I have a question regarding upconverting DVD players to use on 1080p TVs. From my understanding, a 1080p TV's native resolution is 1920x1080. Anything displayed on the TV will be at that resolution. My questions is why an upconverting player should be used?

Coming from an audio background, DVD players could either decode DTS or Dolby Digital, or a digital connection (optical or Coax) could be sent to a receiver. Is this also the case with video, where the processing can either be done on the TV or done by the player? If so, I'd expect my TV (Sony XBR2 46" LCD) to be better at upconverting then my Toshiba HD-A1 (and if not please correct me if I'm wrong).

I currently have the A1 connect HDMI to the TV. The A1 is set to output at 1080i; but I got to thinking of the sound output (player vs receiver) and wanted to see if it was the same for video. Would I be better off sending a lower resolution from the player and letting the TV do the work, or does it make a difference?

You're right, the TV will do the upconverting. But not all upconverters are equal, so it depends on how well your TV's built-in upconverter performs.

I have a 50-inch Sony SXRD that does a very good job of upconverting. But my Oppo HD-981 and Toshiba HD-A2 are a little better. (I use the Oppo exclusively for SD DVD because it's a little better than they HD-A2 and the layer change is invisible.)

Thanks. I wasn't sure if it was similar to the sound output or not.

So with my A1, should I try playing around with different output resolutions to see if I like something better? Any suggestions on what to set the A1 to?

I agree about upconverts not all being equal. I have a 42" Philips LCD, it does an excellent job of upconversion. I bought a $30 RCA DVD player that claimed to upconvert to 1080i. While it did just that, the processing created a very noticeable delay in audio vs video. I returned it and bought a refurbished Philips player, does the same thing, and it works just fine no matter what. BUT, I don't think the upconverted picture looks as good on this player. And, using either player, unless I had it in 480p, I could only choose unscaled, automatic, or widescreen picture modes. (No zoom modes or 4:3) Not sure why that is, but since the picture looks better when the TV upconverts and I can change the aspect ratio, I leave it in 480p over HDMI.

That was long but I hope it answered your question!

Thank you both. I'm off to play around with the resolution settings on the HD-dvd player. I wonder if fast action stuff will look smoother with a 480p or 720p signal from the player to the TV rather than the 1080i I currently have it set to. One more thing to drive my wife crazy with instead of just playing with adjustments on the TV!!!!

Didn't we just have a thread on this?

I bought a Samsung LNT-4661F at x-mas (admittedly the lowest in the Samsung line) for the living room. I had a old 480p Panasonic DVD player hooked up to the old TV, so I tried it on this. Nice picture. On more or less a whim I hooked up my old Bravo D1 that I had recently retired from my theater room (it is getting flaky in not reading discs, but still shows an excellent picture). The Bravo was noticeably better. So much so, I decided to order a new player and got a Toshiba HD-A3. Again it was much better then the old Panasonic and I had a tough time telling the difference between it and the Bravo.

Even my wife noticed. I showed her SD Nemo on the old Panny and then on the new A-3 and her jaw dropped.

I couldn't find a thread, but maybe I wasn't searching the right terms.

Do you have the A3 outputing at 1080i, or a lower resolution? I tried a few settings last night, but I'm not entirely sure what to look for other than a 'better' picture. My thinking was outputting at 720p may make playback smoother for fast motion things. I think thats why ESPN broadcasts in 720p (not that I watch ESPN), but maybe I'm wrong.

I set my TV to 1080p and my bluray to 1080p
Regular DVDs upconvert to 1080i(but tv says it is 1080P)

Either way regular DVDs look MUCH better then 480p and bluray looks, nothing short of amazing!

Believe it or not, I have not played with the A3 that much. I plugged them I (I have two) and they both worked perfect. So I didn't even bother checking FW or anything (most are saying only upgrade the FW if you are having problems and there is a known fix for that problem in the FW upgrade).

I have had one of the A-3 freeze on one disc on me but eject and reload fixed that. You are correct the A-3 outputs 1080i, not 1080p. But if your display is 1080p, and it handles the interlacing correctly, there should be no difference.

I'll play around with mine in the living room that is hooked to a 1080p set. I know I took some time to mess around with the one in the theater room at least a little, as my projector is 720p. But I really have messed that much on the living room set.

BTW...there is a dedicated A-3 thread over at AVS. Kind of hard to get through all the posts, but there is some excellent information.