Posted by Stuart on 06/06/07 05:25

"Lloyd Parsons" <lloydparsons@mac.com> wrote in message
news:lloydparsons-FC75D5.20144005062007@individual.net...
> In article <f44scf023rh@enews1.newsguy.com>, "Pete" <pete@nospam.net>
> wrote:
>
>> Lloyd Parsons wrote:
>> > In article <f42jnr02q0e@enews5.newsguy.com>, "Pete" <pete@nospam.net>
>> > wrote:
>> >
>> >> Will an upconverting dvd player, play an actual "high def" dvd like
>> >> "Planet Earth", in true 1080i (Planet Earth was filmed in 1080i from
>> >> the get go with high def cameras), or do upconverting dvd's only
>> >> upscale lower definitions like 480i or 480p, etc.
>> >>
>> >> In other words does it accept a true original 1080i dvd, and just
>> >> pass it on to the high def tv, without trying to upscale it (and the
>> >> picture is true 1080i), or does it do something squirrelly.
>> >>
>> >> Thanks...Pete
>> >
>> > No.
>> >
>> > You need to get it in either BluRay or HDDVD and have the appropriate
>> > player to do that.
>> >
>> > If you put a HDDVD or BluRay disc in an upconverting player, nothing
>> > will play at all.
>>
>> Thanks Lloyd....But I am still confused about this. I have the Planet
>> Earth
>> discs and they play in my high def tv with my 480 p dvd player (but not
>> crisp), and my regular tv which has a 480i dvd player hooked up to it.
>> Does
>> that mean that my planet earth discs are not HD even though though the
>> whole
>> series was photographed with high def cameras (I assumed they were HD,
>> but I
>> guess I was wrong). Do HDDVD's say they are high def right on the box
>> somewhere, versus saying that they used high def photography to film the
>> series. Are all dvds basically 480i if they do not specifically say they
>> are "High Def ", or are there some that are 480 p.
>>
>> So do the upconverting dvd players take 480 i or 480 p discs only, and
>> upscale them to 720 p, or 1080i or 1080 p. My high def tv plays up to
>> 1080
>> i ( no 108O p). Are dvd players that play 480 p inherently called
>> upscaling
>> or upconverting, even though they are only going from 480 i to 480 p.
>>
>> Is the upscaling to 1080 i (on upconverting dvd players) just a bogus
>> thing
>> and the picture will not be near as good as true 1080 i which was
>> broadcast
>> in 1080 i. I was going to get one of the cheap upscalable dvd players
>> (Magnavox sells one for 50 bucks which includes an HDMI cable), just to
>> see
>> if it played the planet earth discs better. I am thinking the picture
>> will
>> not be near as good as true 1080 i, but I would think it would be better
>> than the 480 p which I get now. Do you think it is worth try. I will
>> never
>> buy HDDVD's, but I assume the video stores will start stocking them more
>> and
>> for renting, but still keep the 480 i's.
>>
>> Please give me your thoughts on buying a cheap upconvering dvd player,
>> and
>> how good will the picture be if it upscales to 1080 i (compared to a true
>> 1080 i broadcast).
>>
>> Thanks...Pete
>
> Here's the short and sweet of it...
>
> All Hi Def DVDs will be plainly marked either HDDVD or BluRay. If you
> see that on the package, it won't play in anything but an HDDVD or
> BluRay player.
>
> Upconverting DVD players just upconvert a 480 picture. It looks better
> than the same DVD not upconverted, but not as good as a real HD DVD
> player. How much better is as much a function of how good the
> upconverting player is, and unfortunately, price is not always the best
> indicator.
>
> Never say never about what you might buy in the future. Planet Earth on
> HDDVD is mindblowing from what I've read. And HiDef player pricing is
> declining and I think you will see an HDDVD player in the $200 price
> range by Xmas, and BluRay at about $350 or so by then.

Agree with all of the above - also a note on production technique, studios
and production houses have been shooting many series with HD cameras for
years, the limiting factor is always the playback recording medium, so
normal DVD's will always be just 480i no matter what the source material,
the same material could also be released on VHS or 16mm film and would look
terrible in comparison to the standard DVD. A well exposed 35mm film has
slightly higher resolution than HDTV that's why until fairly recently a lot
of archive material was shot on film. HDDVD and BlueRay are of course
designed for the higher bit rate than normal DVD's although they are
backwards compatible ie they will play standard def DVD's. But standard DVD
players can't play them at all.

I have an HDTV Samsung LCD and a Samsung upconverting standard definition
DVD player and with the upconverting switched on you can see the difference
on even very old movies even DivX files look better but remember
upconverting can't give you something that is "not there" in the first place
just like so called audio stereo converters cannot give you stereo sound
from a mono source. Upconverting is basically a video special effects
generator that sharpens the image using complex algorithms etc...

[Back to original message]