Does my Sony DVP NS78 HP upscale Divx?

[riverplate86]

Hi everybody. I`m writing from Argentina and I hope you to understand my English.
I have bought a Sony DVP NS78 HP DVD Player (it can play MPEG4), and it upscales the DVDs up to 1080p through HDMI interface.
My question is if it upscales MPEG4 (Divx and Xvid) also or only DVD movies?
Does anybody knows how good looks a divx or xvid on a LCD 40" Screen 1080p?
I have already read all the manual and I found nothing.
Thank you!

[QuadcoreHD]

Honestly your best bet is probably using good ole' google.

[setarip_old]

@riverplate86

Since you've already purchased the player, just play a disc of a DivX-compressed DVD on it - you'll have no trouble discerning whether it's been upconverted for, if it has been, the quality will be VERY OBVIOUSLY better...

[laserfan]

Only way to know for sure is to try it, but I'm guessing that it will output 1920x1080 i.e. upscale your Divx. Note though the manual does say it only plays up to 720x576 and 2Gb files.

If you're set to HDMI at 16:9, and your Divx/Xvid looks like a postage-stamp in the middle of the screen, then you'll know I was wrong in my guess!

Let us know when you get & try the player.

[riverplate86]

Thank you all. I have already seen many divx films and the picture is very very good, but I don´t know if it is realy upscaling because if I setup the DVD to 720p instead of 1080p, I don´t see any difference.

[setarip_old]

Set it to 480i or 480p to see what .AVIs "normally" look like...

[laserfan]

I don´t know if it is realy upscalingAssuming of course you are watching on an HDTV, if the picture fills the screen then it is upscaling. Else it would appear as its original resolution e.g. 640x356 or whatever and this would not fill your screen.

[riverplate86]

Set it to 480i or 480p to see what .AVIs "normally" look like...

Assuming of course you are watching on an HDTV, if the picture fills the screen then it is upscaling. Else it would appear as its original resolution e.g. 640x356 or whatever and this would not fill your screen.

But if I set 480p, the image also fills the screen. That is what makes me wonder if it upscale or just stretch the image.

[laserfan]

If it fills a screen that's bigger than the original encoding, then it's upscaling. And if it looks good to you, that's the main thing, isn't it?

Well, OK, I suppose in the 480p case maybe it is your display that is doing the upscaling. Stick with 1920x1080-out on the Sony and you will be taking 1080 out of the Sony and your display will not be doing the upscaling.

[riverplate86]

If it fills a screen that's bigger than the original encoding, then it's upscaling. And if it looks good to you, that's the main thing, isn't it?

Well, OK, I suppose in the 480p case maybe it is your display that is doing the upscaling. Stick with 1920x1080-out on the Sony and you will be taking 1080 out of the Sony and your display will not be doing the upscaling.

Yes, you are right, thank you very much

[laserfan]

I have already seen many divx films and the picture is very very good...I wonder what method (or chipset) Sony uses for upscaling. I have Sigma Designs media players and they do a very good job also.

I wonder too if Sony is going to make this player, or one like it, available in the U.S. Well, enjoy it riverplate86; I've seen nothing but good reports about the NS78.

[riverplate86]

I wonder what method (or chipset) Sony uses for upscaling. I have Sigma Designs media players and they do a very good job also.

I wonder too if Sony is going to make this player, or one like it, available in the U.S. Well, enjoy it riverplate86; I've seen nothing but good reports about the NS78.

Yes, I am enjoying it and I´m very huppy with this product. I think Sony will not going to make this player available in USA because there you have Blu Ray already, here in South America we will use the DVD for many years I think until here comes Blu Ray.
Thank very much all of you.

[olyteddy]

But if I set 480p, the image also fills the screen. That is what makes me wonder if it upscale or just stretch the image.

And the difference between 'stretching' and 'upscaling' would be? Most TVs will 'upscale' as needed, so does it really matter if your player does?

[setarip_old]

@olyteddy

Hi!And the difference between 'stretching' and 'upscaling' would be?The difference is resolution/number of pixels/pixel size.

If you want to see a startling difference, load a standard DVD in any Toshiba HD-DVD player and first play the DVD in its actual resolution of 480i (or 480p) and then play it at the upconverted 1080i (or 1080p) resolution.

Although there are other brands of standalone DVD players that perform upscaling/upconverting, none come close to the remarkable results yielded by the Toshiba (HD-DVD) players regarding standard DVDs...

[foxyshadis]

olyteddy means that stretching and upscaling are synonyms, and either can easily mean anything from nearest-neighbor interpolation without deinterlacing to edge-directed interpolation. Upscale is one of those fluffy marketing terms that marketers have led people to believe means high quality, but it's a lie at least as often as it's truth, as in most marketing.

[olyteddy]

Well that, and I also mean the TV Manufacturer already includes hardware and software to display 480i and or 480p (to accommodate nearly every pre-HD video source). That includes video consoles, hand held video games, cameras and even VHS. You'd think that they'd use algorithms and hardware that's optimized to their display. That's why I figure it doesn't matter if your player 'super sizes' the picture too.

[setarip_old]

@olyteddy

But the OP is specifically referring to upscaling/upconverting to 1080p - which is why I suggested the upscaling of standard (480i/480p) DVDs to 1080i/1080p performed by the Toshiba standalone HD DVD players is far superior to the upscaling performed by HDTVs...