HD Upscaling

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Like the Helios Labs HVD2085 players we reviewed, this player features upscaling to HDTV, so to start with, we will cover how well this player performs with upscaling to 720p versus that from its standard SVHS output.  As the only HD display we have handy is a PT-AE500E HD projector, all HD upscaling tests will be carried out using this projector.  The projected image is roughly 70" in size and we will be using a FujiFilm F30 6 Megapixel camera mounted on a tripod to take the screenshots.  Unfortunately, while we do have a 19" TFT handy with DVI input, the camera suffers from a serious moiré effect when taking photos from it.  Another issue is that the monitor does not handle 1280x720 properly and will automatically interpolate it up to its full screen size.

For these tests, we used the following DVDs:

• Brainiac Science Abuse - The Best Of Series 1
• Over the hedge

Note about 576i, 720p and 1080i tests

After previous reviews revealing very little if any difference between 720p and 1080i with Component and HDMI due to the projector’s native resolution being only 720p, we have decided to leave out discussions and screenshots of 1080i for the HD upscaling tests, unless we noticed anything unusual with a particular scene. 

On significant difference we noticed during the tests over the HVD2085 is that we were unable to make out any significant difference between the player's and projector's upscaling and deinterlacing between 720p over Component and HDMI and 576i over SVHS.  On the other hand, it looks like this player has a much better SVHS output as the image from this player over SVHS looks less grainy than the HVD2085's SVHS output.

Component Output

As the majority of HDTV sets have a component input, the first tests we carried out are comparing component at 720p against SVHS at 576i.  Unlike the HVD2085 players, one thing we did notice is that the picture did not show any significant amount of difference in brightness, contrast or saturation.  The only difference we noticed with this player is the component picture being just slightly brighter.  Before we started the tests, we used the colour calibration chart we created during our original review of the NeuNeo HVD2085 player (see important notice in the screenshot section below) to ensure all the colour levels were distinguishable from each other.

HDMI Output

For HDMI testing, we used a HDMI to DVI cable to test both 720p and 1080i, since the projector does not have a HDMI input.  Unlike our testing of the HVD2085 players, the picture did not need any adjustments, so we left the projector's picture controls at its defaults.  The main advantage we can see here is that consumers should have the ideal picture with this player, unlike both HVD2085 players where we had to reduce the brightness to make the ‘blacks’ look black.

The main advantage we notice with the HDMI connection over the component and SVHS connections is the lack of any ghosting, fait lines or noise in the picture.  With high definition images, the on-screen display text detail is sharper with HDMI as shown in the following partial close-up screenshots of HDMI (left) vs. component (right), although the difference is insignificant with the upscaled images:

The ghosting effect of component is also visible in right image.  For example, compare the sold black squares and the T’s between the two images.

Screenshots:

In this section, we will compare screenshots between SVHS, Component and HDMI from several different scenes.  For these scenes, we paused the DVD to take each photo and switched between the modes at that paused scene to take photos of the same frame using the different outputs and modes.   

*** Important notice regarding the screenshots below ***

Like with our previous HD upscaling player reviews, the first problem we encountered is attempting to take a photo of the projected image.  While the picture looks fine to the eye, initially it would come out green / cyan colour, weak red colouring and anything bright turning out over-exposed and anything dark turning black!  Unlike in previous reviews where we tried overcoming this issue with significant changes to the projector's picture controls, we have decided to create a temporary screen from a matrix of blank A4 sheets taped together.  While the picture would not look as good for viewing directly, particularly with the vertical and horizontal page joins appearing in the image, this made a significant improvement for the camera, as we were able to calibrate its white-balance by projecting a white image.  With the FujiFilm F30's much superior light sensitivity, we were also able to use ISO 100 and use its shutter priority feature to keep the photos consistent between each screenshot, without any adjustment to the projector's controls.  Like the HVD-2085 reviews, we used our colour calibration chart with colour steps ranging from black all the way to pure Red, Green, Blue and White; each in 16 shades verify all the levels were distinguishable from each other when we viewed the photos on the PC. 

However, while we were able to get better colour rendering in our photos, the gamma and contrast still vary significantly between what is shown on screen than what is captured on the camera and even out of sync from each other in the mid ranges, but still a fair improvement over previous reviews.  Due to the camera capturing brightness’s of some colours stronger or weaker than others, there is no way we could make the colour and luminous rendering in the photo come out like that on screen.  However, at least with the levels being similar between the HDMI, Component and VHS outputs, we did not need to spend any time trying to adjust screenshots from each output to match in brightness, contrast and saturation like we had to with the HVD2085 review. 

Finally, the projector itself does a fairly good job at its own upscaling when it comes to supplying it with an SVHS signal, especially with the improvement we noticed from the SVHS output on this player, so the difference between the standard definition outputs and the high definition outputs can vary significantly from display to display.

As a result, please do not judge the brightness, contrast or colour rendering of the screenshots below as the player's capability on these!

Large Logo

For these tests, we used a DVD on Brainiac due to its wide range of scenes to put this player through its paces.  To start with, we compared how well the Brainiac logo turns out in the different upscaling modes, particularly since the edges throughout look quite jaggy in standard definition and a full screen logo is displayed between each part of the disc.

The following image shows the logo via the SVHS output (zoomed):

When we switch over to Component at 720p, we notice the picture a little less jagged.  For example, compare the cross-bone below against that in the above image.  The component picture is also less noisy around the edges.

While the image detail itself looks identical between the component and HDMI output, the HDMI picture is virtually noise free with no visible ghosting around the edges.  The following image shows the display output using HDMI at 720p:

The following table shows a thumbnail of the three images together:

Gravel

Gravel contains a lot of detail and edges, which makes it quite a challenge to upscale.  So for this test, we used the scene in the Brainiac special where it showed a swinging iron, since there was gravel all around.  In this review, we included the full iron in the screenshot to show extra detail.  The following image shows a zoomed-in close-up using the SVHS output:

Unlike the Helios HVD2085 where we experienced a softer image from the component output, the actual detail seems to be pretty much the same between the SVHS and component pictures, except in a few areas where the component upscaled output has done a better job.  For example, compare the neon indicator on the iron above against that below.  The colour from it has bled out and the edges of the indicator are also smudged in the SVHS image.  The plug and yellow wrap around the cord are more detailed in the component output image.  However, one thing we noticed is that some interlacing artefacts are clearly present in both images, visible on the irons cord.  This image was in motion at the time we paused it.

While the HDMI and Component pictures look about identical in detail, the HDMI picture has very little colour bleeding around the indicator and was slightly sharper.  The following image shows the display using HDMI at 720p

The following table shows a thumbnail of the three images together:

Audience

The image used in this test is taken from the scene were they try to create a Mexican wave, so this makes a good test to see what the player is like dealing with crowd of people.  The following image shows a zoomed in portion of the scene using SVHS, with a little more included than in the previous review:

Interestingly, from what we can see, the SVHS and Component picture are pretty much the same in detail, unlike the Helios HVD2085 review where we seen a significant difference between SVHS and Component 720p.  However, while at first it may seem like the player is not doing as good job at upscaling here, in our previous Helios HVD2085 review, we got quite serious jaggedness in the SVHS image, which is not the case here in the above image.  The following screenshot shows the component output at 720p:

When we compare component against HDMI, apart from a slight variation in brightness (as we mentioned earlier), these two images look pretty much identical.  The following image shows HDMI output at 720p:

The following table shows a thumbnail of the three images together:

Trees and leaves

Like the texture of fur and grass, leaves are something very difficult to upscale as the individual leaves often fall within one to two pixels in the image, which often makes the individual pixels stand out on many high definition displays, depending on the upscaler.  The following image is the output using SVHS:

With this player, we are unable to make out any clear difference between the SVHS and component output, which again is quite different from the previous review.  However the main thing we do notice here is that the leaves look more natural via SVHS than with the SVHS output of the HVD2085, where the lives looked jaggy.  Note that these photos were taken more close-up than in our previous review.

Interestingly, when we switch to the HDMI output, we do notice a difference between the HDMI and component output picture in that the HDMI picture seems to reveal more detail, particularly in the areas of contrast.  For example, compare the lower right of the above image above against that below.  The HDMI 720p image below clearly shows the leaves better:

The following table shows a thumbnail of the three images together:

Credits

One thing that can be challenging to upscalers is upscaling text without it getting too soft or jaggy.  Here, we picked out the final credit screen that contained small text on the Brainiac DVD.  The following image shows a partial screenshot using the SVHS output:

Both the player and projector done equally well at the scaling process from what we can see with the larger text.  When it comes to the smaller text at the bottom, the writing is more jagged, particularly with the copyright symbol.  As shown earlier with the Brainiac logo, the SVHS output clearly suffers from ghosting here around the letters as seen in the close-up above. 

Finally, once we switch to HDMI output, apart from a slightly brighter image, the detail looks identical.  Like with the Brainiac logo screenshot, the component output suffers from slight ghosting here.  For example, there is a faint ghost effect to the right of the ‘r’ in ‘for’ above, which is not present in the image below.

The following table shows a thumbnail of the three images together:

Over the Hedge

We picked this scene from “Over the Hedge” due to a combination of fur, grass and leafs detail, even though this is from an animation.  The first thing we notice is that the SVHS output appears to be softer than that of the HVD2085 players to start with.  The following image shows the output using SVHS:

Unlike in the previous reviews, we don’t see a significant difference between the SVHS output and upscaled outputs other than less ghosting in the component output picture.  The following shows component output at 720p:

Like with the leaves screenshots above, once we change to the HDMI output, we see a lot more shadow detail that was blackened out in the component and SVHS images.  For example, compare the dark area within the tress above against that below.  One other difference we notice is that the HDMI output is noticeably smoother with the animals’ fur:

The following table shows a thumbnail of the three images together:

HQV Benchmark DVD

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In the tests we carried out above, we paused the disc at various scenes throughout a DVD to see how well the player is at upscaling certain scenes.  However, these tests do not reveal how well player handles under certain conditions such as dealing with artefacts resulting from moving objects, 3:2 Film detail, complex motion (such as a waving USA flag), noise reduction, cadence tests and scrolling video titles. 

The following HQV benchmark score card has the results for the different tests presented on the DVD and have been carried out according to the scoring guide.  For this test, we set the player to 720p output and used our projector to carry out the tests.

While a long string of Fails is not something the average consumer would like to see, let's not forget that very few players on the market pass many of these tests, particularly the noise reduction and cadence tests.  On the other hand, while we would have expected this player to have performed better at HD upscaling than the Helios HVD2085, this player is targeted more at playing native HD content rather than upscaling existing content.

In fact, as DVDs are targeted at the average consumer market, generally any noise that would be present in the source would be dealt with long before the movie gets released on DVD, so the noise tests would be more specific to those who record terrestrial analogue broadcasts or VHS recordings to DVD.  However, even though the 3:2 cadence is the most widely used on NTSC movies and most recognised cadence in DVD players, it is a pity to see the lack of support on this HD upscaling player, although this is likely to be less of an issue for PAL region users.  On the other hand, if the consumer's HDTV set supports the 3:2 cadence as well as does well in some of the other tests, this can be put to use by setting the player's output to legacy 480i or 576i before playing back standard definition content, although the user would need to remember to switch the player back to a HD mode afterwards. 

Finally, if the user already has a display or projector with HQV player, these tests are not really much of a concern, so long as the user changes to 480i or 576i output (depending on the title) over HDMI before playing a standard definition title.

Online streaming & Internet browser

High Definition vs. Standard Definition