Need help with DVD 480p to 1080i

[TheaterNut]

Hope someone can help me as no one in the "Home Theater" stores have a clue!
I have a Sharp HD projector with componant high def input only.
Is there a simple way of upscaling the 480p to 1080i from the Sony dvd to the componant in on the Sharp projector?
Hope there are some knowlageable people out there that can help.
Thanks.................Dave

[cinema bob]

DVDO iScan HD+ should do what you want it to but it is kinda expensive. you could also look into an upscaling dvd player like the OPPO.

[Shane Martin]

Your 2 options are:

1. Scaler like the Iscan
2. Dvd player that upconverts to component. These are increasingly rare to find. The current HOT player the Oppo only upconverts via DVI. If you don't have a DVI input, stay away from that player.

Upscaling is kind of a crapshoot anyway so by getting an upscaling player you may or may not notice a difference.

[wildfire99]

I recently did a comparo with my upscaling Samsung (HD841, hacked to upconvert over component) on a 720p plasma (native 768p).

I did try the DVI out but the plasma didn't seem to like it too much.

480p presented the best picture, judging by the merits of absolute authenticity to the original source. It was a bit soft, but the colors were good.

720p introduced some edge enhancement issues (unknown if this is in the display or player). It appeared less detailed than 480i.

768p eliminated the softness but introduced a problem where colors were not as natural as 480i. It looked like the chroma/color signal was being smeared.

1080i was the winner. Seriously. It held the color detail that 480i did, but had a very slight improvement in perceived detail. It had a touch more 3d 'pop' if you will, and I believe it was more due to edge enhancement or something similar than any kind of real image quality improvement. The differences between 1080i and 480p were marginal, and if I wasn't such an obsessive compulsive I would not have bothered. I can tell you that 90% of people could never tell the difference.

The limiting factor in all this was the DVD and the display. The former of which (Spiderman 1 non-SB) had too much film grain which limited PQ, and the latter of which had insufficient contrast to bring out detail in the shadows while maintaining black levels.

So, you can also get a $99 player from Costco if it allows you to defeat the upconverting thing. Do the HD850's still allow it? Another alternative is HTPC, which is where I'm going just because I need a new box to play Half Life 2 on.

I also noticed rainbows quite a bit with the plasma, which still baffles me.

When I tested this player on my little HD lcd (24"), I preferred the upscaled component over straight DVI from the PC. The DVI was indeed 'cleaner', which unfortunately for low-rez DVD sources meant I saw more of the grain and noise in the image, which the component input from the DVD player helped to hide. Using the iScan (DVI) was nice, maintaining the easy picture of the component signal but offering better deinterlacing, but again the differences were so slight that nobody would notice them unless they were an image freak (I am!) or are shooting an 8' projection image (which you probably are).