Upconversion with a Virtual Projector?

[Danux]

Thought I'd post this idea, as I doubt I have time to pursue it IRL, would kinda like to hear others' opinions, though.
I had been playing around with upconversion a few months ago, ultimately settled on doing the work frame-by-frame using fairly various sharpening techniques available in Imagemagick.
Started a bit of random web surfing today, it occured to me that it is possible to create a virtual projector using a raytracing program, like POVray (which I messed with years ago). My notion was that I could use a single DVD frame like a piece of film, and "project" it onto a surface, then render the projected image in full HD resolution in POVray. Basically, using various virtual lenses and screen surfaces, I thought it might be possible to apply physics math, rather than interpolative(?) mathematics, to draw the image.
For instance, let's say I build a virtual projector in povray. I can import the image and render it as translucent glass film. I can use a "perfect" projector bulb to light the image, in a perfectly dark room.
Other possibilities:
- Instead of a single lense, I might use a 720 by 480 grid of perfect mini lenses at the projector, to focus each pixel in a more specific manner.
- The projector screen itself could also be comprised of a 1920 by 1080 grid of reflective surfaces. If a slightly concave bump-map was used for each grid-point, the image could be rendered from, say, 20 marginally different angles and averaged into a single "high-def" image.

Seems like a lot of work. Could this type of thing be done without all the overhead of a raytracer?

[MfA]

Why exactly do you think a projector is particularly good at upsizing?

Anyway, it's all linear. In the end each final pixel will still be a simple weighted sum of pixels in the existing image. So yes you could do it faster.

You will end up with something amazingly close to a bilinear filter though.

[Danux]

Why exactly do you think a projector is particularly good at upsizing?

Anyway, it's all linear. In the end each final pixel will still be a simple weighted sum of pixels in the existing image. So yes you could do it faster.

You will end up with something amazingly close to a bilinear filter though.

Thanks for the reply.
re:projector upsizing.
My notion was that a virtual projector might not necessarily succumb to the same issues that a real projector has. The ability to accurately define the optics, the use of implausibly bright light sources, using multiple projectors on a common screen, that kinda thing. I suppose I am drawing a parallel with someone who owns a projector, doing a frame advance through a movie and photographing each frame with a hi-res camera.
It did occur to me that the best I might achieve would simply be an increase in pixel size on the projector screen, rather than a smooth 1080p rendering, but I figured someone with more experience in the field might know of some optical trick(s) that aren't currently implemented in the commonly used image filter chain.