quality on HDTV

[gatormac]

I have a standard 36" TV and my XVID encodes look excellent, but I was wondering if anyone has played XVID files on HDTV, especially LCD/plasma/DLP....and if so how do they look?

I'm just concerned that when I upgrade to a non-CRT HDTV that my non-anamorphic encodes with a max verticle resolution between 288 and 384 won't look as sharp....kind of like playing VHS on a HDTV would look less sharp/pleasing to the eye.

I know the question deals with hardware, but the main point is regarding encoding so I put the thread here.

[SeeMoreDigital]

I have an 1366x768 plasma and I have to say all the HiDef encodes I've converted to XviD at 1280x720 look excellent.

My previous 42" plasma was an 854x480 display which was OK but not nearly good enough for viewing HiDef source material of encodes.


Cheers

[gatormac]

Thanks for the reply, but I guess I need to clarify the question:

Will my non-HiDef encodes (704 width) look good on an HDTV or do I need to start encoding HiDef?

[manono]

Hi-

At least some of what you should concern yourself with would be how you're going to get those XviD encodes to your HDTV. If all you use is composite, for example, then it's not going to look nearly as good as it might. When shopping for an HDTV, I'd highly recommend looking for one with DVI or HDMI in.

Anyway, on my Samsung 42" DLP with a 1280x720 fixed pixel resolution, connected to my DVD/MPEG4 player with a DVI cable, my XviD encodes at 640x272 or 704x304, and the like, look just fine. But the player also scales to 720p, so there's a 1:1 pixel mapping, with no analog to digital conversions.

I daresay that if I made the encodes for 1280x720 that they'd look even better, but I'm using CDs, and don't yet have a DVD burner. Soon, maybe. And that resolution is too high for this player anyway.

[SeeMoreDigital]

Originally posted by manono
...When shopping for an HDTV, I'd highly recommend looking for one with DVI or HDMI in.

Anyway, on my Samsung 42" DLP with a 1280x720 fixed pixel resolution, connected to my DVD/MPEG4 player with a DVI cable, my XviD encodes at 640x272 or 704x304, and the like, look just fine. But the player also scales to 720p, so there's a 1:1 pixel mapping, with no analog to digital conversions.Absolutely!

You are lucky to have bought a stand-alone player with DVI output (and scaling). These are a bit thin on the ground at the moment... that is until the new HiDef Sigma players arrive... And I can't wait!

I currently have to use an 'component' video connection from my Xcard to my plasma screen and the analogue connection 'quality drop' is apparent when playing encodes with small image pixel frame sizes. That said, it's not unbearable to watch, in fact I'm always quite surprised how far you can stretch a pixel these days!

Originally posted by manono
...I daresay that if I made the encodes for 1280x720 that they'd look even better, but I'm using CDs, and don't yet have a DVD burner. Soon, maybe. And that resolution is too high for this player anyway. The chipsets in current 'stand-alone' players can't decode image pixel frame sizes larger that 720x576 anyway... but I know what you mean

[gatormac]

Thanks for clearing that up guys. So I guess I need to look for an HDTV with DVI input and get the new sigma based player when it is available....then my current encodes should be fine and if I want to encode HiDef the sigma could handle that as well.

[SeeMoreDigital]

Well it looks like Sigma will be the first manufacturer to get their HiDef chipsets into the buyers market via Kiss...

Here's what their EM8620 developement kit looks like: -

http://www.sigmadesigns.com/graphics/product_pics/DVD8620LNET.jpg

Note the inclusion of that lovely DVI socket. For more info click here (http://www.sigmadesigns.com/products/DVD8620LNET.htm)