How does a dvd player upconvert a standard dvd to 1080p?

Question

what does the dvd player do?

Answer 1

A Standard DVD picture is 720x480.

The DVD player needs to scale that picture to 1920x1080.

There are many techniques used that combine pixel interpolation with motion estimation/compensation; however, in its simplest form, pixel interpolation will work.

Note that all HDTVs can scale as well, some even better than upconverting DVD players, so try you player with 480i or 480p output and see what your TV does. You may be surprised!!