Jay H
Answer
An Upconverting DVD player sort of "blends colors together" so they appear less "blocky" if you're going from a LOWER resolution source (DVD player at 720x480) to a HIGHER one (HDTV at 1280x720 or 1920x1080).
The best example I can think of is let's say you had a "picture" that was two pixels total, side by side, one white, and one black.
If you "upconverted" this to three pixels, all side by side, the conversion would make the middle pixel grey. That way, it's less "abrupt" of a change from one pixel to the other. This results in a SMOOTHER PICTURE. Obviously it's slightly more complex than that, but that's the basics of what it's doing.
From a technical standpoint, check out the Wikipedia link in Sources on Anisotropic Filtering... that's mostly what it's doing.
Practically, "Upconverting" is nothing special. It helps a little, but IMHO DVDs look just fine on HDTVs that you WON'T GET A 'WOW' DIFFERENCE from an Upconverting player vs. a regular one.
If you're in the market for a DVD player, I'd most whole-heartedly suggest getting a REGION-FREE DVD Player. DVD Regions are mostly a scam by the MPAA to charge more for movies in the US and UK than elsewhere.
Best of luck, help I was able to help.
An Upconverting DVD player sort of "blends colors together" so they appear less "blocky" if you're going from a LOWER resolution source (DVD player at 720x480) to a HIGHER one (HDTV at 1280x720 or 1920x1080).
The best example I can think of is let's say you had a "picture" that was two pixels total, side by side, one white, and one black.
If you "upconverted" this to three pixels, all side by side, the conversion would make the middle pixel grey. That way, it's less "abrupt" of a change from one pixel to the other. This results in a SMOOTHER PICTURE. Obviously it's slightly more complex than that, but that's the basics of what it's doing.
From a technical standpoint, check out the Wikipedia link in Sources on Anisotropic Filtering... that's mostly what it's doing.
Practically, "Upconverting" is nothing special. It helps a little, but IMHO DVDs look just fine on HDTVs that you WON'T GET A 'WOW' DIFFERENCE from an Upconverting player vs. a regular one.
If you're in the market for a DVD player, I'd most whole-heartedly suggest getting a REGION-FREE DVD Player. DVD Regions are mostly a scam by the MPAA to charge more for movies in the US and UK than elsewhere.
Best of luck, help I was able to help.
What`s up with "Upconverting" DVD players?
David G
I want to buy an upconverting DVD player to take advantage of my new HD TV. Problem is, I keep reading that these upconverting players will increase the resolution to 1080p. That`s great, but my TV only supports 720p and 1080i. Will they also upconvert to those resolutions as well, or 1080p only? By the way, does the Playstation 3 have the ability to upconvert DVD videos?
Answer
Upconverting DVD players scale the DVD image from 480 (vertical) to pseudo-HD by interpolating the existing image and filling in new lines of information. The way they do it varies somewhat, but in all cases the result, while an improvement on the original DVD, is only technically an HD image. In other words it is not as sharp as a true (e.g. Blu-ray or HD DVD) image.
That said, to answer your question, upconverting DVD players can output various 'levels' of HD -- which, technically is 720p or higher (i.e. 720p, 1080i or 1080p) -- so that the user can match the output to what their HDTV will accept.
The PS3 is both a Blu-ray player and an upconverting DVD player ... in other words it will -- via menu setting -- output Blu-ray at a range of output resolutions (up to 1080p) and will play normal DVDs at the same selected HD output resolution.
In general, 1080p output is only possible via HDMI, while 1080i and less is also available via component.
Finally, note that the quality of upconversion depends on the type of video processor/scaler built into the player. It shouldn't be any surprise that budget upscaling players (>$60-$70) generally do a less capable job that more expensive models. Arguably, the best upconverters are those made by Oppo (although several HD DVD and Blu-ray players are almost as good), but they are almost as expensive as lower end Blu-ray players.
If you have a 1080p HDTV and are willing to pay premium prices for disks, you may want to consider a Blu-ray player (e.g. the PS3) since it will give you better video and audio (via advanced audio formats on Blu-ray disks -- assuming you have the audio system to take advantage) than DVD will (even on an upscaling player. On the other hand, if you have a smaller than 40" 720p/1080i HDTV (particularly if it's not a top end model) a Blu-ray player (and Blu-Ray disks) is unlikely to give a significantly better image than upconverted DVD's on a medium quality (or better) player. If the HDTV is larger than 40", even if it's only 720p/1080i Blu-ray MAY be worthwhile (but it will depend on the quality of the HDTV)
Hope that helps.
Upconverting DVD players scale the DVD image from 480 (vertical) to pseudo-HD by interpolating the existing image and filling in new lines of information. The way they do it varies somewhat, but in all cases the result, while an improvement on the original DVD, is only technically an HD image. In other words it is not as sharp as a true (e.g. Blu-ray or HD DVD) image.
That said, to answer your question, upconverting DVD players can output various 'levels' of HD -- which, technically is 720p or higher (i.e. 720p, 1080i or 1080p) -- so that the user can match the output to what their HDTV will accept.
The PS3 is both a Blu-ray player and an upconverting DVD player ... in other words it will -- via menu setting -- output Blu-ray at a range of output resolutions (up to 1080p) and will play normal DVDs at the same selected HD output resolution.
In general, 1080p output is only possible via HDMI, while 1080i and less is also available via component.
Finally, note that the quality of upconversion depends on the type of video processor/scaler built into the player. It shouldn't be any surprise that budget upscaling players (>$60-$70) generally do a less capable job that more expensive models. Arguably, the best upconverters are those made by Oppo (although several HD DVD and Blu-ray players are almost as good), but they are almost as expensive as lower end Blu-ray players.
If you have a 1080p HDTV and are willing to pay premium prices for disks, you may want to consider a Blu-ray player (e.g. the PS3) since it will give you better video and audio (via advanced audio formats on Blu-ray disks -- assuming you have the audio system to take advantage) than DVD will (even on an upscaling player. On the other hand, if you have a smaller than 40" 720p/1080i HDTV (particularly if it's not a top end model) a Blu-ray player (and Blu-Ray disks) is unlikely to give a significantly better image than upconverted DVD's on a medium quality (or better) player. If the HDTV is larger than 40", even if it's only 720p/1080i Blu-ray MAY be worthwhile (but it will depend on the quality of the HDTV)
Hope that helps.
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