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Poor picture Panasonic DVD upscaler
shamblesuk
09-01-2008
Hi all,

System:

Panasonic TX32LMD70 LCD
Panasonic DVD-S53 DVD Player

Upgraded the player from my old Tochiba expecting miracles. Not so.

Admittedly got a HDMI lead for a tenner all in off ebay, but had read that it would be fine if the equipment was OK.

Have amended all the settings on the player, 720p, 1080i, 1080p, picture settings, everything. They don't make any difference and the picture is way below what I expected, even on quality discs like Toy Story and Armageddon

When I change all the 1080 etc settings, the TV refreshes to show the new setting, but the pitcure is not better/worse, even down to 586p.......

OK I think it's better than the old player, but not stunning' and 'amazing' as others have proposed.

Any ideas?

Lee
Jarrak
09-01-2008
Almost every thread which deals with upscaling DVD players always has at least one post that points out that in many cases the TV scaling can be superior to that in the DVD player and as such you would be wasting your money replacing a perfectly good RGB/Component connected standard DVD player.
Also remember that the DVD upscaler doesn't offer 1366*768 so regardless of what you set the DVD output at the TV then does a second scaling operation on already scaled picture, never the best idea.

The term stunning and amazing perhaps should be kept for watching HD sources from HD DVD and Blu-ray players, even on a 32" screen those are a revelation compared to SD sources.
Nigel Goodwin
09-01-2008
Using an upscaling DVD player means the player does the upscaling, and not the TV (depending on the DVD settings) - there's no reason to suppose it will be any better than your old DVD player.

For 'stunning and amazing' you need HD, you only have SD, so it looks like SD.
bobcar
09-01-2008
I'm one of the people who always points out that on my system (DVDR and TV both Pannies) that my best picture is with the DVDR outputting 576p (though there's very little in it tbh and I couldn't tell what the input is without comparing). That there is no improvement is not surprising for the reasons given by the previous posters.

Unless you have a cheap TV you are unlikely to get much improvement from an upscaling DVD player - the worse the TV the bigger the improvement. DVD looks much better than satellite or Freeview and I suspect that along with a large helping of placebo is why so many people rave about an improvement when their component parts would indicate there should not be much difference.
late8
09-01-2008
S-Video and RGB Scart from my YAMAHA DVD Player to Samsing TV is sharper and more colorful than Upscales DVD from the XBOX360- Upscaled DVD's look smooth and detail is lost.

DVD Upscale players are a gimmick. the Upscale tech in a decent TV is good enough to cope with SD feeds to HD without a cheaper upscale in a DVD player
meltcity
09-01-2008
The problem with upscaling players is that even if you have a good one the chances are that the TV will rescale the image. Upscaling players typically upscale to 720p or 1080i, while TVs are 768p or 1080p.
Nigel Goodwin
09-01-2008
Originally Posted by meltcity:
“The problem with upscaling players is that even if you have a good one the chances are that the TV will rescale the image. Upscaling players typically upscale to 720p or 1080i, while TVs are 768p or 1080p.”

If you set the DVD to 1080, and the TV is Full HD, then there's no further rescaling required - or if the set is 768, then it will downscale to fit the screen, which is a far easier and more accurate process.

The reason they are 'poor' is that the upscaling is no better than that in a decent TV, and may well be worse.
meltcity
09-01-2008
Not necessarily. Many 1080p TVs will crop and slightly zoom a 1080i source to simulate CRT overscan. 1:1 pixel mapping is an option on some TVs, but it isn't usually isn't enabled by default. Deinterlacing 1080i is also more difficult more than deinterlacing 576i.
bobcar
10-01-2008
Originally Posted by meltcity:
“Not necessarily. Many 1080p TVs will crop and slightly zoom a 1080i source to simulate CRT overscan. 1:1 pixel mapping is an option on some TVs, but it isn't usually isn't enabled by default. Deinterlacing 1080i is also more difficult more than deinterlacing 576i.”

And given that it's often easier for a DVD to de-interlace (it can read the progressive flag if present) then it often makes more sense to use 576p than 1080i.
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