Fuzzy DVDs on HD?

[JasonW]

I brought remastered DVDs of You Only Live Twice (007), Fellini's Juliet of the Spirits, and episodes of the 60s spy show, The Avengers with me today to test out some Sony HD screen and player combos. I guess I expected a sharper image played through both an upscaling dvd player and through a Sony Blu-Ray player (screens were 32 and 40 Sony XBR4s). The images, especially on The Avengers, were really pixalated and fuzzy. I think the dvds look sharper on my old tube tv. Any thoughts and tips out there for someone who wants to watch lots of old TV and Criterion film DVDs on widescreen? I'd love to go HD as long as the picture is going to look sharp (obviously not as sharp as a Blu-Ray disc image). Please help
Thanks,
-jason

 

[mtrycrafts]

I brought remastered DVDs of You Only Live Twice (007), Fellini's Juliet of the Spirits, and episodes of the 60s spy show, The Avengers with me today to test out some Sony HD screen and player combos. I guess I expected a sharper image played through both an upscaling dvd player and through a Sony Blu-Ray player (screens were 32 and 40 Sony XBR4s). The images, especially on The Avengers, were really pixalated and fuzzy. I think the dvds look sharper on my old tube tv. Any thoughts and tips out there for someone who wants to watch lots of old TV and Criterion film DVDs on widescreen? I'd love to go HD as long as the picture is going to look sharp (obviously not as sharp as a Blu-Ray disc image). Please help
Thanks,
-jason

Well, you did the right thing by taking DVDs that you want to watch.

Maybe you need to try HD type players in there or another store? Or, other BR players and TV?

What did the upscaling, the player or the TV?

What size is your old TV?

 

[JasonW]

Well, you did the right thing by taking DVDs that you want to watch.

Maybe you need to try HD type players in there or another store? Or, other BR players and TV?

What did the upscaling, the player or the TV?

What size is your old TV?

I think that the players were doing the upscaling. My old tv screen is 20x15. Maybe my sense of sharpness comes with the smaller picture.

Have others here been playing old films remastered on DVD on your HD screens with upscaling, Blu-Ray or HDDVD players? Have you found a combo that gives a sharp picture? My tests yesterday looked almost as bad as watching AVI files on a big screen. I can't imagine the world is satisfied with that so far in using new equipment.

I will try your advice and go to another store and see if they can set up something better.
thanks,
-jason

 

[Joe Schmoe]

I expect it has a lot more to do with the remastering than the TV or the player.

 

[mtrycrafts]

I think that the players were doing the upscaling. My old tv screen is 20x15. Maybe my sense of sharpness comes with the smaller picture.
-jason

As Joe indicated, remastering is most likely the issue, but also, you are going from a very small TV to a much larger one with no increase in the quality of the video source. Upscaling will not help as you are still left with the original source quality that you are enlarging.
Not sure you will find a happy solution.