Progressive Scan up & running -- any dos and don'ts?

[Dene]

Finally got both a TV and player able to output progressive.

One thing I've noticed is that it must depend on the transfer. I put Jurassic Park (R2) on and it looked pretty grotty. It was better non-progressive. On the other hand, the original Star Wars (again, R2) looked absolutely spiffing.

Any tips, if it's not a stupid question? Definitely have noticed, as I said, that some stuff isn't worth it. Is there some stuff you shouldn't bother with? And is it just film-based material? What about something originally videotape, like a British TV show -- will it be any better or worse?

[anephric]

I'm not sure why Jurassic Park would've looked worse in progressive PAL - is your player one that's capable of outputting progressive PAL or one that transcodes it to progressive NTSC (i.e. 480p)?

Most players will have different modes for dealing with film- and video-based material for progressive. You'll notice the most improvement in picture quality with NTSC material in progressive rather than PAL anyway, because PAL doesn't have the combing artifacts because of 3:2 pulldown which progressive scan was pretty much developed to eliminate.

[Dene]

I'm not sure why Jurassic Park would've looked worse in progressive PAL - is your player one that's capable of outputting progressive PAL or one that transcodes it to progressive NTSC (i.e. 480p)?It's 480p for NTSC material and 576p for PAL.

Having been using it all week now it definitely depends on the transfer. Some DVDs look wonderful, others considerably less so. The UE of Goldfinger is pretty impressive, for instance.

And absolutely, it makes the biggest difference with NTSC. I rewatched the R1 An American Werewolf in London and thought it looked great, with a lovely film grain look -- it was almost like watching it in the pics.

[chris21]

Is progressive an option you have to enable? Or as long as the TV and DVD player have it is it a given?