I saw the recent firmware update fror the PS3 was for upscaling. Is this the same as upconverting? If not, what's the difference?

Thanks,

~S2

Same thing, different word.

Some people take "upconverting" to mean when a "lower" signal is converted to a "higher" signal, like s-video to component or component to HDMI, regardless of whether any scaling is involved.

I believe this is correct. Upconverting is as stated above. My receiver upconverts, but does not upscale. Upscale involves what fancy players do to better the resolution of the picture.

Whatever the case, the terms are interchangeable now.

Take a look at all the DVD Players in Best Buy and other stores. They all say Upconverting player 720p/1080i/1080p etc. all over the signs and stickers on the players. While at the same time the Sony player I bought there that had that crap stuck on it says "upscale" in the permanent label on it.

There is no difference in the two terms. "Upconvert" or "upscale" both mean to take a lower resolution signal and change it to a higher resolution signal, via the interpolation of data.

Some processors are better at this than others, but there is no special terminology for that.

If you want to go from higher to lower, it would be "downconvert" or "downscale".

And those people are wrong. The proper term for that is transcoding.