progressive-scan
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Touch Ruminations: Progressive necessity
In the latest edition of Touch Ruminations, former DS and Wii Fanboy Lead David Hinkle talks about whatever he feels like. He's a jerk like that. This week, it's 480 lines of progressive scan, and whether or not it should be the standard on Wii. The opinions expressed here belong to the author and don't necessarily reflect those of Joystiq, Weblogs Inc. or its affiliates.I've been so pumped for MadWorld, it's not even funny. Then Monday came around and we found out the game wasn't going to run in 480p and I knew it had to be this week's topic. Some people went bonkers, but, to tell you the truth, I don't think it's such a bad thing.
Strong Bad freezing? Take your Wii out of widescreen display mode
We haven't heard much in the way of problems with Telltale's newest episodic game, Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People. One of our incredibly handsome commenters had some other kind of issue, but it's nothing like what ThatVideoGameBlog is reporting.Apparently, at the same spot in the episode, the whole game would freeze, locking up the console. Others over at the Telltale forums were reporting the same issue, yet they found a fix: take the console out of widescreen display mode and set it to standard (also suggested is turning off 480p and setting the system to 480i). This seems to correct the issue, yet means gamers will have to put up with some black bars on outside of the screen and none of that delicious progressive scan all the kids are crazy about. Until Telltale can patch the game, it looks like this is the only fix for those suffering from freezing. [Via ThatVideoGameBlog]%Gallery-29377% Strong Bad's Game for Attractive People isn't the only notable WiiWare title. Capcom's upcoming Mega Man 9 has managed to turn a few heads (and might have even gotten other companies to think about retro revivals). There's also the upcoming Tetris Party and Alien Crush Returns, both from Hudson. Oh, and let's not forget Space Invaders Get Even!
Wii Warm Up: Have you regretted the lack of DVD playback?
Some people considered it a big deal when it was confirmed that the Wii would not feature DVD playback on release, but now that you've had one for a while (we hope), has it bothered you? There's been only one time when this blogger lamented the lack: the DVD player had been unhooked temporarily in order to offer up the progressive scan inputs* for Metroid Prime 3 (y'know, when we bought this television years ago, we thought the bank of connections on the back looked like more than we'd ever use), and we didn't feel like unhooking anything or putting the DVD into another game system due to the unwieldy DVD controls. For a moment, we discussed how convenient it would be if the Wii featured DVD playback -- after all, it's got a built-in remote! -- but it was a fleeting wish, and changing out the hookups isn't much of a problem. Beyond that single time, we've never even thought about the Wii lacking DVD playback.Have you ever wanted to shove a DVD in there, for whatever reason? *Yes, yes, we could get a switch, but it's rare when we really need all the connections at once ... it was really just the one time! Perhaps it's a sign of changing times, however ....
Rotel unveils pricey 1080p upcoverting RDV-1093 DVD player
For the person who just has to have everything, or is willing to spend more money to stick with DVD than cave in and buy two separate high definition players (or not), Rotel has announced the forthcoming RVD-1093 upscaling DVD player. The high-end boutique has cranked out yet another snazzy looking standalone flagship device, which touts 1080p upcoverting, a built-in scaler, HDMI, component / S-Video / composite outputs, and silkly smooth progressive scan playback. Additionally, the device plays nice with recordable discs, SVCDs, JPEGs, MP3 / WMA CDs, and even the lost-but-not-forgotten DVD-Audio format. To somewhat justify the lofty pricetag, the company points to its "switching power supply" which reportedly touts "an advanced pulse circuit and individually regulated supply stages to generate optimal voltages," and also boasts about the wideband DA converters, "Adaptive Geometrical Chroma Mapping," optical / coaxial digital audio outs, NTSC / PAL-compatibility, RS-232 interface, and discrete IR commands. We're still not entirely convinced this player is worth the $1,499 asking price, especially considering the forthcoming price drops in the Blu-ray arena, but those still interested can pick one up sometime this quarter.
Xploder HDTV Movie Player for PS2 converts DVDs to...EDTV?
We're not quite sure what is so HD about 480p upconverted DVDs, but Xploder has followed up its HDTV Game Player for PS2 announcement with the the HDTV Movie Player for PS2. While we took the news that a set of component cables and a memory card setting could suddenly improve the resolution of your Playstation 2 games beyond their original capabilities with a grain of salt, this is even more confusing. Every Playstation 2 since the SPCH-50000 revision three years ago is capable of progressive scan 480p DVD playback when equipped with component cables already. That makes this product totally unnecessary for many owners, and of course we have to question if it will work properly with older model PS2's that didn't support 480p for movies, only for gaming.I remember trading in my PS2 immediately in 2003 when the SPCH-5000 came out for progressive scan DVD support, you can check the model # to see if yours is supported, or just look at the front. If it is missing the FireWire port you should be all set for 480p with the right cables and a change of a setting. With all the attention the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 are giving to the HD Era, this may be an unfortunate grab to turn some of that attention into sales of unneeded stopgap hardware.
De-interlacing demystified
This site is targeted towards people looking for information on video compression, but their information on de-interlacing, how it works and the various challenges faced can give you a lot of information on what your TV or media player is doing when upconverting content. If you can't understand why some people get so up in arms over the 1080p-or-not debate, or why SD content can look so bad on your brand new HDTV, take a look and be educated. There are a lot of ways to get around resizing and upconverting content, and some are better than others (blending fields, adaptive, bob, bob and weave or progressive scan, motion compensation or motion adaptive just to name a few).[Via DV Guru]
