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New member Username: RwithclassPost Number: 1 Registered: Feb-06 | bought a Samsung DVD-HD850 and connected it to my 42" Phillips HD plasma with the supplied HDMI cable. I watched 5th Element on SuperBit and although the picture was exceptional, what I couldn't understand is why I could not tell a difference between the 480, 720 and 1080 settings when I switched the HDMI Select button on the remote. I would assume that the picture difference would be substantial or at least noticeable when you double the lines of resolution from 480 to 1080 but I can't see a difference. Am I doing something wrong? |
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New member Username: BriankPost Number: 5 Registered: Jan-06 | That's because the DVD you were watching is in 480p format (720x480p). "Superbit" is not a HD DVD, it merely gets rid of extra features so there is more room on the DVD to increase the average bit rate for better picture quality. The resolution is still 480p though. HD-DVD titles are just coming out this month. http://www.toshibahddvd.com/ |
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eengert Unregistered guest | Furthermore, lest you take from BrianK's post that you COULD play HD-DVD's on your HD850, I don't believe you would be able to...at least not at 720p or 1080i/p native. I've read that HD-DVD's will be backward compatible, but that means that they'll have a separate 480p layer on the disc that non-HD DVD players (like the HD850) will be able to read. Don't be confused - the HD850 is not an HD-DVD player. It is a standard DVD player with an HD up-converter. Big difference. All it does is duplicate lines from the 480 image to make 720 or 1080 lines. That makes the image look a little cleaner, but is still not truly native HD. In my opinion, the HD850 does nothing that my TV's up-converter doesn't do. I'm returning my HD850 because I could tell no difference between it in 720p mode and my standard Panasonic P-scan DVD player. I have a Samsung HL-R5067W TV and it appears to do the up-conversion to 720p on it's own just as well as the HD850. Does anyone believe otherwise? If someone could give me a compelling reason to keep the HD850, I would. |
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Bronze Member Username: BriankPost Number: 11 Registered: Jan-06 | Ah! I didn't even realize that the HD850 was just an upconverting player. Since it had HD in the part number I figured it was HD (good old marketing gimmick). Thanks for filling us in eengert. |