Video Asylum

Posted by Joe Murphy Jr (A) on May 14, 2006 at 09:24:20

In Reply to: Re: I have followup questions I would like to add. posted by BKSinAZ@yahoo.com on May 14, 2006 at 07:14:59:

"When upconverted to 1080p...is that the same thing as the real thing? Or is that a fake 1080p?"

To get 1920x1080p, a lesser signal (DVD's 720x480i, for example) is first deinterlaced (because in order to do the next step, scaling, you need a progressive signal -- there's no scaling of interlaced signals), then scaled to achieve this format. Since the signal wasn't native 1920x1080p, then yes, you can call it "fake" if you like. A signal would then have to be native in order for it to be "real".

* However, if the source was film (natively a progressive format as it's 24p -- 24 frames per second), there is a way to recover the original signal. The images are sent as 1920x1080i/60 (that's 60 fields -- half a frame -- of 1920x1080 per second). As long as no pre-filtering is done, the progressive image created from this signal will be the same as the 24p image.

"It has multiple hookups, which is best to use? HDMI, Component or Firewire?"

It will depend on the source and the display. I would suggest trying out the different connections on each source with the different connections on the display and see what looks best to your eyes. Reserve the best combination (source connector with display connector) for the best source.

"Will the Component video offer true 1080p?"

Very, very few displays offer true 1920x1080p input capability with their YPbPr inputs and I doubt the Sony will accept a 1920x1080p input via the YPbPr input (but see the * comment above). At the present time, there is no consumer electronics hardware specifically for "Hollywood" movie playback that offers a 1920x1080p output. Neither the HD DVD nor the Blue-ray players will offer 1080p output via the YPbPr outputs due to AACS restrictions. This is not ITC (Image Constraint Token, which calls for image downrezzing on the analog video output if the movie studio in question decides that's what they want), but an across the board restriction on all HD DVD/Blue-ray players.