Here's one of these questions I've always wanted to ask. I've heard the term "upscaling" for years, but I'm not sure how to tell if this is going on or not. I have an older Sony Blu-ray player I'll soon be replacing (probably with a 4K) and a newer Samsung 4K TV. Should I assume both devices are upscaling the images that are passing through them automatically, -an internal process activated just by my putting the disc in the drive or turning on the set? I mean, I've never "set" anything to upscale a disc (DVD, Blu-ray), -I assume it's just going on. Am I right in this, or is there a step I need to take to ensure this.

If you go to the HDMI output resolution in the menu, you have the option of outputting the signal as 480i, 480p, 720p, 1080i or 1080p. The resolution you have selected is the resolution your player will upscale to. If you're playing a DVD and have this set to 720p and you have it hooked up to a 1080p HDTV, it will only upscale to 720p.

Hope this helps!

My player had the option of 1080p resolution or "Auto" (I'm not where I can check it right now) and I had chosen "Auto" thinking that was the correct choice. Apparently not. I can now see the resolution is much smoother on DVDs. I don't see any similar option on my 4K TV, just general settings for the image. Is there something I'm missing. Note: I'm not expecting miracles, -I know the limitations, -but I also want to maximize what I have and not miss anything.

If you have a somewhat nice TV, you are better off letting the TV do the upscaling rather than the blu-ray player. On my Sony UHD player you can turn 4K upscaling off and disc signals will be sent to the TV in their native resolution.