UpScaling: HD DVD vs. Blu Ray
 

Does either one of these do a better job at it? Are they both about the same quality? I am curious before purchasing a Blu Ray player!

Thanks

This is more a player specific thing than a format one. The XA2 from Toshiba uses a very advanced Silicon Optix chip and is probably one of the best out there at upscaling and getting the most out of 480i content. These are the same kind of chips higher end companies like Denon use.

The PS3 is the only Blu-ray player I have seen upscale and with the more recent firmware it does a great job. They came up with a great software solution using the cell processor to output really good upscaled video. I slightly prefer the upscaling it does to the Toshiba A2 and A3 I have though both of those look pretty good.

Again this is all going to vary slightly player to player so look at specific player reviews and if possible test them out in store if this feature is important.

I think its an individual thing to be honest with you... Some say the Tosh, some say the ps3. I prefer the ps3 just because it loads much quicker, but honestly, I dont really see much of a difference in the quality.

I just picked up the A3 at CostCo about 3 weeks back, but was gonna return it tomorrow for the Blu Ray they have that says it also upscales. I figure if the quality was the same, I might as well go with the Sony BluRay now that its all but won the war and I can return to CostCo with no questions asked.

how big is your tv? if it's not > 42", the difference in upconverting between all HD DVD and Blu-ray players is probably just about negligible. on the HD DVD side, the A20, A30, A35 do really well (with the ABT1018 chip) and the XA2 is top of the line for upconverting. as others have mentioned, the PS3 on the blu-ray side is very good at upconverting, at least on par with the lowest-end HD DVD players and probably a bit better. ultimately, just read some reviews and you'll learn how the respective models perform.

quoted: PS3 is "very good at upconverting, at least on par with the LOWEST-END HD-DVD players . . ."

Nice, subtle jab there. LOL! People just can't help themselves.

upconverting players are for suckers.

most TVs scalers do a good enough job.

there! I gave a zing to both camps!


(I choose to play SDVD on my PS3 as opposed to my Toshiba)

it's not a jab at all, at least not intentionally. there are only a few models of HD DVD players in existence (is that a jab at HD DVD??), and i had mentioned all but the lowest end ones, which others have consistently reported to be on par with the PS3 at upconverting (not the most important feature of an HDM player, if you ask me). i have a PS3 and an A35 and the A35 looks better at upconverting, to my eyes, so that means the PS3 is somewhere in between the A35 and the A2/A3. for what it's worth, the PS3 is more functionally elegant when it comes to being an HDM player than any HD DVD player (uh oh! another jab at HD DVD?? nah, just an objective opinion from an owner of both).

please realize that not everyone is a fanboy and not every comment has some veiled meaning or bias behind it.

I've upscaled using the A1, A3, PS3, Panasonic BD10A, and BD30.

Out of those, the A1 was slightly better to my eyes.

Actually, I played around with the output settings on my A3. Outputting 480 and having the TV upconvert was noticably worse than having the player output 1080i itself.

The upconversion is very impressive. I played around with the dual-format Ocean's Thirteen and saw little noticable difference. Certainly little enough that I'm not going to replace my SDVD discs. I actually find HD a bit underwhelming in the face of upconverting.

I have a BD30 and the upscaling is pretty good. It is not quite as detailed as my OPPO 981, but still looks better than it due to the horrible macroblocking my OPPO causes. I actually just ordered a XA2 partly for its upscaling and partly because there are some HD-DVD movies I have/want. I imagine it will look phenomenal since I won't experience the macroblocking.

A1, XA1
A2, A20, XA2
A3, A30, A35
Onkyo 805
Venturer

I count 10...thats a few models?

on a relative scale, yes. and that was not even the point of my post. please let's not derail this thread any further.

At least four of those are discontinued, and one is a rebadged Toshiba.

Even the most ardent HD-DVD supporter has to admit that Toshiba has been doing nearly all of the heavy lifting, hardware-wise -- same problem Sony had during with BetaMax.

Interesting, I have upscaled using the A1, A3, and PS3, and I would agree. The A1 is slightly better than the other two. It isn't enough to keep me from enjoying a SD on any of them, but it is slightly better, imo.

I have a PS3 and an HD-A2 and in my opinion, the PS3 does such a better job a playing DVDs to begin with, it outweighs any minor improvements the A2 might have in picture quality.

Nothing subjective here. Check out the DVD benchmarks of various Hi Def players:
http://69.64.68.156/cgi-bin/shootout...h&articles=133

The only point I would make after reading the benchmarks is that they are slightly out of date in some cases. The PS3 in this test was from before it even got upscaling via firmware. The PS3 now scores 120 out of 130 on the HQV test by Silicon Image with the most recent firmware 2.10, which would place it slightly behind the Reon solution of Samsung's BD-P1200 and Toshiba's HD-XA2. So there are several solutions on both sides of the format divide that are excellent upscalers.

I wound up with a PS3!

Excellent choice. I think you will be more than pleased with the PS3's upscaling.

Good choice. I have been happy with it overall for all the different media I have used with it including Divx and Mpeg4 podcasts.

I had no idea it tested so well on the HQV test.

You forgot at least three models. But since most of those are nearly identical....

BTW, my Costco now has the low-end Toshiba for $129 regular price. Presumably it's not the only one.

What 3? Besides the Xbox 360 AO I can't think of any other HD DVD player.

And nearly every Blu-ray player has been discontinued.
The only ones that I believe are still in production is the Sony BDP-500, Panasonics 30 and Sharps player. All Samsung's players have been discontinued, the BDP-300 has etc.

I also count 10...HD-DVD supporters....

Side note...

Who is this "cmvolt" poster? I keep seeing his posts on the front page, but they don't show up on the thread. Its been happening for weeks now...is anyone else having this issue?

I see the post #'s skip as well. Hs post should be #24 but its no where here...

The post #s skip for me too...

I can see his posts fine. He must have blocked you from seeing him. It's sort of like 'ignore', but pro-active. I assume he got sick of all the arguing and name-calling and wanted out. I've been sorely tempted myself. A few repetitive, noisy, angry posters have kind of ruined this entire forum.

I dont think that's whats happening. I've blocked 1 user but that user can still see my posts. Mods any clarification on this?

It's like ignore, but different. It lets you block people from seeing you, not blocks you from seeing them.

I don't see any posts from anyone called "cmvolt" either.

I don't see any posts from cmvolt, and I barely post in this forum. I can't imagine I would get blocked, and I don't even remember there being such a feature.

Same here. I don't see any of his posts and I'm far from vocal. I have no clue why he would have blocked me.

Maybe cmvolt keeps posting because no one is answering his question. I wouldn't know though, since I can't see his posts.

The plot thickens......mods?

I used a different browser so I could check the thread without being logged in as a user and still no cmvolt. Who is this mythical cmvolt?

I wonder what he is saying? Maybe top secret?

I have the ToshibaA30 and the PS3. I haven't personally noticed and significant difference between the two as far as upscaling is concerned.

I do see this cmvolt guy

What! You forgot the all-black model? And the RCA?

I also do not see cmvolt. If I search for his posts, the search turns up nothing. If I search for threads with his posts, it returns all the threads, but still not his posts. I see nothing in the software that would allow him to block others from seeing his posts. Weird.