Video Asylum

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many factors

Posted by Joe Murphy Jr on February 15, 2009 at 12:49:14:
First of all, upconverting can only be done on a progressive signal. Therefore, the deinterlacing capabilities of the player has great influence on the foundation of this process. Once a DVDs interlaced signal is deinterlaced, upconverting takes place. This process, called scaling, changes the pixel count (and perceived resolution) to HD (usually 1280x720 or 1980x1080).

Most players do an OK job re: deinterlacing, but some do an excellent job (like the oppo 983). The better the deinterlacing, usually the better the picture is going to look when it's scaled to an HD resolution. Unfortunately, the fact that the "I have the best deinterlacer" crowd seems to forget is that the majority of DVDs you buy today have higher QC than those manufactured in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Great deinterlacing only plays a major part when it's needed more: as it's needed less, it's less of a factor in upconverting.

Here's an example: I own a PS3 and an oppo 983. The PS3 was dissed when it was first released because its deinterlacing capabilities were not high enough. In subsequent firmware updates, SCE improved on the PS3's capabilities, including deinterlacing. While it's still not the equal to the oppo 983 re: deinterlacing, it's not far off. The second part of upconverting is scaling and that's where the PS3 takes a backseat to no one. Feed it a quality DVD and you'll almost think you're watching real HD content.

So to answer your question, it's really you who needs to decide on whether to get two players (Blu-ray and DVD) or just one player (Blu-ray). Watch a few scenes of your favorite DVD movies on different Blu-ray players and determine if the upconverting meets or exceeds your level of acceptable quality. If you can find a player or players that meet this expectation, go with a Blu-ray player for DVD. If you can't, you'll probably have to get two players -- one for Blu-ray and one for DVD.

I'm selling my oppo 983.