HR-20/21 upconverting question...

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adamevans

SatelliteGuys Family
Original poster
Oct 20, 2006
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I've got an HDTV and an HR-20. I just recently bought an upconverting DVD player, and I was pretty amazed at how much better SD DVD's look upconverted.

So, I got to wondering. Does the new HR-21 upconvert the SD channels?

I tried putting my HR-20 on an SD channel, turning off native, and putting the resolution at 1080i, but it didn't appear to be upconverting it. At least, if it was, I couldn't tell any real different between the channel on 480 and 1080i resolution.

Assuming I'm right and there's no way to do this on the HR-20, does the new HR-21 do it? I tried Googling, but couldn't find anything about this.
 
I've only been using the HR21 for a few days now but both the HR20 and HR21 will upconvert SD content. Just make sure to turn off 480i/480p compatibility under the HDTV settings. Having only 720 and 1080 set also makes channel switching faster. Or if your set has a native resolution just stick to that.

However, don't expect it to looks as good as an upconverted DVD. Also, many of the networks that broadcast HD just butcher SD content by stretching a 4:3 SD source (really irritating when you know a HD format is available). In general though SD sources broadcast on a HD channel look a bit better than the SD direct broadcast.

My upconverting DVD player does a better job than many of the HD broadcasters do with upconverting their sources. Not sure why my $100 player does a better job than the networks can manage.

I suspect in the case of an SD channel there just isn't the quality of DVD to begin with. That's probably why it doesn't look any better. I don't notice either but the HD signal does pass to the TV.
 
I have the HR-21 and an H21, I've used both on each of my 2 HD tvs, and I have to say the HR-21 does a much better job upconverting SD content. None of them are as nice as my 50 dollar upconverting DVD player, or my PS3.
 
Your "upconverting" DVD player if it's a good one is upscaling the 480p on the DVDs. Upconverting is just showing 480i on on your 720p, 1080i, 1080p display. It is not improving it just converting it so you can see it.
 
I'd swear my upconverting DVD player does a better job than many networks manage to do with some of their content. It can make a big difference in PQ but that probably depends on everyone's individual setup. I can spot a major difference in quality between a SD DVD output at 480P vs 720P on my RP CRT set. I can't tell the difference between 720p and 1080i though. Perhaps my TV just does a bad job at taking a SD signal.
 
I'd swear my upconverting DVD player does a better job than many networks manage to do with some of their content. It can make a big difference in PQ but that probably depends on everyone's individual setup. I can spot a major difference in quality between a SD DVD output at 480P vs 720P on my RP CRT set. I can't tell the difference between 720p and 1080i though. Perhaps my TV just does a bad job at taking a SD signal.

Your DVD player does do a better job because it scales the picture. You can buy high priced upscalers for your SD tv channels but with everything switching to HD it's not worth doing anymore.
 
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