Scart to HDMI upscaler - worth it?

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ITSMILNER
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PostScart to HDMI upscaler - worth it?
by ITSMILNER » Wed Mar 11, 2015 10:51 pm

So i'm want to get my gamecube and original Xbox hooked up to my HD ready TV. I've tried component cables and the results have not been great so i'm now looking at getting one of this scart to HD upscalers:convertor

Are they any good? Is the picture quality much improved?

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Andrew Mills
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PostRe: Scart to HDMI upscaler - worth it?
by Andrew Mills » Sat Mar 14, 2015 12:16 am

I wouldn't go any higher than 720p. I've got a component to HDMI upscaler that does 720 and 1080p. Even with an RGB signal, 1080p is too much.

Samples I captured are below:

480p to 720p


480p to 1080p

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Green Gecko
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PostRe: Scart to HDMI upscaler - worth it?
by Green Gecko » Tue Mar 17, 2015 1:14 am

Is it really better than getting a component cable for GameCube?

I don't really "get" SD upscaling. Is all it doing some bicubic resampling and sharpening? I don't really see the point of it. Is there something I'm missing? I seem to get a pretty good picture in my view even from composite with some colour and sharpening adjustments. Either that or some HDTVs (and mine is some random Goodmans set my mum gave me!) are markedly better at handling SD signals than others. Mind you, it's only 26 or 28".

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TheTurnipKing
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PostRe: Scart to HDMI upscaler - worth it?
by TheTurnipKing » Tue Mar 17, 2015 7:43 am

Basically.

The problem is that TV's will usually apply specialised filters designed to make SD video look good on your shiny new HD display, which can often have a detrimental effect on old video game outputs. A "Game" mode, if your TV has one, is also supposed to prevent this.

The other benefit, is that you can buy one box, and shove all your old consoles output through it, and be assured of a nice clean image that arrives through HDMI.

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ITSMILNER
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PostScart to HDMI upscaler - worth it?
by ITSMILNER » Tue Mar 17, 2015 7:57 am

I got my RGB cable through the post yesterday and tried it on 2 different HDTV's. The first on was my 55" newer telly in the living room, it looked much better through this so i assume it's automatically doing the upscaling RGB like Turnip mentioned.

I then tried it on my much older (6-7 yea old I think) HD ready (not full 1080) 42" model and it didn't look very good. Is it safe to assume the older telly is not upscaling anything? Would I benefit from a HDMI upscaler box for this telly?

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BID0
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PostRe: Scart to HDMI upscaler - worth it?
by BID0 » Tue Mar 17, 2015 9:57 am

It depends on the TV really. I have a nearly 10 year old HD TV that scales better than modern ones.

As TheTurnipKing suggested, I'd try your TVs game mode and see what the results are.

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TheTurnipKing
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PostRe: Scart to HDMI upscaler - worth it?
by TheTurnipKing » Tue Mar 17, 2015 10:29 am

Analogue support is, i think, something which is apparently dying out in modern TVs.

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hamm sandwich
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PostRe: Scart to HDMI upscaler - worth it?
by hamm sandwich » Tue Mar 17, 2015 12:40 pm

This looks like it might be the best place to ask a cabling question. I was wondering if anyone had any experience of using the HDMI input on the Xbox One? On my tv i have six HDMI cables competing for four sockets and having just remembered that the One has an HDMI in I'm going to try putting my 360 through it so all my Xbox is in one place.

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TheTurnipKing
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PostRe: Scart to HDMI upscaler - worth it?
by TheTurnipKing » Tue Mar 17, 2015 12:59 pm

I believe that's an actual intended use. Should be fine.

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bigcheez2k3
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PostRe: Scart to HDMI upscaler - worth it?
by bigcheez2k3 » Tue Mar 17, 2015 1:42 pm

That's how I'm intending to run my cables when I get a One.

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BID0
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PostRe: Scart to HDMI upscaler - worth it?
by BID0 » Tue Mar 17, 2015 2:09 pm

I would imagine they'll be video/audio lag of some sort from the post processing, so might not be much good for fighters etc that require quick inputs.

It's not a direct pass through is it? I thought the Xbox takes the HDMI input, decodes it, layers it amongst the OS video layers then encodes it.

A HDMI switch would be better, plus you wouldn't have to pay an electric bill to power two consoles at once.


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