Blu Ray SD Upconversion on EDTV

[shimma]

I own a nice Panasonic TH-37PD25 EDTV. It fits perfectly in my viewing area and has provided an excellent HD picture with Dish Network and my obsolete Toshiba HD-A3. As a relatively early ('05) higher def tv it doesn't offer variable input picture adjustments. My Harman Kardon AVR 345 is pre-HDMI. I prefer plasma to LCD and haven't found the right, well reviewed 1080P replacement for the available space.

I have tried two Blu Ray players, a Sony BDP-S350 and a Panasonic DMP-BD35. Neither produced as pleasing an upconverted DVD picture as the 1080i Toshiba HD-DVD. All three units have been connected via HDMI.

The Sony and Panasonic were oversaturated and somewhat fuzzy in Blu Ray. SD DVDs required lots of adjustments in both players but seemed somehow distorted compared to the HD-A3. I switched resolution settings between Auto and 480P with no difference.

Do you think there is an inherent limitation with SD DVD upconversion between 1080P players and a 480P television? Have I missed something? Thanks for your opinion.

 

[teachsac]

I'd say that it is in your TV. I have found the 35 and 55 to be better than my A35, XA1, and extremely close to my XA2. The SOny has also gotten pretty good reviews for SDDVD playback.

S~

 

[Ilya]

EDTV is not HD. It's only 480p. Correct?
So, why would you need to upconvert from 480p (DVD) to 1080i if the TV set converts it back to 480p internally? Am I missing something?

 

[shimma]

Here's what I did, Ilya. Using the Toshiba HD-A3 I played both HD DVD and SD DVD sides of the combo "Michael Clayton." I'm not a scientist or engineer, but I discerned subtle differences in picture quality. Although both were good, the HD version displayed punchier colors and was more dimentional. There IS a difference even on a 480P set.

 

[Ilya]

I am sure there is a difference. When you start with a higher quality source, less compressed image (HD-DVD or Blu-ray, vs. standard DVD), the resulting 480p image should look better. That's to be expected.

What I am saying is that there should be no advantage in upconverting standard DVD to 1080i if the TV set is going to downconvert it back to 480p. You may actually lose the resolution in the process. Conversion from 480 lines to 1080 lines and then back to 480 lines may result in a slight loss of resolution. I think this can be demonstrated with test patterns. So, I would just use 480p output for standard DVDs with EDTV.

For HD source (Blu-ray or HD-DVD) you can use either 480p or 1080i. Which one will look better on an EDTV depends on who does better job in downconverting to 480p: the player or the TV set.

 

[shimma]

Thank you Ilya. I agree with everything you've said. It is not my intention to have the last word here, but I maintain my original assertion that the SD DVD 480p/auto resolution setting of the A-3 produces a picture quality superior to the same setting of either the BDP-S350 or the DMP -BD35.