High Def Forum - Your High Definition Community & High Definition Resource - View Single Post - Blue Ray may not be worth it for it for me.

strawberry · 07-09-2005, 03:55 PM

Yes- you're absolutely right about DirecTV going to MPEG 4. I think cable systems will have to do the same, but it will take them longer to do it, and, at this point, nothing has been announced.

As for your questions:

#1.) Yes- the point of using an upscaling player (besides having a digital connection) is to set it to output at your TV's native resolution so that the upscaling circuitry in the TV is bypassed.

#2.) Exactamundo. That's what a fixed-pixel display actually is: a TV that displays everything at a single, fixed resolution. If the source has a lower res than your TV, it is upscaled to match. If the source has a higher res than your TV, it is downscaled to match. If the TV is upconverting the picture from a standard def channel- as you say, the extra picture information is artificial in nature. You're not going to see any actual improvement looking at the upscaled version of that channel than you would if you were to see it displayed at it's native res of 480 lines. This is the same thing that happens with your DVD's- which kind of leads us into the answer to your next question...

#3.) Fixed-pixel HD displays stand to see more benefit from upconverting players because most sets of that type are 720p (or thereabouts)- meaning they can't natively display a 480-line picture, which is what all DVD's hold. What this means, as stated above in my answer to your previous question, is that if you're using a standard, progressive-scan DVD player, your TV has to upscale the signal from 480p, which is what it's receiving from the DVD player, to its native resolution of 720p (or thereabouts). Some TV's do a better job of upconversion than others- therefore, it can be to your advantage to buy a DVD player that can perform the upconversion in place of the TV.

In the case of non fixed-pixel HD displays, such as CRT projection sets and tube sets, upconversion is not necessary because CRT sets can change the actual resolution of their picture to match it's source, meaning they can natively display the 480-line image from broadcasts and DVD's without having to convert them to another resolution. (Although, interestingly, CRT-based sets tend to support native display of 480i, 480p, and 1080i, but not 720p. 720p material is upconverted to 1080i in those instances.)

One thing that I haven't really touched on is the difference between interlaced and progressive frame types. It would be easy to write a book about the differences but, in general, all you really need to know is that progressive scanning is just better. It produces a much more stable, sharp image than interlaced formats do. This is why you should set your Denon to 720p output instead of 1080i. Since your TV is progressive frame-based, you're not going to want to pump interlaced signals into it if you can avoid it, otherwise you just wind up with your TV doing more unnecessary work, and a possible downgrade in picture quality.

07-09-2005, 03:55 PM	#10
strawberry HD is the Lord. Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Lawrence, KS Posts: 1,635	Yes- you're absolutely right about DirecTV going to MPEG 4. I think cable systems will have to do the same, but it will take them longer to do it, and, at this point, nothing has been announced. As for your questions: #1.) Yes- the point of using an upscaling player (besides having a digital connection) is to set it to output at your TV's native resolution so that the upscaling circuitry in the TV is bypassed. #2.) Exactamundo. That's what a fixed-pixel display actually is: a TV that displays everything at a single, fixed resolution. If the source has a lower res than your TV, it is upscaled to match. If the source has a higher res than your TV, it is downscaled to match. If the TV is upconverting the picture from a standard def channel- as you say, the extra picture information is artificial in nature. You're not going to see any actual improvement looking at the upscaled version of that channel than you would if you were to see it displayed at it's native res of 480 lines. This is the same thing that happens with your DVD's- which kind of leads us into the answer to your next question... #3.) Fixed-pixel HD displays stand to see more benefit from upconverting players because most sets of that type are 720p (or thereabouts)- meaning they can't natively display a 480-line picture, which is what all DVD's hold. What this means, as stated above in my answer to your previous question, is that if you're using a standard, progressive-scan DVD player, your TV has to upscale the signal from 480p, which is what it's receiving from the DVD player, to its native resolution of 720p (or thereabouts). Some TV's do a better job of upconversion than others- therefore, it can be to your advantage to buy a DVD player that can perform the upconversion in place of the TV. In the case of non fixed-pixel HD displays, such as CRT projection sets and tube sets, upconversion is not necessary because CRT sets can change the actual resolution of their picture to match it's source, meaning they can natively display the 480-line image from broadcasts and DVD's without having to convert them to another resolution. (Although, interestingly, CRT-based sets tend to support native display of 480i, 480p, and 1080i, but not 720p. 720p material is upconverted to 1080i in those instances.) One thing that I haven't really touched on is the difference between interlaced and progressive frame types. It would be easy to write a book about the differences but, in general, all you really need to know is that progressive scanning is just better. It produces a much more stable, sharp image than interlaced formats do. This is why you should set your Denon to 720p output instead of 1080i. Since your TV is progressive frame-based, you're not going to want to pump interlaced signals into it if you can avoid it, otherwise you just wind up with your TV doing more unnecessary work, and a possible downgrade in picture quality. __________________ Home Theater Setup ISF-Calibrated Hitachi 57S500 HDTV Denon 2807 AVR 7.1 JBL Venue Series Speaker System Toshiba HD-A1 PS3 60 Gig Xbox 360 Premium Moxi BMC 9022 DVR Logitech Harmony 880 Last edited by strawberry; 07-09-2005 at 03:59 PM.