[Mark Techer]

OK, curiosity got the better of me in regards to the Up Scaling Samsung HD-950 connected to the Benq W5000 over HDMI, so I am watching a DVD on it now whilst I type this post.

I have tried the unit set to both 720P and 1080i, but have to say that whilst the upscaling does improve things (marginally), sorry guys, this is a far cry from True High Definition 1080P on HD DVD or BD. I have tried a couple of methods for CIH scaling too which I will briefly explain here -

1. Player set to 16:9 and to use LB mode on the projector.
2. Player set to 16:9, then use Wide on the projector and then use the EzView function to vertically stretch the image.
3. Player set to 16:9, then use REAL on the projector and then use the EzView function to vertically stretch the image.

Interesting point to note - both 2 amd 3 produce the true CIH experince as the film I am watching is 2.35:1 and I have small black pillar bars at the ends on the 2.37:1 screen. The common approach to scaling for CIH usually involves using LB (1), but this method does actually clip a small portion off the top and bottom of the image, so allowing complete filling the screen's width.

I think mode 3 looks better than 2 or 1 here. I guess it is true to say that you can't get more out than you have put in, IE 480/576 is not the same as 1080. Speaking of scaling, I think this might work better if the player converted the SD to 540 first, then upscaled that to 1080, but this player seems to convert everything to 480 first. I would like to see how players like OPPO go as they are often said to to be the better upscalers on the market.

I am watching the PAL R4 version of Chronicles Of Riddick which I consider to be a pretty decent SD transfer anyway...

Mark