Upconverting confusion

[project86]

I THINK I have my mind wrapped around all this native res/upconverting stuff... but let me verify.

Say I have a nice set like a Pioneer Elite plasma (the 940HD to be specific) and I have not yet jumped on the HD-DVD/BluRay wagon yet. No matter what I do, the set is going to up or down convert the incoming signal to it's native res of 1024x768 progressive scan. Why would I want to purchase an upconverting DVD player? Shouldn't the scaler in the Elite be better than whatever is in the $100 Samsung/Toshiba/Philips/etc unit that I buy? It seems like it would be better to get a high quality Elite/Denon/Oppo unit (maybe an older model?) and send a nice 480i signal from there, rather than let the cheaper player scale it once and then have the tv convert again.

Also throw into the mix a receiver like the JVC 402/702 with the Faroudja de-interlacing chip, and it seems even better to get a good 480i signal from the DVD player.

Am I wrong on all this? I guess the only way to know is to connect everything and find out... But I'm wondering about other people's experiences.

 

[avaserfi]

You are right your plasma will upscale to its native resolution, in this case 720p (not upconvert as that is when you take say S-video input and output it via HDMI, just a naming confusion). The question is how good is the scaler? That is what you have to ask yourself many times the scaler in displays aren't that great which is why so many people get upscaling DVD players. The only way to really tell is get a good upscaling DVD player and compare it to your TVs upscaling ability.

I have found that my oppo and PS3 both upscale better than my TV with the PS3 having the slight lead. I always try and have my dvd player deal with all processing as I have noticed that it is the biggest weakness of my TV.

I would suggest seeing if you can borrow an upscaling dvd player from a friend to do some tests. Oppo is a great choice for an inexpensive quality upscaling player.

 

[no. 5]

No matter what I do, the set is going to up or down convert the incoming signal to it's native res of 1024x768 progressive scan. Why would I want to purchase an upconverting DVD player? Shouldn't the scaler in the Elite be better than whatever is in the $100 Samsung/Toshiba/Philips/etc unit that I buy? It seems like it would be better to get a high quality Elite/Denon/Oppo unit (maybe an older model?) and send a nice 480i signal from there, rather than let the cheaper player scale it once and then have the tv convert again.

Correct, but as avaserfi pointed out, the players scaling and de-interlacing might be better than the TVs, but if not, you should be better off just sending the TV 480i.