Print

[brandogg]

Everyone says the 360 upscales DVDs over VGA and HDMI, but after a lot of use using both connections, I'm pretty certain it in fact does not. First, the is by far much worse than the XBox upscaling at 1080i - there are more artifacts, and the picture just plain sucks. Secondly, if you're running a game, HD WMV, Media Center, etc. on your system at 720p/1080i/1080p (VGA, component, or HDMI) and get any type of notification (someone comes online, you complete a download, etc), the ring of light image and text on the screen will be very clear. If you're watching a DVD, it's very blocky and pixelated, as if the system is only running at 480p. There's no doubt the video is being transferred over a 1080p connection, etc, but I don't believe there's any upscaling going on, whatsoever.

[brandogg]

Now I'm thinking maybe it's just the source material - or possibly it's because in the past my 360 was set to auto-boot games and DVDs. I'm using a 1080p Samsung LN52A550 LCD (360 connected via HDMI @ 1080p). It's a sweet TV. Maybe I was just jumping to conclusions. I don't watch DVDs that often, but my daughter does. Finding Nemo looks terrible on the 360, but now she's watching Shark Tale, and it's a very good picture. Again, maybe it was the auto-boot setting, or maybe it's just the source material (a digital connection will definitely show more cosmetic problems than an analog connection). Oh well...this is a stupid thread, I was bored.

[Bearhug]

IMO the 360 DVD drive doesn't provide a very good picture compared to say the HD-DVD add-on drive upscaling (Or even upscaling DVD players).  

The thing to remember with upscaling is that the end result is also dependent on the software and hardware.  So just because something can upscale to 1080p, doesn't mean it's going to be the same quality image as every other device that can also upscale to 1080p.

On my launch console the picture is pretty average even through VGA (It doesn't have HDMI), even with the upscaling compared to a sole purpose Samsung DVD palyer I have which only upscales to 576p.  

The fact that the 360 is still using an analogue signal in this instance and the Samsung player is using a digital signal through HDMI might account for some of the difference however.

Out of curiosity, what has been other peoples experience with these comparisons?