DVD quality question...

lyric0n

I am new to HDTV/etc so I apologize if this is a basic question but I have looked elsewhere and can't seem to find the answer.

I recently purchased a Phillips 30" HDTV with 1 component input and 1 HDMI input (as well as a variety of RCA connectors), as well as a Yamaha DVD player with 1 component output and progressive scan. I have the two connected threw the component cables.

Whenever I play a DVD it says that it is in 480i mode, rather than the 480P or 1080i (which both the DVD player and TV should support). Is there something I am doing wrong that is limiting it from using 1080i? Should I return the DVD player and get one with an HDMI output? Would it really give me much better quality? Also, are there any receivers that have HDMI input/output?

Thanks for the help...I've posed these questions to sales people, but they seem to be pretty clueless for the most part...

ja2935

Your TV will take either a 480i or 480p input and convert it to 1080i for display - unless I am mistaken. Most CRTs will do this.

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Allin4greeN

if you identify the specific models of the DVD player and monitor. From your description, it is unlikely that your player is an upconverting one (1080i or 720p), therefore it would not output those signals. However, it is likely that you can adjust the player's output between interlace and progressive scanning (480i or 480p) and your monitor would upconvert to 1080i or 720p, as ja2935 mentioned.

If you have the DVD-S550, look on p. 20 of the User's Manual for additional info.

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Kanati

Not all televisions automatically upscale a 480 signal. None that I've personally owned or operated did. As I stated in aother thread though, a fixed pixel system very well might do that (in the case with an LCD), but it's definitely not guaranteed.

What I'm finding painfully evident is that copy protected dvd's aren't likely to get upscaled even on a dvd player that claims it does such things. Regardless, most dvd players do 480i or 480p and you may have to choose the progressive signal in setup for that device in order to make it do that. At the very least there is probably a "progressive" mode button on the remote or the dvd player.

In any case, DVD's aren't inherently hi-def and it's a crapshoot whether you'd see any real increase in quality by upscaling to 1080i over 480p as really the only thing you are doing is line-doubling in most cases without a dedicated video processor like a faroudja or similar.

RSawdey

You need to configure your DVD player for a widescreen display (so it can take advantage of anamorphic version) and for progressive scan 480p output. Since your TV can display 480p, that's what you should feed it. So called 'upconverting' players can't create new detail out of thin air, and only 480 lines are stored on the disc.

legend1969

There are a lot of difference very cheep dvd player out there and when i say cheep i mean in price. I have have a pioneer elite plasma with a Denon 2910 player. Im useing the HDMI feature i keep it set on 720p. Everything i watch assuming the dvd is a quality movie looks amazing. With dvd players you really get what you pay for. The problem is most people that are getting into there first HDTVs dont really know the diffenece in what a high end dvd player does for there tv. Go to a ken cranes or some where in your area that sells nice stuff and look at the different quality in the pictures. I happened to love the HDMI i see a huge difference. You have a good tv you just need a good player to get the top performance from it. Hope this helps

tristanjohn

That's good advice. I hope you hang around.

Looking seriously at the 2910 myself. It'll be my first DVD player--I'm an old S-VHS junkie with tons of films up on the shelf, so I also need a good recorder to turn that stuff over before the tape goes bad, as it certainly will--that, or my JVC machine finally dies. (poorthing)

Any ideas there? It looks to be a skinny market just now, with all of the recorders with HDs having that idiotic TVGOS software--useless to me as I have DirecTV, plus I hear it doesn't work right for many people anyway. (There appears to be hack for that, at least for the Pioneer 633 recorder, and I've posted it to Video Help.)

Anyway, I have my eye on the Sony GX300 recorder, but I haven't decided yet. If you have an opinion I'd love to hear it. If I did buy that Sony I'd probably still get the 2910 for playback purposes, as I seriously doubt the Sony would play back as good, or even nearly as good.

RSawdey

Unfortunately, many people don't realize that upconverting players are redundant with quality HDTVs with good built in upconversion chips. DVDs only have 720 x 480 SDTV stored on the disc... and nothing will improve this. The best any display system can do is try to perfectly reproduce the quality of the input source.

tristanjohn

Thing is you never know which piece of hardware will do the better job of scaling the 480i signal, the DVD player or TV. In my case, I'd bet (a dollar) that a NeuNeo (for example) would likely be redundant, and so a waste of my money for that reason, as my Toshiba seems to do a good job of scaling to 1080i--but I couldn't say that for sure unless I did an A-B test, right?

One thing's for sure: there are plenty of posts everywhere which claim DVD scalers (even with Faroudja technology) don't do much good, in some cases degrade the image. So, as always, caveat emptor.

maicaw

could you provide a link to that post?

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ImRizzo

Before you look into an expensive $$$ DVD player like the Denon2910 checkout the OPPO 917H very impressive and About 200.00 very highly rated by Home Theater magazine research team it was rated 2nd place of all available DVD players for upscaling

tristanjohn

I'm not sure I want an upscaler, and even if I did the Oppo wouldn't help me as I only have component IN on my TV. To use the Oppos for scaling a user has to have DVI capability (a little detail many users can't comply with). For someone in my situtation the answer appears to be (but I'm not sure) the NeuNeo 2085.

One consideration re scalers: it's never clear that a DVD scaler will improve one's TV image--it just depends, as your TV might well do a better job of upconverting that 480i source material.

While the USA advent of this new company called Oppo looks to be interesting, there's no way to compare the build quality of this first offering to everything I've read re the Denon 2910. That's like night and day.

Finally, I don't see a good basis basis to declare the Denon an "expensive" piece of gear. It' more expensive than the Oppo for sure, but in fact the Oppo is a kind of low-end piece of gear, and according to what I've read it shows--for instance, a flimsy plastic tray. It's what most people are looking for, sure, but to think it's built especially well is a fantasy.

The Secrets of Home Theater and High Fidelity DVD Benchmark review is here for anyone interested, and it scores pretty good at that.

Oppo OPDV971H

I don't push the Denon 2910, not even sure I'll buy one, but even that unit is just MOR stuff. A Denon 3910, on the other hand, is entry-level high-end gear, and of course you pay more for that still.

To think you're going to get the same quality out of the Oppo as you get out of the Denon 2910, though, is a mistake. I know you'd like to believe that, but you might want to think again.

For whatever it's worth, here's the 3910 review:

Denon 3910

And here's a review on another site for the Denon 2910:

Denon 2910

maicaw

Thanks for that link - unfortunately the Sony unit I have doesn't have the same TVGOS interface as the Pioneer - I was looking for a "service menu" besides the 753159852 tvgos hidden menu and the 9012 and 1234 sony menus that would allow me to set the time manually on the DHG-HDD500 - I've posted a few TVGOS hints on the AVS myself - Hopefully someone will do a hack that allows disabling the EPG on the Sony - It apparently will boot from the USB port so hacks should be just a matter of the Linux people getting interested -and burning to a USB device - as it is it's totally dependent on PBS - to function - even the clock doesn't work if PBS is asleep- and they have been for over a week -doesn't seem to be much interest in the unit on this forum - and agoraquest.com seems to be reticent about this TVGOS problem.

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tristanjohn

Well, to my mind no matter how you cut it TVGOS is an excellent example of bad software engineering and implementation. Typically, that then finds itself being adapted as a defacto standard (and unfortunately for me, the standard for DVD recorders with hard drives).

I do hope you find a solution. Please post any new hacks for TVGOS here. If I could disable that nonsense (for sure and for certain) I'd probably buy a DVD recorder.