Upscaling/upconverting amps- worth it?

GarethG

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I have posed this in plasma section and had a couple of responses but wonder if better suited here?

I am going to buy a 50" plasma in the coming months. The Pioneer 507 is my current favorite.

The vast majority of my viewing will be freeview and rented DVDs so probably not initially going to Sky HD or HD DVD.

How can I maximise the quality of normal DVDs and freeview for this screen?

Should I use a DVD player or Receiver with upscaling/converting (sorry don't know the difference!) -put all sources through one of these, use them both separately, or use the plasma to do the work itself?

Sorry if being thick and have done a search but got myself confused!

Sorry if not clear but am happy to buy a DVD player and receiver/amp to assist -probably max budget of £1200 (total for both)
Was leaning towards something like Sony 5200 -but if lower ranges match it for sound and the plasma deals with picture better is there any point? Particularly if end up with the new Pioneer which I undertand has separate media box so can give you one cable to wall solution
 
I would buy an amp for it's sound quality first and if it could upscale as well then that's a bonus.
 
I think upconverting S-Video signals to component or HDMI is worth it if you are connecting to your display over some distance because S-video (or composite if you have to) signals degrade more as the cable length increases.

It is very handy to run all your devices into your amp with short cable runs and have the amp conveniently pipe to your display down 1 long cable to your screen using the highest quality signal type you can.

Video upscaling on the other hand is not really necessary unless your particular dispaly upscales badly.

To sum up, I'd say upconversion is useful and sometimes very beneficial.
Upscaling is usually neither.
 

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