Home Video Asylum

TVs, VCRs, DVD players, Home Theater systems and more.

RE: I'm Contemplating It

>>I doubt the picture quality though over component will be any better than what I'm getting now with my Denon universal and tosh 50" RPTV.<<

It really depends on your television, I think. I've tried an HD disc player on all three of my high-def-capable TVs, two of which only have component video input capability.

There wasn't much, if any, difference between a Pioneer Elite universal and HD player on my Sony 51" tube RPTV, even though the Sony has been ISF-calibrated. I've heard before that a lot of the large tube RPTVs from several years back are really 540p with a built-in line doubler, not 1080i. If that's so, it would explain why there isn't much difference.

OTOH I have a 38" Loewe direct-view CRT TV, and at 1080i resolution, HD discs are absolutely amazing. There's a hugely noticeable difference between HD discs and any standard DVD, regardless of how good the DVD player is, even though it's "only" a 38" (16:9) screen. This is a TV that really does justice to HD source material.

Lastly, I have a 42" Loewe plasma TV with both component video and DVI inputs. HD discs and standard DVD upconverted to 1080i through the DVI port look very similar. The HD discs look slightly more detailed, but I suspect it's mostly because there are fewer compression artifacts. If I compare the same players via component video, the HD discs look substantially better than non-upconverted DVDs.

After looking at upconverted DVDs vs. their HD counterparts and not seeing huge differences, I can understand why a lot of people with upconverting players and DVI/HDMI-capable 720p and 1080i sets aren't rushing out to buy HD disc players and re-buy their DVD libraries in HD DVD or Blu-Ray.

In addition, even though HD media can look good on some TVs that are component video-only, there's always the issue of ICT looming in the background. Right now most of the content providers aren't using ICT, but that could change anytime. It would really suck to buy into one or both of the HD formats now, and discover in the next few years that new discs won't display at full TV resolution.



Edits: 08/05/07

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  • RE: I'm Contemplating It - racerguy 09:59:14 08/05/07 (1)

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