. It can't be done.

 

[fernandez]

You could also have a read through this

http://www.avforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=528212

 

[mwallan]

I have the hdmi freeview box in question, I only got it as my phd8 does not do scart and this was the cheapest hdmi box out there. what you have to ask will a box that costs £20 scale better than my TV answer NO. and i have aspect issues with this box all i can say its cheap and does the job but dont expect much from it.

 

[WasimPa]

Thanks for that.

at the moment i am not sure what i will do, i already have a freeview box but its seems to be playing up at the moment and i was thinking of getting a new one, i was thinking of getting one with an upscaler because i thought that the hdmi would produce better quality than an RGB.
i think i will shop around some more

Cheers

 

[Franco50]

Take a look through the thread that fernandez quoted above. I have the Goodmans upscaling box but, unlike mwallan's experience, I find it DOES make a significant difference to my picture. Horses for courses I suppose.

 

[KingJeff 4th]

Agreed, it also makes a positive difference on my TV as well, nothing like HD of course but better than my standard Freeview

(37" Orion Panel)

 

[nwgarratt]

HDMI is also worth having over RGB Scart as well even when not taking the scaling into account.