So What Exactly is DVD Upscaling?

We've talked about DVD upscaling in the past, and in it's simplest form, upscaling is a way to get maximum pixels from a standard DVD onto your HDTV. Our friend Robert over at HomeTheater.About.com has a nice article that really explains upscaling:

With the advent of high definition television, the development of components to match the resolution capabilities of HDTV are becoming more important. As a solution, more and more DVD players are equipped with "upscaling" capability to better match the performance of the DVD player with the capabilities of the today's HDTV's.

He goes on to say:

Upscaling is a process that mathematically matches the pixel count of the output of the DVD signal to the physical pixel count on an HDTV, which is typically 1280x720 (720p) or 1920x1080 (1080i - and, some cases, 1080p).
720p represents 1,280 pixels displayed across the screen horizontally and 720 pixels down the screen vertically. This arrangement yields 720 horizontal lines on the screen, which are, in turn, displayed progressively, or each line displayed following another.

1080i represents 1,920 pixels displayed across a screen horizontally and 1,080 pixels down a screen vertically. This arrangement yields 1,080 horizontal lines, which are, in turn, displayed alternately. In other words, all the odd lines are displayed, followed by all the even lines.

1080p, on the other hand, represents 1,080 horizontal lines displayed sequentially. This means all lines are displayed during the same pass. 1080p is the highest quality HD display format.

So if you're not ready to invest in HD DVDs or Blu-ray, you might want to consider an upscaling DVD player to get the most out of movies on you HDTV.

At HomeTheater.About.com

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