concerting an mpeg-2 to 1080p

[macmichael01]

Hello I am a newbie to this kinda stuff but is there a way to convert an mpeg-2(standard dvd) to 1080p? I have a TV that displays in 1080P so if I up convert a dvd suchas the matrix to 1080P this will remove the widscreen bars and fill the entire screen Right? Does anyone have a program that they would suggest using? Is there any articles/tutorials on what I am trying to do?

Thanks in advance.

[Blue_MiSfit]

In short - you could do this, but it won't achieve what you want (removing the widescreen bars)

Basically, the bars are there for a very good reason, and there's no way to remove them without distorting the picture.

Your HDTV has a 16x9 aspect ratio (or 1.77:1, whichever you prefer). The Matrix was filmed using the 2.35:1 aspect ratio (very common) which is wider than the HDTV 16x9 standard.

In other words, the picture on the DVD is wider than your TV, no buts about it.

SO, you have three options

1) Ignore the bars, and get an otherwise perfect picture (what I do)
2) Zoom in on the image, cropping off the bars, but also cropping off the sides of the video
3) Stretch the image vertically, cropping off the bars, but also making people look stretched out vertically

Some TVs have a bizarre resizing algorithm that "sort of" lets you stretch the image vertically without distorting the image too badly. It looks very unnatural to me, but you may prefer it.

All of these adjustments can be made on your TV. Any decent DVD player will output your DVD at 1080p (with the black bars of course). It won't even begin to compare to a BluRay, but that's a whole different story :)

~MiSfit

[setarip_old]

@Blue_Misfit

Hi!Any decent DVD player will output your DVD at 1080p...It won't even begin to compare to a BluRay...I'm guessing you've not personally seen the upconverted output of the Toshiba HD-A3 on an HD-TV...

[Dark Shikari]

@Blue_Misfit

Hi!I'm guessing you've not personally seen the upconverted output of the Toshiba HD-A3 on an HD-TV... If you think an upconverting player looks as good as a Blu-ray, one or more of the following is true:

1. Your television sucks (likely regardless, nearly all TVs do).
2. The film transfer is bad enough that there's no significant visual quality increase by going to HD anyways (quite common).
3. You're sitting so far away from the screen that you can't see the difference anyways.

Upconverting players do not have particularly magical algorithms--they're 99% marketing. NNEDI, for example, would probably blow away any hardware upscaling player.

[setarip_old]

@Dark Shikari

Hi!

The statement that I responded to was:It won't even begin to compare to a BluRay...not, as you've changed it to:If you think an upconverting player looks as good as a Blu-ray

And, I'm guessing that despite your three somewhat presumptuous statements, you also have no first-hand viewing experience with the upconverted output of the Toshiba HD-A3 on an HD-TV.

BTW - If your three statements were to be applied to all people, you would be stating that effectively, no one could see the difference ;>}

[Dark Shikari]

BTW - If your three statements were to be applied to all people, you would be stating that effectively, no one could see the difference ;>} [/Color]Oh, this is entirely true. Most people can't, because they're using crappy screens and sitting 10 feet away from them. HD is, for a lot of the population, a buzzword used to make people buy all their movies all over again, and maybe an overly home cinema setup at the same time.

[setarip_old]

@Dark Shikari

I'll ask you directly:

Do you have first-hand viewing experience with the upconverted output of the Toshiba HD-A3 on an HD-TV?

[macmichael01]

Cool thanks for your input Blue_MiSfit. It was very helpful.

totally agree with this statement:
HD is, for a lot of the population, a buzzword used to make people buy all their movies all over again

Isn't the physical media war coming to an end. Who needs discs these days :) blue-ray blah! Let the ISP bandwidth wars begin!

[Dark Shikari]

@Dark Shikari

I'll ask you directly:

Do you have first-hand viewing experience with the upconverted output of the Toshiba HD-A3 on an HD-TV? No, nor do I particularly care for other forum users shilling for products on these forums.

[setarip_old]

No, nor do I particularly care for other forum users shilling for products on these forums.If you're referring to me, I'd suggest your choice of words and accusation is way out of line.

Speaking positively about the comparative performance of a piece of hardware that I've purchased should not and cannot be construed as "shilling" - And to what end would I be doing that? Especially in light of the fact that production of the Toshiba HD-A3 was discontinued several months ago - and Toshiba offered to take back all unsold units (of this and all other models of its HD players) from all retailers.

Of course, the fact that you've now acknowledged that you've not seen this player's output capability means you're not in a position to make a valid comparison.

[CWR03]

3) Keep the focus
4) Be nice to each other

Enough?

[QuadcoreHD]

The PS3 does an amazing job of upscaling. While it's true that upscaling doesn't quite have the sharpess and "pop" of a true HD-DVD or Blu-Ray disc in a HD-DVD or Blu-Ray player, many players can upscale quite nicely.

@Dark Shikari - to be honest your statements ARE very presumptuous and your hostility is completely unnecessary. The fact is that you're just flat out wrong.

"Upconverting players do not have particularly magical algorithms--they're 99% marketing"

-where'd ya get that statistic from? Wikipedia? Bill O'reilly? I'm going to go ahead and say you uhhh... probably COMPLETELY made that up.

Also, if you're saying my Mitsubishi HC6000(BL) Projector with accompanying 140 inch screen "sucks" then you are out of your mind, especially considering that I sit about 11 feet away from it. And yes, even upscaled standard DVD's look plenty good on that, and no I do not work for Mitusbishi, a screen manufacturing company, or any company associated with the selling/promotion of Audio/visual products.

@macmichael01 - my apologies that this thread got so off topic with this nonsense. What Blue_MiSfit is 100% correct; Also, you can find great upscaling DVD players for not very much money. or hey, just get a cheap HD-DVD player on ebay or something, many of them will upscale very nicely and your movie will look MUCH better than standard DVD quality. If I were you I'd go with an upscaler and truly take advantage of that "sucky" picture your 1080P TV spits out. I bet even watching cable on that thing must look just awful! yuck!! LOL

Good luck!!

Ps. no i dont work for ebay either

[Blue_MiSfit]

Good upscaling can be quite good, I know. The HD-A3 is supposed to be one of the best, and I haven't tried the PS3 yet.

Still - you can't magically re-create the equivalent of 25mbps AVC and 1920x1080 pixels out of 8mbps MPEG-2 and 720x480 pixels. You can do nice things, but if you side-by side compare, there is no comparison.

Look at prestige HD titles like the Blu-Ray release of 2001 a Space Odyssey and There Will Be Blood, and compare those to the DVD releases..

And guys - let's be nice to each other :)

~MiSfit