hello,

i received a cyberhome hd upconversion dvd player as a Christmas gift & i used a trick to show dvd at 1080i over component, but the up scaling did not show any improvement i can notice.

when i read comments on videohelp.com, some claims that upscaled divx and digitally remastered dvds look far better than 480p

i know where is way to show more detailed pictures at higher resolution from low resolution pictures, but it takes tons of calculations which i don't think any inexpensive dvd players can do even with dedicated digital processors.

anyone like to share experiences/insights?

my considerations are toshiba SD-4980 & lg LDA-511 which supports upconversion through components when the disk is NOT copy protected.

From my experience with the NeoDigits HD upscaling DVD player I reviewed, probably the simplest way to check if upscaling is taking place is to jump to the credits and have a close look at the writing. If upscaling is taking place, the writing should look less 'pixely' on the 1080i picture. Another test would be to look for a DVD with animals such as a dog or cat. As shown in the following images, there should be a clear difference between the 480p and 1080i picture. As I don't have my equipment set up at the moment, the following is a 576i vs 1080i example from my review:


Both images are from a scene showing a dog, however in this case the left image is via SVHS and the right image is via component at 1080i. However, if I output a 576i image over component, I get pretty much the same image as to the left. While the left image seems to have more detail in the close-up, the 1080i image looks far more natural when shown in full to the eye, very unlike what my camera is captured.

It's a pity to see both players not support upscaling over component output if the disc is copy protected. For example, the NeoDigits player I reviewed outputs the upscaled picture up to 1080p, regardless of the disc. Unfortunately, it lacks DivX support.

sean (forgive me my ignorance but i am not sure how to enter a with an accent ),

thanks for your kind & detailed reply.

it seems that neo upscaling dvd you reviewed used only the high order interpolation to upscale; i think that made the animal looked softer. i was hoping that these dvds could do comb filtering, adaptive deinterlacing, noise reduction/sharpening, and other more advanced stuffs, but i guess i was asking too much for 100usd.

my friend who just got back from ces told that he was deeply disappointed by hd contents (both bd & hd dvd); the difference between well made 480p dvd & 1080i bd & hd-dvd even on 50+ inches of screens

perhaps movie studios should remaster the dvd titles rather than making expensive bd & hd dvds.

i think i would go for toshiba(100usd) as it is 50us cheaper though i would love to get lg(150usd) if the price is cheaper

again, thank you so much for your post

btw, only lg let users use 740p & 1080i over component not toshiba, toshiba works only with hdmi which i don't have but i prefer rough but sharper 480p