HD Video from a SD DVD?

[George Tyndall]

I created with PRE7, using the NTSC-HD 1920x1080 Preset, a 4-minute slide show consisting of fifty-six 2288x1520-pixel slides, each about 7 seconds long (actual length of each varies with the duration between beats of the accompanying music) and each with a 4-second stock PRE7 transition. Ialso used a stock PRE7 HD Title Template.

I burned the NTSC-HD 1920x1080 Timeline to Folder for the eventual production of a SD DVD on a blank Lightscribe HP DVD-R 16x disc.

I then burned that same Timeline to a blank $7 Blu-ray Panasonic Disc which I used to save an image on my HDD that I could subsequently use to produce additional discs by creating a disc from the saved image.

Both the SD DVD that I burned from Folder and the HD DVD that i created by burning the Blu-ray disc image were then played back on a 52-inch Samsung HD TV using a set-top LG Blu-ray/HD-DVD/SD DVD player.

Here are my observations:

Audio: It seems the quality of the audio that I get from my 7.1 speaker Onkyo home theater is appreciably better with the Blu-ray DVD than with the SD DVD.

Video: Very surprisingly, the visual quality of the Blu-ray video is only slightly better than what I am seeing with the SD DVD.

In short, it appears that I am getting near HD video quality from SD DVDs.

My question is this: Am I experiencing some sort of optical illusion? If my clients were to play back the SD DVD on their own similar HD Blu-ray player and monitor, would they experience the same quality? One reason I ask is that I still cannot find blank Blu-ray DVDs with Lightscribe at a time when the price of the SD version is the lowest I've seen--and when my clients seem to overwhelmingly favor Lightscribe labeling.

[Steve Grisetti]

Most BluRay players have a built-in feature for upconverting standard DVDs to look nearly as good as BluRay discs. (Yet another reason people are saying commercial BluRays will never take over, the way DVDs replaced VHS.)

Could that be what you're seeing, George?

[George Tyndall]

Most BluRay players have a built-in feature for upconverting standard DVDs to look nearly as good as BluRay discs. (Yet another reason people are saying commercial BluRays will never take over, the way DVDs replaced VHS.)

Could that be what you're seeing, George?

It could be,however, even when I play the SD DVD on my computer-mounted Toshiba HD-DVD drive, the quality of the video seems to approach that of Blu-ray. Does it seem possible to you that my HD-DVD drive is also upconverting?

[John 'twosheds' McDonald]

Because the 'upconverting' of commercial DVDs on my Panny BD player is so good, I don't buy 'studio' BD discs simply because they are so expensive when compared to standard DVDs.

But the output from my video camera recorded onto BD - that is something else entirely (but maybe I am a little prejudiced having made the investment in a "complete for personal use" BD workflow and delivery I have to expolit the facility.) .

[Bobby]

Just for grins George and to confirm the upconvert theory, most TVs can display what their incoming signal is (720p, 1080i, etc.) via some button on the remote. See what resolution your player is putting out with both disks.

[George Tyndall]

See what resolution your player is putting out with both disks.

1920x1080

[Bobby]

Definitely being upconverted then. I agree with prior comments: Upconverted DVDs do look acceptably good.

[George Tyndall]

Definitely being upconverted then. I agree with prior comments: Upconverted DVDs do look acceptably good.

Bobby, I am now in my office, and I am playing that same SD DVD on a HP1955 (19-inch) LCD monitor set to 1280x1024 (maximum) pixels. The DVD-ROM drive is also SD , which means there is no upconverting.

Nevertheless, there is no question in my mind that the video quality, even at full-screen with Windows Media Viewer, is better than I've ever seen on this monitor from a SD DVD.

Is there an explanation?

[Bobby]

Hmmm - gotta think about that one George...

[RJ Johnston]

A couple months ago I burned a SD miniDV to Blu-Ray 1920x1080 h.264 and noticed how good it looked. I thought that maybe there was something in the process, but also wondered if it looked good because it was bigger. I may have to take another look. You can take an image in Photoshop and increase the size 2 or 3 times and it will still look good when viewed from an appropriate distance.