What does a hdmi upscaler dvd player do??

Question

i have a 40 inch sony bravia, but cannot afford a hdmi dvd player and then all the dvd's. what does a hdmi upscaler dvd do?? it comes with a hdmi lead and is around £40.00.

Answer 1

Takes the DVD video (resolution: 720x480) and converts ("upscales") it to a higher resolution, most probably HD video (1280x720 or 1920x1080). Presumably this makes it look slightly better than if the TV itself were to upscale it (all TVs do their own upscaling, that's why the DVD signal will fill the whole TV, it's been upscaled to match the TV's native resolution).

Answer 2

You know, given the technical problems of trying to upscale low res interlaced video to high res non interlaced video, I think 40 is a bit inexpensive to do the job well.

The electronics is going to require a full blown DSP microprocessor, large memory, and very sophisticated firmware to do the job well.  In addition, it has to do it in real time.  I don't see that happening for anything less than a very sizeable investment!

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