HDMI cable and upconvert dvd player

[Diskono]

Can someone explain how upconverting DVDs works? Does it work? It seems like voodoo to me...I don't understand how it is possible to turn a 720x480 video into a 1920x1080 video with a magic cable.

[logan82]

Another friend has a 1080p Acquos, and he paid as much for his 32" as I did for my 42", but you simply can't tell the difference in picture, and I believe that model was discontinued for that reason. What I've heard/read, and seems to hold true, is that you buy a Panasonic or Pioneer if Plasma and Sharp or Sony if LCD.

From what I understand you shouldn't even bother with 1080p unless you get over 40"(i forget exactly where). So your friend's tv should look almost as good in 720p as it does in 1080p.

[TCSM]

Another friend has a 1080p Acquos, and he paid as much for his 32" as I did for my 42", but you simply can't tell the difference in picture, and I believe that model was discontinued for that reason. What I've heard/read, and seems to hold true, is that you buy a Panasonic or Pioneer if Plasma and Sharp or Sony if LCD.

From what I understand you shouldn't even bother with 1080p unless you get over 40"(i forget exactly where). So your friend's tv should look almost as good in 720p as it does in 1080p.

No thats not true. They sell 1080i/p in 32, 37, 42 inches. (with smaller and larger). There IS a noticeable difference between the 1080i and p one. not just because of that but the 1080i sharp has a 6000:1 contrast where as the 1080p has a 10,000:1 which helps a ton. The reason why the 42" is barely more then the 32" and 42" is the very little difference in specs. 10,000:1 is the highest contrast ratio you see between a 32"-52". If you want more, you pay a lot more. With any 1080p tv you can expect better specs for the contrast ratio, inputs, etc.

Mothership, the main reason you see the difference in quality is again the specs. You look at an Olevia 32" tv you will see one of the lowest contrast ratios and any other spec. With a Samsung you can expect a very good contrast ratio and other specs as well. Cheap means cheaper parts and lower end quality, vice versa for a higher end one. Just like most things, the more you pay the better can you expect.

 

 

[logan82]

Good article on 720p vs 1080p. Couple of points. Unless you have BluRay or HDDVD there are few sources of 1080p content. Unless you have to have the absolute best or a TV over 55", very little noticeable difference unless you get close to the screen.

 

http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-6449_7-6810011-1.html?tag=ms

[TCSM]

1080p is still very new, so to have a million different 1080p compatible devices won't happen right away.

 

Patience my young grasshoppers, in 1-2 years these full hd tvs will have more products combining with them to get the true worth of it.

[logan82]

Just saying, unless you are getting a really big set or sitting really close to the set, you are not likley to tell the difference that extra $500-$800 buys you.

[TCSM]

very, very few tvs just upgrade from i to p without messing around with contrast ratio, response time, processor speed, etc. In one of my previous posts I make mention of the 32" sharp and how not only the scanning processes is changed but contrast ratio, in sharps case the response time, and inputs.

 

On the other hand you take a junky vizio you won't see a difference between either or because its lower end. with a samsung, sony, and some sharps, its noticeable side-by-side or not because of other upgrades.

[TCSM]

Actually no it's not. If the TV has a 60 Hz refresh rate then the frame rate for movies sits at a 2:3 ratio. Films are shot at a frame rate of 24 frames per second, to sync with the TV they will double the first frame, then triple the second frame, the double the third frame, then triple the fourth frame and so on and so fourth. This can give the film a jerky feel. If you have a 72 Hz refresh rate (anything higher then 60 Hz is very uncommon in the US) and up they will simply it shows the film at a 3:3 ratio, which means they triple each frame and it makes for a much smoother and seamless viewing. Games use 60 frames per second, so that is why the TV's will show a more distinct difference if you compare them, as they are perfectly synced up and have no additional frames.

Its not?? 97% of the tvs you will look at have a 60 Hz refresh rate, be it sears, best buy, or circuit city. My current tv ( 40" Samsung ) is at 120 Hz, which is twice the normal rate. The refresh rate can be affected by 1080i/p, brand, contrast ratio, etc. Take a samsung with a 60 Hz refresh vs a Proscan with the same refresh rate....you'll see a difference in motion blurring, ghosting with the Proscan by a mile.

 

Not every game, and far from it, are at 60 FPS. They've actually just started utilizing that because of the difficulty put into it. The average is 30 FPS, but that can all depend on the game, creator, and the system. For example: Madden 08 on the Xbox 360 is at 60 FPS while the PS3 has it at 30 FPS.

 

[greeg35]

As a sidenote, I just bought a Samsung 40" 1080P 120Hz LCD TV. I don't know if 1080p makes a noticeable difference or not because I have no basis of comparison, I just like to have the best specs and I figure it will have more longevity as a high-end TV. All I know is we also bought a Samsung 1080P upconverting DVD, and movies look amazing as do the over the air HD channels we get (although none are 1080p).

 

The 120 Hz is very, very noticeable. For sports the 120Hz is great (although I do get blurring of the football in fast motion for some reason). For movies my wife and I call it "people walking around mode" because it makes movies not look like movies. Actors just look like themselves walking around and bad acting stands out like a sore thumb. It is hard to explain. We ended up turning off the 120Hz feature for movies.

 

I am very very very happy with this setup.

[Katuluu]

Its not?? 97% of the tvs you will look at have a 60 Hz refresh rate, be it sears, best buy, or circuit city. My current tv ( 40" Samsung ) is at 120 Hz, which is twice the normal rate. The refresh rate can be affected by 1080i/p, brand, contrast ratio, etc. Take a samsung with a 60 Hz refresh vs a Proscan with the same refresh rate....you'll see a difference in motion blurring, ghosting with the Proscan by a mile.

 

Concerning films and television shows it's not. They shoot at 24 fps, and thus don't sync with 60Hz refresh rates, creating an uneven jerky feel to the film. 120Hz doesn't help matters either, as you would need your TV to adjust to multiples of 24, and since Panasonic plasmas are currently the only ones who are capable of changing the refresh rate to 72Hz, they are the only tvs that will give you a clean look to the image.

 

As for games, it doesn't matter if they are 30fps or 60fps, as both sync with the standard 60Hz refresh rate. Movies and TV do, because they do not.

[brewcrew00]

So I have a dvd player that gives me the option of watching in 1080i, 720p, or Auto, can I use HD DVD's?

[mothershipconnection]

Only if it's an actual "HD-DVD" player. An upconverting player can't play HD-DVD's.

[rluzinski]

An HD TV will convert a signal up to whatever it's native resolution is. The general consensus is that upconverting DVD players generally do a better job at it, however. I've seen standard def signals looks absolutely horrible on some high def TVs, so it seems that some TVs struggle with it more than others.

 

I can't wait until every manufacturer has 1080p resolution, until Sony decides that 1240p is the next "true HD". http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif

[brewcrew00]

So what's the point of an "upconverting" DVD player then? I'm pretty sure that's what I have...

[kilgore37]

It makes standard dvds look better on hdtvs

[mothershipconnection]

Yeah, my standard DVD player didn't look as good as my upconverting one. Though I should concede that my old player was about 6 years old. I got the new one (Phillips) on Buy.com for about $45.

 

A small minority of DVD's still look like crap, though, and they're new movies. Any tech geeks care to explain why? One that I can think of is "For Your Consideration" which was grainy and looked bad in addition to being an atrociously-boring film.

[Katuluu]

Did it look that bad with a standard DVD player? My guess is it was simply a poor transfer. It happens.

[mothershipconnection]

I don't know. I got rid of my standard player a couple days after buying my plasma. It's just weird that maybe 1/20 movies look grainy and like I'm watching them on a cheap standard-def TV.

[Katuluu]

It's pretty common for many of the bare bones DVD's to be rather mediocre transfers. High def only amplifies the problem.