DVR Chatter
Discussing the DCT-6412, Home Theater Devices, Entertainment, Celebrity and the Cable Industry. Not affiliated with any Cable Company, Hardware Manufacturer or Software Developer.
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#1 02-20-2008 3:44:19 PM
Anyone use an upconvert DVD player.
Background: I'm walkng around Bestbuy with a friend who is audio/video savy and usefully has the most current 'stuff', including a blu-ray dvd. Yes, his TV is Full HD 1080P. Anyway, we walk by upconvert DVD players and he says this is what you need. My TV is a Toshiba 46" 3-tube old style TV, but it's HD up to 1080i even. So explains that my current DVD player is probably only 480p (which he was correct), so that would get me up to 1080i, with an HDMI cable. Closer to HD DVD, but not HD, ok I get that.
So with sale price and discount coupon, I buy a Sony upconvert DVD player and have it up and running in 10 minutes. I set the player to 1080i, set my TV to 1080i and off we go. At first I think, oh yeah baby... much better picture. But the more I watch I'm not so sure. I was playing my old DVD player with the 3 plug component cables and always thought it looked pretty darn good for a rear projection TV. (It's only about 3 yrs. old). It does seem like the sound is a bit better, even though I'm using optical for sound, as I was with former DVD player. It just seems to have better seperation now.
Anyway, just a subject for a new thread. Just wondering if anyone has tried the upconvert DVD player.
I have 30 days to return it. But I'll probably keep it til I get an LCD TV some day.
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#2 02-20-2008 4:19:21 PM
Re: Anyone use an upconvert DVD player.
Most of the difference will be how your TV handles digital vs component inputs. Plus, some have different service-menu settings for the different inputs. On some older TV's, such as mine, the digital input is converted to component and processed as such.
Sony KV-30XBR910, Sony STR-DB930, Sony DVP-NS55P, JVC HR-S3800U, Motorola DCT-6412, Sony KV-13FS100, OneForAll URC-8910.
Andy's UnEmpty Web Page
How to use a Motorola DVR
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#3 02-20-2008 4:34:20 PM
Re: Anyone use an upconvert DVD player.
I've never gotten into the upconvert thing, primarily because I haven't figured out how the system would create resolution which wasn't in the original source. (Just a logical stumbling block for me, personally.) Does it really help?
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#4 02-20-2008 5:06:36 PM
Re: Anyone use an upconvert DVD player.
Wareagle wrote:
I've never gotten into the upconvert thing, primarily because I haven't figured out how the system would create resolution which wasn't in the original source. (Just a logical stumbling block for me, personally.) Does it really help?
When a station takes it's 480i programming (reruns, reality shows, etc.) and upconverts it to broadcast on the HD channel, it looks better. Same concept, cheaper (and probably less effective) processing.
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#5 02-20-2008 7:38:40 PM
Re: Anyone use an upconvert DVD player.
What makes it look better? Where does the additional information come from? (I'm not trying to be obnoxious -- I really don't understand how it works. I think of it as a sow's ear => silk purse sort of thing.)
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#6 02-20-2008 10:00:27 PM
Re: Anyone use an upconvert DVD player.
I'm no expert by any means, but it's my understanding that they "guess" based on the existing pixels what information the added pixels would contain. I believe some also detect whether the source is from film content and adjust the frame rate to get rid of flickering.
I look into these every once in a while intending to buy one, and then I get confused and give up and just tell myself to wait until a HD format is viable and affordable.
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#7 02-20-2008 10:10:31 PM
Re: Anyone use an upconvert DVD player.
Frank wrote:
I look into these every once in a while intending to buy one, and then I get confused and give up and just tell myself to wait until a HD format is viable and affordable.
I did that for a while. With a sale and a discount coupon I had for Bestbuy it only cost $77 so I went for it. I figured what the heck.
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#10 02-21-2008 7:45:00 AM
- Georgia Guy
- Charter Member
- From: Atlanta
- Registered: 02-15-2005
- Posts: 207
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Re: Anyone use an upconvert DVD player.
Frank wrote:
The other problem is that my TV only has 1 HDMI input and it's in use with my TiVo.
You could try switching the Tivo to component. I don't think there is ANY difference in picture quality, with hdmi only being a bit neater, with only one wire. Don't know about audio differences in an HdTivo, but on the S3 the digital audio connection to a receiver at least equals that of hdmi. The only real purpose for hdmi is for DRM. Having a neato one-wire solution was just the way they convinced the public hdmi was a good thing.
Using component for the Tivo, if you wanted to hook up something like a upconverting dvd player, or a blu-ray, you could have an available hdmi connection.
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#11 02-21-2008 8:14:01 AM
Re: Anyone use an upconvert DVD player.
I actually did a component / HDMI side by side with the TiVo a while back and saw a noticeable difference in PQ with HDNet's test patterns and live content. The difference was sufficient to convince me I needed to use HDMI on the TiVo.
I did the same thing with my FiOS 6416 and the difference between HDMI and Component was less noticeable.
The difference between the TiVo at its worst and the 6416 at its best was an eye opener. TiVo Component looked better than 6416 HDMI. (The Motorola boxes have no native pass through.) 6416 Component was just a hair worse looking than 6416 HDMI.
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#12 02-21-2008 8:37:26 AM
- Georgia Guy
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- From: Atlanta
- Registered: 02-15-2005
- Posts: 207
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Re: Anyone use an upconvert DVD player.
Interesting. I've heard that the differences vary from tv to tv and source to source. I could not tell any difference.
I was inspired to do a little search. Here's a brief but interesting column:
http://forum.ecoustics.com/bbs/messages … 22868.html
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#13 02-21-2008 10:54:09 AM
Re: Anyone use an upconvert DVD player.
I use component for DVR and now HDMI for DVD. My TV has two component sets of inputs but only one HDMI.
I gotta be real careful here, my friends, because I'm itching for a new TV...badly. But my BIG, 140 lb. TV is only 3 years old and does a great job being a BIG FAT old style rear projection. At least it's HDTV. If I had a few grand to blow I would be price hunting the Sony LCD with XP4 right now.
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