Toshiba HDDVD, Michael Imperioli, shenanigans?

[18experience]

OK, if any of you (US) have been watching the Sopranos reruns on A & E, you have most likely seen the Toshiba HDDVD commercial where Michael Imperioli (Christopher) is watching the new King Kong. He claims that the Toshiba player even makes his standard DVD collection look better.

I am calling shenanigans. That is impossible, right? I mean, I can't believe that this Toshiba player can play DVDs better than a comparable high-end DVD player. I believe that the commercial is suggesting "Our HDDVD player can play DVDs better than any DVD player ever could, because, you know, its HD... you know."

Bah, horse puckey I say.

Thoughts?

[timeshifter]

Bull. The DVD format is the DVD format. The only way to make it look better would be to recalculate everything.. and I doubt that could be done and maintain the framerate.

[mendhak]

It's a commercial aimed at non-computer-literates.

They're advertising Toshiba's REGZA monitors being used in conjunction with HD-DVD. That's all.

[soso3]

There are up-converting (up-scaling?) DVD players already out there that are supposed to look better. That's most like what the HDDVD player is doing.

I doubt most people have the eyes and/or TV setup to be able tell a difference.

[Valleysboy1978]

I've played the DVDs on my PS3 (which is of course a BluRay player) and it is the same. That said, I also have SkyHD and they have shown films on both Sky One and Sky OneHD and there is a noticeable difference. Rocky II for example was a much clearer picture on HD than the ordinary picture.
Odd, but cool

[nemaroller]

OK, if any of you (US) have been watching the Sopranos reruns on A & E, you have most likely seen the Toshiba HDDVD commercial where Michael Imperioli (Christopher) is watching the new King Kong. He claims that the Toshiba player even makes his standard DVD collection look better.

I am calling shenanigans. That is impossible, right? I mean, I can't believe that this Toshiba player can play DVDs better than a comparable high-end DVD player. I believe that the commercial is suggesting "Our HDDVD player can play DVDs better than any DVD player ever could, because, you know, its HD... you know."

Bah, horse puckey I say.

Thoughts?

Yes, of course it can. It's upscaling to the resolution of the HD monitor. And in fact, they don't just decode the DVD format.

Now, I DON'T own a HD dvd player, but I have an OPPO upscaling DVD player for my high-def monitor, and it makes a world of difference compared to my off-the-shelf Sony DVD player.

http://www.oppodigital.com/dv981hd/dv981hd_index.html

[BillGeek]

I have an HDD... will it improve the quality if I rip a DVD to my harddrive into a 540kb AVI?

[18experience]

Yes, of course it can. It's upscaling to the resolution of the HD monitor. And in fact, they don't just decode the DVD format.

Now, I DON'T own a HD dvd player, but I have an OPPO upscaling DVD player for my high-def monitor, and it makes a world of difference compared to my off-the-shelf Sony DVD player.

http://www.oppodigital.com/dv981hd/dv981hd_index.html

What I believe the commercial is insinuating is that using this HDDVD player right beside a top-of-the-line DVD player will be noticeably better. Is that true?

If they don't just decode the DVD format, what do they do? It seems to me that the only way that this could be better than ANY DVD player would be if it could pull more information off of the disc. I mean, what could this possibly do that a normal (high end) DVD player couldn't?

[BillGeek]

Your answer lies in your question...

It seems to me that the only way that this could be better than ANY DVD player would be if it could pull more information off of the disc.

[timeshifter]

How can you pull more information than exists? The first thought that comes into my mind is simply smoothing between pixels so it's not as fuzzy. Try running a game in 1280x800 on a screen built for 1680x1050 and you'll see what I mean. It's not a mathematical factor, so it blurs.

[nemaroller]

What I believe the commercial is insinuating is that using this HDDVD player right beside a top-of-the-line DVD player will be noticeably better. Is that true?

If they don't just decode the DVD format, what do they do? It seems to me that the only way that this could be better than ANY DVD player would be if it could pull more information off of the disc. I mean, what could this possibly do that a normal (high end) DVD player couldn't?

If your top-of-the-line DVD player has HDMI output - then no, their HD-DVD player will not output better results than your DVD player on a regular DVD. Unless your DVD player has a crappy upscaling chip.


Here is the about the best source for this information:
http://www.oppodigital.com/Getting-M...V-Display.html

"Although it is true that every HDTV comes equipped with circuitry to perform this conversion, generally the set manufacturers use basic, unsophisticated scaling chips that do an inadequate job. The TV may enlarge the video to fill up the screen, but usually does not address many complicated issues in properly handling of the video signal to create the best possible picture quality. For optimal display result, it is best to feed the HDTV with a native HD video signal so that the TV does not have to do the zooming. How well the conversion from Standard Definition to High Definition is performed by the circuitry in the electronic devices will determine how good the video image looks on screen. In the case of DVD, which is still encoded at Standard Definition resolution, this is almost always best performed within the DVD player so that the display's own internal components won't have to struggle with these steps and can simply present exactly the signal provided to them."

[18experience]

from timeshifter

How can you pull more information than exists?

Thank you. That is exactly what I'm screamin'. You can't get more info than is already there.

nemaroller, thanks for the info. If I'm reading this correctly, and I'd like to think that I am, a DVD player (a good one, mind you) can plays DVDs just as good as any HDDVD player. It is all in how they build the DVD player. But, mainly, there is no magical thing that an HD player can do to pull more info off of the DVD and produce a better-than-any-DVD-player image as the commercial was (I feel) insinuating.

[nemaroller]

from timeshifter


Thank you. That is exactly what I'm screamin'. You can't get more info than is already there.

nemaroller, thanks for the info. If I'm reading this correctly, and I'd like to think that I am, a DVD player (a good one, mind you) can plays DVDs just as good as any HDDVD player. It is all in how they build the DVD player. But, mainly, there is no magical thing that an HD player can do to pull more info off of the DVD and produce a better-than-any-DVD-player image as the commercial was (I feel) insinuating.

As long as the 'good' DVD player has a digital video out and a good upscaling chip, their HD-DVD player will not produce better results.

I know many people have progressive scan DVD players - but those won't output video on a HD monitor as well as an upscaling DVD player - especially one with a good processing chip -and especially one with digital output jacks. Component (reg, green, blue) cables are not digital (HDMI, DVI).