Which HDTV's do the best job of SDTV video processing???

R

radaray58

Audioholic Intern
I have been doing reading on video processors lately which eventually led me to the Faroudja web site. They have video processors which can improve an SDTV signal...problem is that they start at around $4500. Now I'm seeing more and more ads (JVC and Mitsubishi come to mind) which appear to claim upconversion of the signal to something approaching HDTV. I suppose that they are using technology similar to that in the Faroudja processors (they have their own acronyms), but more limited to keep the costs down.

I'm planning to buy an HDTV in the spring, and would opt for spending more for something that would give me enhanced SDTV as well as HD and DVD. I haven't really seen much in the literature yet that compares this issue between the current models. The most helpful thing I've read lately has been the Audioholics article on going with built in cable card technology to get a better scaling.

I hope that Audioholics will do an in depth comparison between the major top DLP models and include this testing in their report. Any information is very appreaciated. Keep up the good work!!
 
U

Unregistered

Guest
The Samsung DLPs have Faroujda DCDi processing built-in. Still I think the Sony LCD (Grand Wega III and IV) do a much better job for standard def.
 
BMXTRIX

BMXTRIX

Audioholic Warlord
If you buy a plasma, DLP, or LCD - let's say the resolution of what you buy is 1280x720 pixels. Then that is what it will show.

It doesn't matter if you send it 480i, 480p, 720p, or 1080i - It will scale and process everything to 1280x720 (or a 4x3 version thereof). All fixed pixel devices have a scaler of some sort inside them and the quality of them definitely varies from model to model.

One thing I have to point out is that the ORIGINAL source really, really matters a lot. That is, if you have a mini-DV camera and you shoot some video and feed it into a really good TV you will see how incredible the quality of 'standard' definition TV can really be. Digital cable (sometimes) looks better than DirecTV and both look better than analog TV. But even DVD doesn't match the quality of regular mini-DV.

This really is the bigger issue, instead of scaling questions. Though scalers do matter, most manufacturers seem to have contracted to put good quality scalers into their products and the day of spending thousands for a Faroudja outboard scaler are pretty much up (a few will disagree, I know). Faroudja, being run by some bright people, has quite a reputation and has various chips that they sell to plasma and projector manufacturers to allow that technology to go into their product.

A review would be hard as you would need a good 10-20 displays and feed them all an identical source to do a head-to-head shoot out. In my experience though, the better a display is, the worse SDTV looks on it. It happily shows in exacting detail all the flaws present in a 480i analog image.
 
Duffinator

Duffinator

Audioholic Field Marshall
radaray,

I understand your concern. When I purchased my HDTV almost 4 years ago I was disappointed with the SD picture. But I would suggest you focus on what the HD picture looks like and keep the SD picture secondary. There is plenty of HD content available today either OTA or through a cable/sat provider. Most local stations in major markets are upconverting their entire programming to either 720P or 1080i, although it may not be true HD widescreen. Even the upconverted picture looks better than SD. And no matter how you slice it, after viewing an HD or progressive scan DVD picture the SD is always going to look worse.

The Faroudja technology works terrific but it can only do so much with a SD picture.
 
R

radaray58

Audioholic Intern
Thanks for your replies. I suppose that I'm like the guy trying to decide if I should get a color tv in 1965. Some programming, but not a lot yet. Hopefully we'll all be watching mostly hd programming in another 5 years.

In the meantime, I'll just make sure and get a set with some form of processing to help in the interim.
 

pcfl

Audiophyte
pioneer - hitachi - panasonic

Pioneer SD533HD5 ($1600)
Hitachi 57S715 ($2200)
Panasonic PT53WX54 ($1400)

The Pioneer sound like it is good w/sdtv, it only stretchs the outer sections.

Is the Hitachi worth the difference.
 
M

msurebel

Audiophyte
SD upconversion for home moview

I too am interested in what tv or receiver will do the best conversion of SD signal. I understand the argument that there will be more and more HD broadcast, but my concern is the hundreds of hours I have of home movies, both in Hi8 and DV tape that I want the best possible picture. I'm wanting at 60" or better monitor, so which manufacturer does the best job?

Maybe a second question, since I haven't edited many of these tapes to DVD, would be what NLE software codecs would do the best job of upscaling my home movies for viewing in HD? Maybe that would solve question #1
 
ParadigmDawg

ParadigmDawg

Audioholic Overlord
Thanks for your replies. I suppose that I'm like the guy trying to decide if I should get a color tv in 1965. Some programming, but not a lot yet. Hopefully we'll all be watching mostly hd programming in another 5 years.

In the meantime, I'll just make sure and get a set with some form of processing to help in the interim.
5 years? There are very few channels that I watch now that are not in HD. I have around 70 HD channels which pretty much covers everything I watch and will have more before the end of the year. Not bad for an extra 10 bucks a month.
 

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