Do DVD's look better on 720p versus 1080p/1080i HDTV?

Question

I would think they look better on a 720p. Wouldn't they look very zoomed out and hence uglier on 1080p?
I have about 400 dvd's and am considering buying a 32" LCD or 42" plasma.

Answer 1

All standard DVD recordings (on disc) are 480p. The DVD player's output is either 480i (using s-video or composite connection) or 480p (component connection). Your TV will accept those inputs and display them in its "native" resolution (720p, 1080i or 1080p). If you are getting an LCD TV, it will either be 720p or 1080p and no matter what you feed it, that's what it will show. However, the picture will not have any higher resolution than the original source. The same is true of plasmas, except there are very few 1080p plasmas available (they are coming out).

The upshot is, get the best TV resolution you can afford (1080p); it will display the DVDs just fine (in fact, even though you can't get better than the source, the hi-res TV will enhance the picture because of less degradation). Your DVDs will look better than ever.

You could get an up-converting DVD player which will output 720i or 1080i on it HDMI port. Many believe that gives a better result than feeding 480 into the TV, but the difference is small.

Answer 2

Rubbish in - rubbish out

how are you hoping that you ordinary DVD that's recorded in 480 lines to churn out 720 or 1080 lines for you?

An upconvertion DVD player might help a bit but not much.

Get a HD-DVD/Blu-Ray player will show you the true picture of HD.

Sorry to hear about your 400+ DVDs, but technolgy had advance, you want better picture, gonna spend on some gear.

Answer 3

The 720 and 1080 is your TV max resolution.
your DVD can only generate 480 signal.
The bigger your TV screen than the picture will become worse.
Usually in store display they use HD generator to generated 1080 signal from ordinary DVD to make the picture look awesome.