Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Video scalers and video upconversions? Worth it?

Ok, well we all know that the hd-dvd is coming soon. I'm wondering if I should add a video scaler or upconversion to my existing dvd player or wait for hd-dvd to come out, or buy the 720p dvd players. I have Denon 1600 dvd player which I absolutely love and is highly regarded according to the dvd shootout. I understand its only 420p and it looks good on my Toshiba 50 inch rear projection. So lets say I want to view it 720p or higher on my tv, would it be best to get samsung 720p player or get upconversion to add to my dvd player? I know new dvd player is cheaper and has 720p but I'm not sure if it has same quality as the denon 1600, etc? Also do any of you know if regular dvds will play in the hd-dvd player or not? I would hate to buy all new dvds just to watch in hd resolution for the hd-dvd player. So what are your opinions, etc and best route to take?

I have a Samsung DVD player connected via HDMI to my 1080p 61' DLP tv. The picture looks just like the HD picture from my Time Warner Explorer 8300 HD box. I dont even care about the true HD Dvd players because the image im getting right now is HD quility.

If the scaler in your TV/PJ/DVD player is decent, then it probably isn't worth it to add an external scaler. At least not with HD-DVD near. YMMV.

I enjoy my Panny S97S with my Sanyo Z2.

Well if you already love your denon then why get something else? HD-DVD might be around the corner but the inital players will be around $1000 and might not even be around in the future due to the standards wars. I assume both players will have extra lasers for regular DVD playback, if not then I would never consider em.

Stick with your Denon since its highly regarded and cus you love it. Perhaps I'm wrong but I doubt you would be able to discern a difference with your Denon vs a video scalar.

from what i have seen, the main people that get scalers is people with projectors.. i would think it is only going to be worth spending the money if you were going to upconvert everything to 1080p..

Eric, note that all present DVDs are 480i. If the TV has a "native resolution" such as 720p, then the 480i from the DVD has to be deinterlaced(i.e. from i to p)and scaled up(from 480 to 720)so that the picture can be shown properly on the 720p TV. This doesn't mean that it's actually 720 quality, but it can be displayed on the set. So, you're always seeing things at 720p on that TV, although it's not the full resolution if it's been scaled up from 480. The TV set itself deinterlaces and scales up if something else hasn't done those processes(e.g. a player, some receivers or a separate scaler). The only question would be if one of those did a visibly better job of it than the TV itself, and no blanket answer can be given, because it varies.

Yes, I love my denon 1600 player which is connected via component to my Toshiba 50hdx82 which is hdtv ready crt rear projection. I am going to get front projection in few years and everything will be 1080p. But what I was wondering is what can I do to get better picture than 420p from my current setup? Best to get upconverter, etc? Another reason I'm asking is because I was told that if I put my normal dvds in a hd-dvd player then it will still be 480p instead of true high definition? If so, then I would hate to buy 300+ movies in hd to replace my standard ones. Although I was thinking when I get front projection then I could use my denon 1600 as 2nd dvd player or cd player and have better player in few years to compliment with the front projector. Also about the upconverter as I was reading that it would take 420i from dvd player and convert it to 720p or 1080i for the rear projection. Is that how it works? Is the picture quality better that way?

John: are you absolutely sure that ALL DVDs are in 480???

Sure, Bernard, unless European PAL DVDs(576)are considered.