ct1615 Posted January 29, 2005 Share Posted January 29, 2005 Last night I bought the Toshiba SD-5970 DVD player so I could compare a HDMI connection to the component connection on my Panasonic 27S DVD player. My TV is a SONY WEGA (CRT) 27 HDTV that accepts 480P, 720P, and1080I signals. The Toshiba came with a HDMI cable (which was cool) but I used by own. Cables for both players where off the shelf stuff you can find at any Target, CC or BB (Monster, AR, Philips, etc.,). The test DVD was The Return of the King extended edition disc 2. I jumped through several chapters comparing both players and saw NO difference in the picture using the 480P, 720P, 1080I signals on the Toshiba OR compared to my Panasonic DVD player. Both players where hooked up at the same time. I looked at the dark images, the city burning, light images of soldiers in front of a lake, facial close-ups; no difference. Now the Panasonic does have an awesome picture but I see no reason to use an HDMI connection unless you just want less wires running to your TV. I also tested the DTS signal on both the coaxial and optical out and heard no difference, but that is a fair and balanced report for another day. The Toshiba is going back to the store. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve_L Posted January 29, 2005 Share Posted January 29, 2005 That is a very interesting test. Thank you for reporting on it. I recently purchased a DVI cable for my Comcast HDTV connection on the recommendation of the cable guy that installed my HDTV box. He said it would give a slightly improved picture over the standard component cables. But, for some reason I haven't figured out yet, it gives a poor highly saturated and pixelated picture. It might be a set-up issue, I'm not sure and haven't had the time to work through it. I have a Sony WEGA KDF-42WE655 In any event, it's interesting that you couldn't see any improvement in picture quality. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ct1615 Posted January 29, 2005 Author Share Posted January 29, 2005 My test was to see if a DVD can be upgraded to an "HDTV" signal by a cable, it can't. Do you have HDTV from Comcast? If not, I doubt that cable will make a difference. If you do have it, then the HDMI connection should improve the picture. By the way, the cable is outragious in price. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted January 29, 2005 Share Posted January 29, 2005 i think its all relative too the quality of equipment that you are using... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobbyT Posted January 29, 2005 Share Posted January 29, 2005 Could be no different because you are running a crt instead of some form of digital projection. I've heard before that hdmi doesn't make a difference on crt based TVs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted January 29, 2005 Share Posted January 29, 2005 ---------------- On 1/29/2005 3:06:25 PM BobbyT wrote: Could be no different because you are running a crt instead of some form of digital projection. I've heard before that hdmi doesn't make a difference on crt based TVs. ---------------- i don't think so, because the brightness adn contrast cannot be beat on a crt monitor, not yet at least the reason that i think you may not see a difference on a crt is this. A crt does not need as much of a connection as something pixe based where having a strong signal makes a big difference. That is one reason. The other reason is that the equipment being used wasn't enough to make up that difference Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ottscay Posted January 29, 2005 Share Posted January 29, 2005 Huh. I'm using an hdmi connection from my Sony DVP-NS975V dvd player to upres the image to 1280p, and sending it to my Sony WEGA KV-30HS420 30" HDTV. I wasn't expecting too much, since I've read that upconversion to higher resolution makes a bigger difference on fixed-pixel displays like LCD and plasma, but I did notice better detail and more consistennt color rendition (notice I didn't say more accurate; I have to tweak the coloring before it was spot on, but once I did it was more consistent). If yo don't have an hdtv you won't see any difference at all. I'm an image quality snob, so I really appreciate the extra detail and color accuracy my hdmi connection can provide, but unless you own an lcd or plasma screen, it probably won't make too much of a difference. Scott Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ct1615 Posted January 29, 2005 Author Share Posted January 29, 2005 Believe it or not but I bought that SONY 975 DVD player and when I brought it home it had a stuck copy of "Finding Nemo" in it! It had to get serviced so I switched to the Toshiba for half the price. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Griffinator Posted January 30, 2005 Share Posted January 30, 2005 The point he's making, and one I've been alluding to right along here, is that the minimal amount of circuitry used in an "upsampling" DVD player doesn't improve the quality of the picture enough to justify using it over, say, an outboard scaler, or even the modern HDTV's internal scaling circuitry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TBrennan Posted January 30, 2005 Share Posted January 30, 2005 With my Sony 975 upscaling player into my new Sony 55" LCD RP I most certainly see resolution of finer detail running HDMI-1080I. This when viewing the AVIA resolution test pattern. That's with THAT player and THAT TV. Take it for what it's worth. I should post photos of the pattern when run composite and run HDMI, then you fellas would see. But I can't today. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ottscay Posted January 30, 2005 Share Posted January 30, 2005 >>>My fair and balanced review of a HDMI DVD player<<< Does that mean you work for Toshiba? Seriously, the above example is what I'm talking about. With an LCD or plasma screen you should see a noticeable difference, even to less discriminating eyes. Aa to whether it's worth it compared to outboard scalers or TV-integrated scalers...I don't know. I've never used either. I'd imagine they work quite as well, but I'd also imagine that even my $250 Sony 975 DVD player is less expensive than a dvd player + scaler. And it comes with a (almost) universal player built in, to boot (no DVD-Audio, stupid Sony power-play...). So if yo need to get a progressive scan dvd player, or want universal capability, then one of the hdmi equipeed scaling dvd players makes a lot of sense, especially with a fixed pixel (i.e. lcd or plasma) display. As for integrated TV-scalers...if your tv has one, obviously that's great. I haven't had the privledge, so I don't know how well they'd work. I imagine they do a good job. Perhaps someone who owns one could let us know? This decision is easy, of course; if you don't own a tv with an internal scaler, then you need to get an external one to see any benefit. And if you do, please demo one of the new Sony or other dvd players with upresing so we can find out how they compare. Scott Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ct1615 Posted January 30, 2005 Author Share Posted January 30, 2005 If I did, I doubt they would like the fact that I returned their player. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Griffinator Posted January 31, 2005 Share Posted January 31, 2005 ---------------- On 1/30/2005 2:12:59 PM ottscay wrote: ...but I'd also imagine that even my $250 Sony 975 DVD player is less expensive than a dvd player + scaler. ---------------- Certainly, but then your $250 Sony DVD player won't upscale your standard def TV signal, your VHS movies, your LD's, your camcorder movies, etc... When you invest in a serious outboard scaler, you invest in it because you want the best picture available from all your sources. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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