I was having a similar problem with DVDs on my new HDTV. 480p just wasn't cutting it. So I got the VGA cable for the 360 and gave that a shot since the 360 would upconvert. I no longer have any complaints about DVD quality.

Yeah, that's not at all correct. Anamorphic enhancement is available over any video output. It's not tied to component or HDMI.

The resolution specs for S-video are the same as any other output: 720x480. It's just that color information will be limited when compared to component or HDMI.

I got the component cables last night.... changed the dvd settings to 16:9 and used progressive scan. It looks a little better but not that much. Still has that bootleg movie look to it. I've tried several movies and they all look the same. I spent almost $3000 for this tv and I'm really surprised the picture isn't good for standard dvds. I may kick out another $150 for the sony 5 disc upconverting dvd player

have you tried asking over on avs? there are many knowledgeable people over there that may know something we dont.

there is probably a dedicated thread on your television.

usually it is just some dumb setting that no one would figure out unless they searched on the net...and got lucky.

Your DVD Player is not upconverting. That's the problem.

Can I piggyback onto this thread with a question?

I'm looking at the Sharp Aquos 32" LCD HDTV. I've heard that you should make sure your HDTV has an upconversion chip in it so that standard def TV looks good. Will this TV give me a good SD picture? Anything I watch that is in HD I will of course watch in HD, but a lot of TV broadcast is still SD-only.

i thought that using component cables, you send the raw info to the tv and the tv's internal scalers will do the upconverting?

i can not comment on that aquos, but when i was looking at an lcd for the bedroom, the sharp did an ok job with sd but it was not good enough for me. i ended up getting an LG which has some technology in ti that does a great job. best lcd i saw for sdtv not to mention the excellent hd picture.

also depends on which sharp. some models report better sd picture quality than others. i hope you are not talking about the one at walmart that is made specisically for walmart...

Oh god no. This is supposedly Sharp's better or best LCD TV model. It's about a thousand bucks.

Right, but some do a better job than others. It depends on the display.

However, upscaling players are more convenient in that they will pillarbox 4:3 material, which means you don't have to change your display's setting to show it properly when viewing such material. I wish they would update the PS3 to add upscaling so I wouldn't have to change the display setting when going from the movie to a 4:3 special feature and back.

I'm using HDMI cables from the DVD player into the Sony receiver (they were packaged together) and from that into the Plasma TV (Toshiba). And my standard DVDs are not looking that great either, especially on things like water, clouds, fire, etc. There's a bunch of blocking or "visual noise" I guess you could call it.

Incidentally, this is the DVD player I'm using: http://www.amazon.com/Sony-DVPNC85H-...&s=electronics

It apparently does offer upconversion through HDMI, which I am using. Perhaps my receiver is interfering with the conversion?

I bought my first HD television during last year's black friday sale. I had a similar problem in that my standard DVD's just didn't look good on the television. I was very disappointed, because I'm not a very technically knowledgeable person and wasn't sure how to fix it.

After much hunting around online in home theater forums for advice, I thought it might be a good idea to get an upconverting DVD player, as several people have already mentioned here as your solution. I bought an OPPO OPDV971H upconverting player. It was highly rated by many users on this site more knowledgeable than myself, and by many technical websites, including CNET.

You can set this player to simulate up to 1080i, and it actually does a very good job of it. The difference in picture quality is absolutely night and day when compared to a player that does not convert. The only problem is that some of the darker scenes in certain films tend to introuduce some noise in the picture, but there's no player that is going to convert 100% to HD other than HD itself. Overall, I'm very happy with the player and would recommend it to you if you have the money to spend.

That means something is not capable of dealing with what you are trying to pass through. That is a halfway decent player and Sony makes really poor receivers. Soooo..........Why not try HDMI directly to the TV and something else for audio to the receiver. Optical perhaps.

There are better upconverting players out there. Don't stay married to Sony.

Also, your TV has pretty good processing circuitry built into it. Make sure you've got it turned on. (Sony refers to it as Digital Reality Creation, or DRC in the TV's menus.)

Upconverting only gives you a somewhat better picture. A little sharper, in some cases a little more vibrant color depending on the upscaler in the player... but overall DVD's will never look as good to you as they once did.. period. You're playing standard def on an HD TV. That's your problem. Upconverting or other methods may make a slightly better picture than playing at progressive 480p, but you're not going to artificially add more informatoin to what the DVD is holding overall. That's just a new user complaint in the world of HD. You have to accept DVD's as standard def aren't going to look that great... you'll get used to it over time and you'll see a great difference in picture quality depending on the DVD. Some look fantastic... some don't. Also, make sure your TV is properly calibrated. If your sharpness is up high for a DVD on an HDTV, you're going to see every imperfection and a lot of edge enhancement most likely. Your sharpness should be very low. That could help worsen the image.

It just sounds like a case of the 'I've just entered the HD club' blues. You'll now see what reviewers are always talking about... artifacts, black levels looking good or not, edge enhancement, grain, etc. There's nothing wrong with your TV or player. You'll see transfers on some films that will break your heart, sad but true.

That is absolutely not true in my case. I'm running an older nonprogressive scan Sony DVD player (soon to be upgraded to an Oppo 981) through component cables to a 50-inch Sony SXRD TV (1080p). The TV's built-in upscaler is excellent (it's the same one in the OP's Bravia) and it makes DVDs look damn near HD.

As I said, it depends on the scaler. Depending on the person, upscaling makes a HUGE difference, for others, not so much.

Yeah, right now I'm letting my Sony SXRD do the upconverting too, and it does a nice job. But mzupeman2 makes a good point about it depending on the DVD. With a big TV capable of showing every detail, I've really started to notice which of my DVDs have truly good transfers and which are only ok. The TV I was previously using (a much smaller CRT) made almost everything look good, but a 60" HDTV is far less forgiving. I've been disappointed by how bad some of my discs look, but on the other hand, some look great. I watched I ROBOT last night for example, and thought it looked stunning, even for an SD disc on a HDTV.

Thanks everyone for the imput....I ended up buying the sony upconverting dvd player and connected it thru HDMI. The picture is perfect (for standard dvd anyway)

i have the single disk version of that player and it is excellent. not only am i not married to sony but i try to avoid hooking up with her after a big night of drinking.

the only 2 sony products i own are that player and an XBR 26" LCD and they are both great.

the sony player gets very high reviews everywhere you look including the avs forums.

I have no problems with good SD dvds whether they are played on my Sony changer hooked up via component, or my RCA upconverting dvd recorder via HDMI due to my JVC HD-61FN97 1080p TV's upscaling abilities, there is little difference between the two, and very little difference in the upconverting recorder, even if the settings are on 1080i as opposed to 480p or 720p

Have you contacted Oppo about your set? The 970HD is the one recommended for my DLP, I just didn't know if the same was true for the SXRD.

Not yet, but you're right: the 981 is not recommended for DLP sets. From what I have gathered over at the AVSForum, that is not the case with SXRD. But I will check with Oppo before I order.

Er, no, he isn't losing "lines" of resolution. S-Video provides 480i resolution. However, S-Video does look like crap compared to (IMHO, even) 480p component connections.

I can heartily recommend the Toshiba A2; If you have an XBox 360, you can snag a $20 (or less) VGA cable and the HD DVD drive will upconvert your standard DVDs to 1080p. It isn't as good as the A2 but for the price...