What's the deal with upscaling DVD players?

afx237vi · 23-04-2009, 16:53

My old bog-standard DVD player has decided to stop playing DVDs, so I'm in the market for a new player (on a budget).

Was looking on eBuyer and came across this:

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/160306

It's cheap enough, but I don't really understand what it means when it says "Thanks to upscaling technology, this player can give your standard definition DVDs a high definition makeover when connected to a compatible 1080p TV."

If that's true, why are people buying Blu-Ray players, huh? Does upscaling work?

Willie Wontie · 23-04-2009, 16:58

Upscaling obviously works - else everything you watch on your HD television that isn't in high definition would appear in a tiny square in the middle of the screen.

How well it works is down to the upscaler within the TV, the DVD player, the digibox etc. Some are very good, some are very poor. That's why some people leave their Sky HD boxes on Automatic (so that SD transmission are output non-upscaled, leaving the TV to upscale prior to displaying it). And other people set their HD box to output in 1080i, so the Sky box upscales the SD picture, and the TV just displays the upscaled picture that it receives.

Whichever piece of kit does the upscaling, one thing to bear in mind. Neither are creating the extra detail that you will find on a Blu Ray disc - both upscalers are guessing what details the missing pixels should contain from the surrounding pixels. Whilst a Blu Ray disc (or a HD transmission) contains those extra pixels in the first place.

robbra · 23-04-2009, 17:32

Asda around here are doing Toshiba SD380 for £40 so may be worth considering

floopy123 · 23-04-2009, 17:33

Blu-ray has something like up to three or so times more data than a standard DVD - I think Blu-ray films average 15 - 30 gb compared to a single or dual layer DVD of about 4 - 8gb so the image is more detailed and cleaner to the eye. If you look at an upscaled image close up it has jagged edges compared to Blu-ray which looks smoother. However, it's possible some people won't notice much difference between upscaled and Blu-ray. In my humble opinion the difference isn't that big. I do think some Blu-ray titles have crisper sound quality than DVDs.

It's not worth buying a Blu-ray and spending hundreds of pounds 're-buying' all your old DVD collection (well it might be if you can afford to but you would need to be rather wealthy) but it's worth buying Blu-ray for current and future titles. Blu-ray is the new standard - huge storage space up to 50gb. To put that in some context, my first desktop PC had 13 gb hard drive. So you see how Blu-ray is amazing technology with amazing storage. Despite sluggish sales, I think it's here to stay.

Nigel Goodwin · 23-04-2009, 18:52

Quote:

Originally Posted by afx237vi

If that's true, why are people buying Blu-Ray players, huh? Does upscaling work?

It works, but doesn't do what you think.

Upscaled DVD is still SD, BluRay is HD - people buy BluRay because they want the HD quality of BluRay.

23-04-2009, 16:53	#1
afx237vi Forum Member Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: South Wales Posts: 5,693	What's the deal with upscaling DVD players? My old bog-standard DVD player has decided to stop playing DVDs, so I'm in the market for a new player (on a budget). Was looking on eBuyer and came across this: http://www.ebuyer.com/product/160306 It's cheap enough, but I don't really understand what it means when it says "Thanks to upscaling technology, this player can give your standard definition DVDs a high definition makeover when connected to a compatible 1080p TV." If that's true, why are people buying Blu-Ray players, huh? Does upscaling work?

23-04-2009, 16:58	#2
Willie Wontie Inactive Member Join Date: Jul 2008 Posts: 2,847	Upscaling obviously works - else everything you watch on your HD television that isn't in high definition would appear in a tiny square in the middle of the screen. How well it works is down to the upscaler within the TV, the DVD player, the digibox etc. Some are very good, some are very poor. That's why some people leave their Sky HD boxes on Automatic (so that SD transmission are output non-upscaled, leaving the TV to upscale prior to displaying it). And other people set their HD box to output in 1080i, so the Sky box upscales the SD picture, and the TV just displays the upscaled picture that it receives. Whichever piece of kit does the upscaling, one thing to bear in mind. Neither are creating the extra detail that you will find on a Blu Ray disc - both upscalers are guessing what details the missing pixels should contain from the surrounding pixels. Whilst a Blu Ray disc (or a HD transmission) contains those extra pixels in the first place.

23-04-2009, 17:32	#3
robbra Forum Member Join Date: Nov 2008 Posts: 452	Asda around here are doing Toshiba SD380 for £40 so may be worth considering

23-04-2009, 17:33	#4
floopy123 Inactive Member Join Date: Feb 2008 Posts: 5,843	Blu-ray has something like up to three or so times more data than a standard DVD - I think Blu-ray films average 15 - 30 gb compared to a single or dual layer DVD of about 4 - 8gb so the image is more detailed and cleaner to the eye. If you look at an upscaled image close up it has jagged edges compared to Blu-ray which looks smoother. However, it's possible some people won't notice much difference between upscaled and Blu-ray. In my humble opinion the difference isn't that big. I do think some Blu-ray titles have crisper sound quality than DVDs. It's not worth buying a Blu-ray and spending hundreds of pounds 're-buying' all your old DVD collection (well it might be if you can afford to but you would need to be rather wealthy) but it's worth buying Blu-ray for current and future titles. Blu-ray is the new standard - huge storage space up to 50gb. To put that in some context, my first desktop PC had 13 gb hard drive. So you see how Blu-ray is amazing technology with amazing storage. Despite sluggish sales, I think it's here to stay.

23-04-2009, 18:52	#5
Nigel Goodwin Forum Member Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: North Derbyshire Posts: 41,789	Quote: Originally Posted by afx237vi If that's true, why are people buying Blu-Ray players, huh? Does upscaling work? It works, but doesn't do what you think. Upscaled DVD is still SD, BluRay is HD - people buy BluRay because they want the HD quality of BluRay.

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What's the deal with upscaling DVD players?