Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems 596 scart vs cheap HDMI

I have just got an HDMI Samsung LCD (29") as a handmedown. I also got a cheap Philips DVP5990 (1080i when hooked to the TV). My 596 has only a RGB scart output to connect with.

I tried doing a side by side comparison using The Matrix DVD (standard definition).

It was interesting - in some ways the cheapo Philips HDMI was clearly better. Close ups on faces, flesh tones, hair etc. In other ways it was nto nice - backgrounds blacks/greys looked bad.

The 596 did a great job given it was only on SCART RGB, but I could tell that it wasn't using the best of the LCD capabilities.

Finally, I can see that the LCD I have been gifted is not so good - it is a bit smeary and pixelly here and there. I have hooked up my Virgin HD box and will check out some BBC HD material on it.

I wondered what other peoples experiences of side by side HDMI and Scart was - or even cheap but new DVD players vs older M kit?

Andrew

Oh. Anyone here of a mod for the 596 to get HDMI out of it?

No, but I'm pretty certain you're only going to achieve this via an SDI mod and an SDI-to-HDMI converter as posted here.

I wasted a lot of time and money trying to get SDI to work on my 598DS. Couldn't manage to get the SDI card and harness I made to work, and had no way of finding out what the problem was.

After I bought my Oppo (another nightmare-wasting time and money, should have gone to CRT) I had my screen set up properly, and the nice chap who did it for me brought along an SDI DVD player to compare against the Oppo. To be honest there was so little difference (if any) for DVDs between the SDI and the Oppo Source Direct into my scaler that I realised I should never have tried to go down the SDI route in the first place.

Just my ha'pennies worth.

Hi, I have recently got a Sony BD Player ( It was cheap, shop closing) So I tried this exact experiment.
I use very good quality Scarte lead and HDMI Lead.
My Pioneer 50" is a great TV and I am a good distance away 3.5 mtrs ish.
On SD DVD via Sony or 596 I cant see any much differance. The 596 is great and if I find the audio is better, I suspect it will be, I will continue to use it for DVD Music discs.
The 596 cant play Bluray discs as you know but I cant see much improvement even then with Bluray.
Perhaps I would notice more if I had a Bigger screen or sat very close to my TV. But I dont!!
I contend that S vid (F80) and Scart or Component done well is probably better than HDMI done cheaply. Ultimatly Bluray should be better due to the technology but in my circumstance, I am not convinced.
I still wont buy over priced Bluray discs over cheap DVD's unless the content is somthing very special to me. Then I may buy both to give me playing options.
596 is a great CD spinner too. Chris

Hi Chris,
what on earth are you doing to not see a difference when viewing a Bluray disc vs a DVD ? You need some help me thinks

Maybe he's outputting it at 480i? ;-)

Yes Nick. +1 on that. It's night and day even with upconverted DVDs on the Oppo.

Bluray is better, especialy if your close up, but I just dont really see it as that great a deal. I have 1080P set up correctly.
SWMBO asked me, what is the point of Bluray then? I told her that the pic is better, she couldnt see the point.
I have to say we dont watch alot of TV in the Summer so perhaps the winter may change my mind. ALso have I only seen crap discs? time will tell... But on a 50" Pioneer at a distance, I really dont see whats to get excited about.
Content is much more important than percieved pic quality. If the content is right for me, DVD is good enough.
Cheers Chris

"At a distance"? There is a simple formula. If you sit too far away of course you won't see a difference:


You have a buy a TV which matches the layout of your room of you want 1080p.

This matches my experience.

I have a 32" TV and currently watch at between 6' and 12'. I was one of the 400 people involved in the Freeview HD trial about 4 years ago and at the time when my viewing room was different but distances were similar to that I have now.

The BBC tech guys pushed a number of changes, resolution, bitrate etc at us for us to comment on. Some changes were obvious, such as SD/720p/1080i as the box reported these, but others, such as bit rate changes, and upscaled SD or 1080i/p source over 720p and vice versa were invisible to those of who were not monitoring the feed via a third party decoder.

Once in a while, we were informed that some changes had been made and we were asked to comment on what we were viewing. Some changes went unnoticed, so I cannot comment on what changed, but others were obvious, although some only under close inspection, forward of the normal viewing distance.

I would say that, based upon my experience of our 32" LCD TV non FullHD tv, what is now deemed to be a small screen, the graph is pretty accurate.

Good graph Nic. Apparently I need 1440p! (6' wide screen viewed from 7').