My take on upconverting DVD player--what are your thoughts?

Penguins4Ever · 05-08-2008, 07:21 PM

Is it just me, or do older DVD's convert closer to HD than newer ones? I was watching the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, and they looked good, but not HD. The same was true for Superbad. Great picture, but not noticeably better than progressive scan.

Later, I was watching The Crow, and it looked HD. The same was true for Seven, which looked gorgeous.

Do you think it is possible that newer movies, that are also available on Blu Ray on release date, are made to not look as crisp? Possibly to boost Blu Ray sales a bit?

Rick-F · 05-09-2008, 09:23 AM

What upconverting player are you using?

Penguins4Ever · 05-09-2008, 09:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rick-F

What upconverting player are you using?

The 5 disc Sony player that came as part of my surround sound system (with HDMI).

anythingwt · 05-09-2008, 10:09 AM

I don't see your theory being very likely. You're thinking outside the box though that's for sure.

leevitalone · 05-09-2008, 12:40 PM

I think it's the production values of the disc. just like a cd some are produced correctly and others oh well. but the dvd deck has a lopt to do with it. have you ever seen an oppo? www.oppodigital.com
best pq I have ever seen from a dvd! very highly regarded by a/v pros and engineers.

Rick-F · 05-09-2008, 01:33 PM

I think leevitalone is right on the money here. . . If you can you should borrow an Oppo, Toshiba HD-DVD, or any Blu-Ray player and see how they upconvert.

I've found that newer DVDs seem to upconvert better than older ones-- and this does vary: some upconvert so well they really look like HD, while a few others are just slightly better than my (good quality) progressive player. I use both an Oppo and an HD-DVD player for upconversion and both do an outstanding job.

Sony has a great upconverting DVD player-- they call it a PS3; I'm not familiar with the one you have... But I do not think it is the actual DVDs. Regular DVDs outsell BD by such a large margin (and WILL for years to come), I can not imagine a studio/media producer doing anything to "degrade" the quality of their product. While Sony may want everyone to buy the BD version-- most studios don't really care what version you buy-- as long as you BUY!

Penguins4Ever · 05-09-2008, 03:57 PM

I'm still very happy with the system, but some of my friends who have come over said the same thing.

One strange example was "The Office." We watched an episode on DVD that happened to be on that night (in HD). The upconverted DVD looked better.

BobY · 05-15-2008, 09:15 AM

Upconverting DVD players have one advantage over letting the display upconvert to the native resolution--the upconverting circuitry in a DVD Player has access to multiple frames, encoded information and data flags (such as progressive frame flags) encoded on the disc, which can be used to improve the upconversion.

Not all discs provide this information, so it's possible one movie may yield better results when upconverted on a Player than another. A display will upconvert all SD sources pretty much the same, since the only information that is available to the display is the video itself and none of the data embedded in the undecoded MPEG2 stream.

05-08-2008, 07:21 PM	#1
Penguins4Ever How can anyone watch standard def? Join Date: May 2008 Posts: 19	My take on upconverting DVD player--what are your thoughts? Is it just me, or do older DVD's convert closer to HD than newer ones? I was watching the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, and they looked good, but not HD. The same was true for Superbad. Great picture, but not noticeably better than progressive scan. Later, I was watching The Crow, and it looked HD. The same was true for Seven, which looked gorgeous. Do you think it is possible that newer movies, that are also available on Blu Ray on release date, are made to not look as crisp? Possibly to boost Blu Ray sales a bit? __________________ Let's Go Pens !!! Olevia 37" HD Sony 5 Disc upconverting DVD / Surround Sound Dish Network HD DVR Nintendo Wii NHL 2k9 on Wii---it ain't pretty, but its a lot of fun. Blu-ray...very nice, but not a $400 improvement over DVD.

05-09-2008, 10:09 AM	#4
anythingwt one love Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Scottsdale, AZ Posts: 4,410	I don't see your theory being very likely. You're thinking outside the box though that's for sure. __________________ "your dreams, minus your doubts, equal your reality"

05-09-2008, 03:57 PM	#7
Penguins4Ever How can anyone watch standard def? Join Date: May 2008 Posts: 19	I'm still very happy with the system, but some of my friends who have come over said the same thing. One strange example was "The Office." We watched an episode on DVD that happened to be on that night (in HD). The upconverted DVD looked better. __________________ Let's Go Pens !!! Olevia 37" HD Sony 5 Disc upconverting DVD / Surround Sound Dish Network HD DVR Nintendo Wii NHL 2k9 on Wii---it ain't pretty, but its a lot of fun. Blu-ray...very nice, but not a $400 improvement over DVD.

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05-09-2008, 09:23 AM	#2
Rick-F 58" & 50" PDP / 2 32" LCD Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Louisville, KY Posts: 1,840	What upconverting player are you using?

05-09-2008, 12:40 PM	#5
leevitalone dirty boy Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: upstate NY Posts: 751	I think it's the production values of the disc. just like a cd some are produced correctly and others oh well. but the dvd deck has a lopt to do with it. have you ever seen an oppo? www.oppodigital.com best pq I have ever seen from a dvd! very highly regarded by a/v pros and engineers.

05-09-2008, 01:33 PM	#6
Rick-F 58" & 50" PDP / 2 32" LCD Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Louisville, KY Posts: 1,840	I think leevitalone is right on the money here. . . If you can you should borrow an Oppo, Toshiba HD-DVD, or any Blu-Ray player and see how they upconvert. I've found that newer DVDs seem to upconvert better than older ones-- and this does vary: some upconvert so well they really look like HD, while a few others are just slightly better than my (good quality) progressive player. I use both an Oppo and an HD-DVD player for upconversion and both do an outstanding job. Sony has a great upconverting DVD player-- they call it a PS3; I'm not familiar with the one you have... But I do not think it is the actual DVDs. Regular DVDs outsell BD by such a large margin (and WILL for years to come), I can not imagine a studio/media producer doing anything to "degrade" the quality of their product. While Sony may want everyone to buy the BD version-- most studios don't really care what version you buy-- as long as you BUY!

05-15-2008, 09:15 AM	#8
BobY What's all this, then?... Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 6,197	Upconverting DVD players have one advantage over letting the display upconvert to the native resolution--the upconverting circuitry in a DVD Player has access to multiple frames, encoded information and data flags (such as progressive frame flags) encoded on the disc, which can be used to improve the upconversion. Not all discs provide this information, so it's possible one movie may yield better results when upconverted on a Player than another. A display will upconvert all SD sources pretty much the same, since the only information that is available to the display is the video itself and none of the data embedded in the undecoded MPEG2 stream.