Originally posted by nfaguys:
So then if you have a SXRD-based HDTV there is no need for an Oppo or other with Faroudja chip since the HDTV trumps the 480 DVD players...right ?
Nope.
Issue #1: If your HDTV set receives a signal at a lower res than its native res, it will upscale it. This is true regardless of whether you have an SXRD-based HDTV. It's true for all HDTV sets. This is because an HDTV set can only display things at its native res. So if you see an image on your HDTV set, it's at its native res. And thus if the signal the HDTV received was at a lower res, it necessarily follows that the HDTV must have upscaled it.
Issue #2: Not all scalers are created equal. The scaler in your HDTV is probably less than fabulous. The scaler in an Oppo DVD player is almost certainly better. There are external scalers that are better still.
So let's work through some examples.
Let's say your source material is a US DVD. That source material is 480i (480 lines, interlaced).
Let's say you have an HDTV. Let's say it's an LCD with 720 lines of resolution. that's 720p.
Now you want to watch that DVD on your LCD.
Option 1: DVD player without a scaler (or with upscaling turned off), connected to your HDTV set.
Option 2: Oppo DVD player (upscaling DVD player with a good scaler), connected to your HDTV set.
Option 3: DVD player without a scaler, or with upscaling turned off, connected to an external scaler, which is connected to your HDTV set.
In all three options, the 480i signal that you start with will display at 720p.
In option 1, your DVD player sends a 480i signal, which the TV receives and upscales itself.
In option 2, your DVD player upscales the signal sending a 720p signal to your TV, which displays it without further scaling.
In option 3, your DVD player sends a 480i signal to the external scaler, which upscales it to 720p, which your TV receives and displays without further upscaling.
Option 3 yields the best picture, followed by option 2, followed by option 1.
This is because the external scaler has the best scaler, and the typical HDTV set has the worst.