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In Reply to: Do I even have to be concerned? posted by Rod H. on January 20, 2007 at 19:11:01:
I don't know what the native resolution of your screen is, but if it isn't 1280 x 720 then I don't think there's any advantage to a DVD player that scales to 720p.To give an example, my Loewe LCD screen has a native resolution of 1366 by 768. It scales the input signal to that resolution. I have a choice between sending it standard PAL output at 720 x 576 and letting the TV scale that, or sending it 720p with a resolution of 1280 x720 from the DVD player and letting the TV scale that. If I do things the first way, there is only 1 scaling operation and that occurs in the TV. If I do it the second way, there are 2 scaling operations, first in the DVD player and then in the TV which then rescales an already rescaled image. In my experience things definitely look better with only 1 scaling operation so I send a standard definition signal from the DVD player and let the TV do all of the scaling.
It would be a different issue if the native resolution of my screen was 1280 x 720. Then I could get by with only 1 scaling operation and choose whether to let the TV or the DVD player do it. Whichever one did the job best would be the one I chose.
There's going to be some loss in image quality with any rescaling, though it's minimal with a good quality rescaling process. I don't see any way to come up with as good a result from 2 rescalings as you can from a single rescaling.
What that means is that I'd run with the display doing the rescaling from a standard definition DVD signal unless the DVD player could rescale to the screen's natural format. If your screen's format isn't 1280 x 720 or 1920 x 1080, you probably aren't going to find a DVD player that will rescale to your screen's native format. In that case don't worry about a DVD player that rescales. If your screen has one of those formats, try a few players and see if you like their rescaling more than you like having the screen do the rescaling. If you don't, then choose whichever player gives best results with standard definition output.
A player that rescales is only worth while if the end result is better than what you get when the screen does the rescaling.
David Aiken
Follow Ups:
The VInc D1 and D2 players, as well as the Momitsu players, scale to just about any resolution you would need (1024x768, 1366x768, etc) by use of the Sigma Designs 8500 series chips. However, these players are retired.But at 10ft minimum from a 42" display, I doubt upscaling would make a worthwhile difference.
Interesting that someone actually made a player that scaled to 1366 x 768 at one time—I've never seen one, much less heard of those 2 makes but that's probably because we don't get the same range of stuff here in Australia that you do in the US. I have heard of separate video scalers that will scale to 1366 x 768.As I said, I think I get slightly better picture quality running my Denon 2907 at standard definition when feeding my Loewe a component video signal. It's hard to define what the difference is, and it's definitely not a very big difference, buy things do seem to be a little sharper/crisper/better colour definition when I use the standard definition output. Ditto when it comes to choosing between 576p and 720p output with HDMI.
When it comes to digital TV, I watch a range of channels transmitting in standard definition interlaced, standard def progressive (one of the high def channels here when it slums), 720p and 1080i. I really haven't tried doing comparisons with different output choices on my set top box which can output at the incoming definition or you can opt to convert everything to standard def, to 720p, or to 1080i. I've simply let it sit on the 'auto' setting, outputting the same definition as the original signal and let the TV do the scaling. The overall results are good with that setting, regardless of the incoming signal, and I watch much less TV than I do video.
I haven't had the chance to see how my system works with a HD-DVD or BlueRay player. They're both just starting to be released here in Australia and there doesn't seem to be much in the way of discs available yet. I've seen some BlueRay setups in the shops but I have yet to see a HD-DVD player yet.
Interestingly, given the ongoing comments about the format wars and the late start for BlueRay in the US, Blue Ray seem to have got their stuff out the door first in Australia, with players and discs appearing in early December. It's only this month that I've even seen an ad for a HD-DVD player and I have yet to see a HD-DVD player or disc in the flesh. I wonder what that says.
David Aiken
It's interesting to hear about what's going on in other countries. One can very easily get caught up in their part of the world and mistake it for the "whole" world.If I were you, I'd check out what "regions" Australia is included in for the Blu-ray format. The restrictions aren't as strict as they were for DVD (yes, I know there are ways around this) and most consumers may find the new areas more to their liking. Then again, I'm sure there's quite a few that would rather there just be one region.
In the US, Universal is the only studio not supporting Blu-ray. However, that's not going to last much longer. There are some things happening in Japan right now that may give clues as to their intentions in the US (96% of the Japanese HD optical market is Blu-ray based). I'll give them the benefit of the doubt and say that they'll remain HD DVD exclusive in the US through 2007. After that, they'll either support separate Blu-ray releases or use Warner Bros' combo HD DVD/Blu-ray disc (they call it TotalHD) if Warner Bros can actually get it off the ground. Of course, depending on the March launch in Europe of the PS3, they may decide to cave even sooner. That's what I'd prefer, because Universal is my 2nd favorite studio (FOX is 1st). No use dragging out the inevitable...
Interesting. I thought I'd seen a comment somewhere here that the Blu-ray discs in Australia were identical to the US discs. This would seem to indicate that they aren't quite identical, though I think that comment was meant in relation to video format and it's certainly true in that respect.The decision regarding multi-zone access on players here in Australia was initially a court decision and it revolved around the right of users to be able to freely play discs from other zones that were legally obtained. I would assume the principle of that decision applied also in relation to Blu-ray discs. I wonder whether it's possible to make a Blu-ray disc play discs from all zones.
David Aiken
While there are now zones for Blu-ray, it's up to the studio to determine if they wat to enforce restrictions in a certain zone. If they decide that they want every zone to have access to that movie, it's up to them. If they only want a 1 zone or 2 zone pressing. that's how they'll do it.I don't know the details, but I believe after 1 year of release (the disc, not the movie) if there are more pressings of that movie it will be an all-zone pressing (ie, the studio cannot specify pressings after 1 year to restrict any zone).
Well, all of that sounds a lot more reasonable than the situation with normal DVDs where the zone system genuinely works against the customer.I bought a copy of Tarkovsky's "Solaris" on a local, zone 4 DVD late last year when it was finally released here. It was the first local DVD release of the film and that release could hardly impact on the film release since I saw the film on it's release here in Australia around 30 years ago, and a few times after that. In the US there were at least 2 releases of the film available yet here there were none. If the zone system really did anything to protect the interests of the copyright holder in such cases, I could find some reason to support it, but it isn't protecting the interests of the copyright holder in such cases. It works against them by limiting sales. A totally hopeless situation for the prospective customer and a stupid one for the copyright holder.
Making things difficult for the prospective customer can rarely, if ever, be a sensible decision and I don't t hink it's a sensible one here.
David Aiken
G'day,It is my understanding that here in Australia the Panasonic Blu-Ray is region 4 only (I don’t know the regions for the Samsung players) AND the Toshiba HD-DVD is region free.
The standard DVD players here are region free. Qualification: The 6 or 7 DVD players I have are region free (sourced from Australia) but I can’t say for sure if “all” DVD players here are region free. (5 or 6 years ago they were all region 4)
Smile
Sox
With Blu-ray, there will be 3 regions (A, B and C). The players will respect the current DVD region coding, but Blu-ray discs have relaxed restrictions.Region A:
- North America
- Central America
- South America
- Korea
- Japan
- South East AsiaRegion B:
- Europe
- Middle East
- Africa
- Australia
- New ZealandRegion C:
- Russia
- India
- China
- Rest of World
Can't remember where I saw the information I mentioned. I need to start bookmarking interesting things a bit more often.David Aiken
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