HDMI DVD Upconverting Players And Other SD To HD Solutions
HDMI stands for High Definition Multimedia Interface. An HDMI player is a DVD player that uses HDMI technology to carry a digital signal (for both audio and video) to a TV - all in one cable. It has much more bandwidth than its predecessor, DVI (Digital Video Interface). Thankfully, HDMI is backward compatible with DVI. Overall, it performs much better than DVI or the archaic - but surviving - component video. The big benefit of HDMI DVD players is that it is a practical solution to a big problem. How does a person watch SD (standard definition, or standard def) DVDs on a high definition television? More importantly, how does a person do this and not buy a Blu-ray player and replace a whole library of DVDs with Blu-ray discs? Some people have very large libraries of DVDs - from movies like Iron Man to home videos of birthdays and holidays that were transferred from VHS to DVD. The DVD VHS transfers in themselves would be expensive to replace because one would have to go back to the original analog source or the high resolution digital files (if any were made) and have them now transferred to Blu-ray. The HDMI player is a perfect solution to this potential catastrophe.
With an HDMI player you are able to watch any standard definition DVD on your high definition TV - in high definition! It does this by scaling up the resolution and then deinterlacing the video so it does not look like a bunch of pixels jumping all over the place. Depending on the size of the screen, the converted video can actually look so close to HD that many people can not tell the difference.
The HDMI player is very economical compared to some of the alternatives. It is possible to get a really good Samsung HDMI player for somewhere between and 0. Suppose you want something better? There are some more expensive alternative HDMI players on the market. For example, there is Oppo Digital with its line of high end upconverting HDMI DVD players. Some of Oppo Digital's HDMI players cost up to 00. That's expensive but still less expensive than buying a Blu-ray player and replacing a large movie library of DVD discs.
Well, you could bite the bullet and go Blu-ray. Of course, this would be the most expensive solution to your problem. You would then have to replace all of those DVD discs with Blu-ray discs as they become available (not all Hollywood movies are on Blu-ray). And you will need to transfer all of your home movies and videos again - this time to Blu-ray. To do this you'll have to decide whether to buy a Blu-ray burner yourself or pay someone to do the transfer of the home videos to Blu-ray for you. This will be even trickier than DVD VHS transfers.
Another solution is the external video processor. You'll need a good standard def DVD player to start. Then you will need an external video processor (also called a 'scaler') to run the video signal from the standard def DVD player through the external video processor and then to the HD television. These external video processors could cost you a few thousand dollars. So it is kind of in between going Blu-ray and buying a high end HDMI upconverter if you add up all the expense of replacing DVD discs with Blu-ray discs.
If all of these scenarios seem too expensive or impractical, then try this one last suggestion. It may or may not work. You will need to check your settings on your standard def DVD player to see if this is even possible with your brand and model. See if you can change the settings on the standard def DVD player from 480i (interlaced scan) to 480p (progressive scan). This might give your new HD TV something more to work with. HD TVs come with upconverting and deinterlacing technology as well. Many of the better HD televisions can usually do pretty well at scaling 480p to 1080p. Although HD TVs can do this, most HDMI players do it much, much better than the HD TVs. The problem HD TVs have is usually with deinterlacing. But if your standard definition can be set to deinterlace the video before sending it to the HD TV, then the HD TV may be able to do the rest that is needed to give you a decent picture.
Well, this was a lot of information and some of it was very technical. Hopefully, one of these solutions above will give you what you need to set up a successful HD theater in your home.
