While this player is not capable of playing back the next generation Blu-ray and HD DVD formats, it can handle a wide variety of video file formats encoded in HD, not to mention the playback of photographs in HD.  As the projector we're using has a native resolution of 1280 x 720 (native 720p), this page will show what 480i and 576i output via SVHS is like compared with 720p output via HDMI and Component video using a high resolution photograph. While 1080i features a higher resolution over 720p, we will show what happens when the projector has to display this downscaled to its native resolution of 720p.  We will also do some comparisons between 480i, 576i and 720p on a few HD video screenshots on the next page to show how the video compares between the resolutions.  We have decided to use a photo rather than a HD image still to avoid having motion blur in these tests.

We have taken a 6 Megapixel aerial photograph of a part of cologne to test with and cropped it to a 16:9 format.  We then prepared this photograph in two ways for each video output mode.  In our first set of tests, we rescaled the photo to the resolution we were testing at the time.  For example, if we were testing PAL over SVHS, we would rescale the photo to 720x576 first.  On the second set of tests, we used the same 16:9 cropped photo for all the tests, which has a resolution of 2701 x 1519.  For the PAL and NTSC tests, we set the projector to 16:9 to show the photo in the same aspect as the HD modes.

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

Like the screenshots we captured for the HD upscaling tests on the last page, we will be using the same projector and camera set up for these tests also.  See the important notice on Page 8 for further details on what to watch out for.  Even though it is possible for us to capture the standard definition formats on our capture card, unfortunately there is a vast difference in what is captured on the card and that captured by the camera.  As we cannot place the camera spot on in the middle of the picture due to the set up, these screenshots have been taken at a slight angle as with those taken on the previous page, which would also add to the complexity in trying to compare them against screenshots taken by a capture card.

One other thing to note is that as the projector does its own upscaling to present the images at its native 720p format, the image detail will obviously look better on the projector than with a true standard definition display, which does not have any upscaling capabilities.  All the images are close-up zooms in order to show the detail, roughly to the pixel level for 720p, with all photographs being zoomed to the same point.

Photograph rescaled to output resolution

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For the first set of tests, we have rescaled the source photograph to the output resolution we are testing before taking the photograph.  Basically, this test will show what picture quality we typically get when playing back content optimised for this resolution, at least photographs anyway.  The advantage of preparing them first means that the player does not need to rescale them itself.   We will test its photograph rescaling capability in our second set of tests to see how well the player does when it comes to displaying digital photographs using various outputs. 

The following screenshot shows what this photo looks like at 480i close-up over SVHS, which is the standard resolution used by NTSC television sets.  Note that the faint vertical white streaks are from using A4 sheets:

Unlike what we get on a CRT television set, there are no ‘scan-lines’ visible in the photo.  Also, unlike most LCD and DLP projectors, the infamous ‘screen door’ effect in the picture is very faint on the PT-AE500 projector and is not visible above.  This means that along with the projector’s own upscaling capability, the portion shown above is actually a fair bit better than we would still get on a TV, before we even get to the HD modes! 

Now, let’s see what this same portion looks like using the 576i SVHS output, which is the standard resolution used by PAL television sets:

Despite only a 96 line difference between PAL and NTSC, we can already see a small improvement when we switch to the PAL picture. 

While many consumers already realise that there are only 144 lines of difference between 576i/p and 720p, let’s not forget that while PAL and NTSC have a horizontal resolution of 720 pixels, 720p has a horizontal resolution of 1280p.  This effectively works out at a 122% improvement over PAL, which in-turn has a 20% improvement over NTSC. 

The following screenshot shows what we get using the 720p output over HDMI:

This time we can see a substantial improvement over the PAL and NTSC modes.  Note that this 720p image still looks a fair bit sharper and more realistic to the eye than what our camera has captured above. 

Now, let’s move on to the 1080i output over HDMI:

While we see a dramatic improvement with the 720p mode over both PAL and NTSC, we actually get a slightly softer image once we jump to 1080i.  If this was displayed on a Full HDTV set, this picture would show a dramatic improvement over 720p again, however as the projector’s native resolution is 1280 x 720, it has to downscale the 1080i image to what it can display natively and thus not only do we end up with a 1280 x 720 image, we also get the side effect of downscaling the 1920 x 1080 image.  This down-scaling side effect can also be seen on LCD PC monitors by changing to a resolution mode higher than what the LCD’s native resolution is, assuming the monitor is compatible with higher resolution modes.

While the player can also output 720p, 1080i and 1080p over component, the main drawback with component video is that it is an analogue signal.  This results in a slight degrading of picture quality when the picture is converted from digital to analogue before feeding the signal out the component video cables and again when the display has to convert the component video signalling back to digital again.  Note CRT based televisions and projectors generally do not have to convert the signal back to digital and often do not have any digital inputs at all. 

The following screenshot shows what we get at 720p over Component:

The main thing we find interesting about the component video screenshot is how detailed and close it looks to the HDMI 720p screenshot, despite getting clearly noticeable shadowing and distortion in the menus between HDMI and Component.  On the other hand, as there is a small amount of lens distortion in the picture in the areas of high contrast, such as the steeple against the bright river, it makes it more difficult to distinguish between that caused by the camera and the ghosting caused by the analogue component video cable. 

Finally, the following shows this photo output at 1080i over component:

Like the 1080i output over HDMI, this picture appears a little softer than the 720p output over Component.  Apart from a slightly softer picture, it appears much like the component 720p picture.  As we mentioned earlier, we would need to need a display capable of showing 1080p natively in order to see and experience the benefit of the 1080i output. 

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

Fixed High Resolution Photograph

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In the first set of tests, we resized and optimised the photograph to the resolution we were testing.  In this set of tests, we will use a high resolution image we prepared earlier with a resolution of 2701 x 1519 and use this same photograph through throughout the following tests to see how well the player rescales photographs to its output resolution. 

To start with, we the following screenshot shows what this photo looks like at 480i close-up over SVHS:

Unlike the resized optimised photo from the earlier SVHS test, this photo clearly shows jaggies throughout the image, which likely indicates that this player just uses a basic ‘nearest neighbour’ resizing method.  As a result, if this player is regularly used with a standard definition display for viewing photographs, we would recommend rescaling the photos to 720 x 480 first.  However, the main catch with doing this is losing the ability to zoom into the photos.

The following shows what this photo looks like when viewed at 576i close-up over SVHS:

The difference between PAL and NTSC resolution is clearly noticeable, particularly along the edge of the roofs in the front row of buildings, although far off the quality of the optimised 576i image earlier. 

Now, let’s move on to HDMI output at 720p:

Once we move on to the 720p image, we notice only a very minor difference between the optimised resized 720p image and this one, with this image showing minor jaggies along the edges.  However, as the user can zoom in to see close-up detail with this image unlike the optimised image, we would recommend keeping certain images at their original size.  As this player will resize very high resolution images (such as over 4 Megapixel) to the output resolution before displaying them rather than hold the full image in memory as we mentioned earlier (see Page 6), it may be necessary to resize some sizes to be able to use to the zoom facility.

The following screenshot is the output at 1080i over HDMI

As the projector we are using has a native resolution of 1280 x 720, what we have here is the 1080i image after the projector has rescaled it down to its native resolution.  One thing interesting here is that this image is pretty much free of jaggies, which makes it a little clearer over the 720p image.  However, as we do not have a 1080i display, we are unable to determine whether the player itself performs better rescaling to a 1080 line mode or if the projector has eliminated the jaggies during its downscaling to its native resolution.  On the other hand, if the player is used for viewing photographs or 1080i/p content, it will be worth comparing the display quality of the 720p output against the 1080i output if the display is not a 1080i or 1080p display, but supports at least 1080i.

Now, on to the component video output at 720p:

Like the HDMI 720p output, there some jaggies clearly present in the image, particularly along the bridge.  These jaggies appear to be a little stronger in this component image.  Besides this, the image is much like the resized optimised image shown over the earlier 720p component test.

Finally, on to the component video output at 1080i:

Like the difference between 720p and 1080i over HDMI, this picture is virtually free of jaggies, unlike the component 720p image above.  From what we can see, it is identical to the resized optimised image we tested earlier over component at 1080i.  However, as the display only has a native resolution of 1280 x 720, again we are unsure whether the player does a better job at rescaling to 1080i/p or if the projector eliminates the jaggies during the downscaling to its native resolution.

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

Summary

In this set of photograph tests, we can see how much the output quality varies between standard definition PAL & NTSC and high definition 720p & 1080i in the first set of tests where we optimised the image for each output.  This would be like comparing DVD quality where the picture is optimised for standard definition displays against HD.  Unfortunately when it came to our second set of tests, the player does not seem to do as well when it comes to rescaling high resolution images to the current output mode, at least with standard definition outputs.  However, when it comes to playing HD content on a standard definition output, it seems to do a much better job as the down-scaling from our experience. 

For photo viewing, we got the best experience from both the HDMI 720p and HDMI 1080i modes; depending on whether the source image was optimised for the output resolution we were testing.  For original photographs, such as several Megapixels in size, we would recommend trying the HDMI 1080i mode, even with a 720p native display.  However, for viewing of photographs on a 720p display where the user does not intend zooming into the photo, it is worth resizing them to 1280 x 720 first.  This not only saves switching between 720p and 1080i to view photographs, but reduces the time it takes to load up photographs, not to mention reduce their file size also.

HD Upscaling Performance

Advanced Tests