Dumb question > DVD = HD?

[amtbr]

I just purchased a Panasonic Viera 1080P 42 inch plasma. I have HDTV and the HD channels are amazingly crisp. However, I just hooked up a philips DVP5982 upscailing DVD player and the image certainly isnt HDTV quality. I tried hooking up the player through an HDMI cable and YPbPr cables separately. I noticed little to no difference, I also had the dvd player switch over to progressive scan, again still not HD. Am I doing something wrong or is DVD not true HD? I want my dvds to look like my HDTV damnit! Do I have to go blu-ray to get HDTV quality for movies? Thank you for your help.

 

[coxmaster]

Blu-Ray is going to be the only sure way to get full HD quality.

 

[bsobel]

Originally posted by: amtbr
I just purchased a Panasonic Viera 1080P 42 inch plasma. I have HDTV and the HD channels are amazingly crisp. However, I just hooked up a philips DVP5982 upscailing DVD player and the image certainly isnt HDTV quality. I tried hooking up the player through an HDMI cable and YPbPr cables separately. I noticed little to no difference, I also had the dvd player switch over to progressive scan, again still not HD. Am I doing something wrong or is DVD not true HD? I want my dvds to look like my HDTV damnit! Do I have to go blu-ray to get HDTV quality for movies? Thank you for your help.

DVDs are lower resolution than HD. Upscaling helps, but blueray is what your really looking for.

 

[jtvang125]

Having a HDTV does not mean everything you watch on it will be in HD. An HDTV just gives you the capability to view HD material so you're still bound by the quality of your source material. And since DVD is no where near the resolution and bitrate of true HD material its never going to look that good even if the DVD is progressive or upscaled.

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: jtvang125
Having a HDTV does not mean everything you watch on it will be in HD. An HDTV just gives you the capability to view HD material so you're still bound by the quality of your source material. And since DVD is no where near the resolution and bitrate of true HD material its never going to look that good even if the DVD is progressive or upscaled.

Don't forget the color...ohh...the color of HD sources.

Seriously OP - there isn't much you can do with a DVD to make it even compare to HD.

 

[gorcorps]

I don't know where you got that DVD was HD, but an upscaling DVD player just helps the (non HD) DVD look better on your TV than it would in a normal DVD player. If it looked just like HD then there wouldn't be a whole thing with blu ray would there?

 

[EvilYoda]

Hopefully people still remember the term "ED", as in Enhanced Definition not Erectile Dysfunction?

 

[s44]

DVD = 1/4 the resolution of HD

This isn't like one of those ridiculous TV shows where they can make all that information just reappear with "enhancement". It's Blu-Ray or bust.

 

[amtbr]

I see, thanks for the help. Guess the christmas wish list will include a blu-ray. I figured that was the answer, but I just wanted to make sure I wasnt missing something in the settings/connection.

 

[Arkaign]

DVD is native 720x480p, IIRC, which is pretty far off of 720p or 1080p. Not as bad as regular NTSC ~400p, but DVD doesn't look too hot on larger displays with great pixel accuracy. You can see all the limitations all too clearly, and 'upscaling' cannot alleviate the lack of native detail, sort of like how AA will make things less jaggly, but cannot add detail where it doesn't exist in the first place.

 

[Oyeve]

I have an HDTV and use my Xbox 360 for DVD playing and find I get pretty decent results. Far better then my Denon upscaling DVD player via component. In fact, the 360 scales so good that I still but DVDs over BR because of the cost difference. I will switch to BR or a newer format when I am unsatisfied with DVD. My Denon has a "supposedly" great upscaler but the 360 via HDMI is soooooo much better.

 

[sivart]

imagine taking 2 identical photos on your PC.

One with 480 lines of horizontal resolution
One with 1080 lines of horizontal resolution

If you open them both at their native resolution, one will be much smaller than the other.
Now use your zoom function in your photo editor to make them the same size.

Clearly the 480 line picture will look worse (blown up nearly 4x) than the 1080 line picture in its native resolution.

Your 'upscaling' player is essential 'blowing up' the DVD image 4x, thus the reason it doesn't look nearly as good as your HDTV.
(FYI, you might want to try with your old DVD player as your TV may upscale better than your upscaling DVD player)

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Originally posted by: spidey07


Don't forget the color...ohh...the color of HD sources.

Seriously OP - there isn't much you can do with a DVD to make it even compare to HD.

Rented Speedracer Blu-Ray for the kid, and we all were rather impressed with how the colors jumped out. Didn't give a crap about the movie, just sat there like Homer going "pretty colors"