Can't get any more resolution from the source than what it begins with. There are some GREAT doublers and scalers out there but the source is still the same. Watch a DVD with progressive scan turned off(if thats possible on today's players) and then watch it turned on. There is a huge difference in the picture quality. But its still the same source. Also, most older(mid early 90s) projection TVs used to have 900 lines of resolution on them, but they would still upscale the sources to that. So technically they made VHS display 900 lines....but it was almost quadrupled which is why it looked crappy on some of those really big screens. To understand what I am talking about, watch a youtube video in its native resolution, and then blow it up 2 or 3 times and note the PQ reduction.
HD- DVD is basically dead, go to fry's and you can find the HD-DVD xbox drive which used to be $150 for $30 b.c they are useless. Who gives a crap about HD-DVD p*rn? The internet is blessed with countless hours and for free!
But does this new technology close the gap to the point you can't tell the difference ? People will always go for the cheaper product if it is comparable to the more expensive item -- standard dvd' along with the players are significantly cheaper.
You can put 1080p res on a standard dvd, but there is only about 20-30 minutes worth of space on the disk.
Upconverted DVDs aren't in the same league as even a mediocre looking HD-DVD/Blu-ray title. And don't forget the lossless audio tracks also. Those blow away what DVD has to offer.
if you have the equipment to take advantage of that. not many people upgrade their sound and just stick with tv speakers or a cheap HTIB.
I have crappy speakers from a home theater in a box in my bedroom and when I A-B a lossy track with a lossless/uncompressed one, I can easily notice a difference in quality.
For a good number of people, Blu-ray isn't a compelling upgrade over DVD. Hopefully Toshiba is very successful and it puts downward pressure on Blu-ray player prices.
Definitely. I watched a few minutes of Transformers on HBO-HD last night and it was a mess. Aside from the cropped aspect ratio(16:9 instead of 2.35:1), the artifacting made the climactic battle in the city almost unwatchable. The HD-DVD(and I assume the upcoming Blu-ray release) doesn't have this problem. I thought a "home theater in a box" was geared toward the cheapskates. Not really. Some of the Lion's Gate titles(Total Recall, T2, Stargate) can be had for that much. But most titles range from 20-27 bucks. Ever since Blu-ray won the format war, those discounted prices and 3-for-2 sales are very rare.
From my preview yesterday I can tell you that the XD-E500 certainly does offer an improvement over existing upconverting players and that the technology itself has shown an astonishing range for improvement. ______ <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/7CFoJuRcjHU&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/7CFoJuRcjHU&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>
