To upscale, or not to upscale.

Got to do a compare and contrast yesterday, as it was a chance to see how Casshern Sins from Manga fared on the upscale. It's a very good upscale, looks just as good on the big screen as it does on the CRT, it's only the finest of detail, and the sharpest of edges that suffer from the usual aliasing problems.

But, I did see part 1 on Blu-ray, so compare and contrast. The good thing about the DVD is that it's twelve episodes across three dual layer discs, no extras, with a native PAL conversion courtesy of Siren in R4. There's hardly any colour banding, and compression artefacts are minimal. But the Blu-rays have zero aliasing, no problem at all with fine detail, and the solidity and sharpness of the image, the pop, can't be replicated on DVD, neither can the richness of the colour palette. The Blu-ray is breathtaking, the DVD feels like a photocopy of that.

Also watched the first episode of Devil May Cry, which I only have on DVD. It's good on the CRT, passable upscaled. The NTSC-PAL conversion is an issue, but it's the colour banding and graininess which is amplified by the upscale. It's the same as the CRT, just larger.
 
Sora no Woto a.k.a. Sound of the Sky from Nozomi Ent. God this is one gorgeous anime, and it upscales like a dream. For one thing, Nozomi have given it a progressive transfer, and the animation is smooth as silk. The second thing is that it has a filmic quality to it which means that I can't see any upscaling artefacts at all. The only way to improve it would be a native 1080p Blu-ray release. It looks sweet on a CRT, and even better upscaled.
 
I had a look at an episode of Rumbling Hearts from Revelation yesterday. I wasn't expecting much of this show, and sure enough, the Funimation 'localised' credit sequences are an utter mess. But surprisingly enough the show itself upscales without incident. It's the same on the HD TV as it is on the CRT.
 
/strokes So.Ra.No.Wo.To BDs

I haven't watched KimiNozo for a while though, you might have inspired me to add it to my to watch pile (which is now officially large enough for me to sleep on, but whatever).
 
Gave an episode of MVM's Speedgrapher a spin yesterday, and it's another of the majority where upscaling makes no difference happily enough.

Also found the time to watch Ghost in the Shell: Innocence Music Video Anthology from Beez. There's only an hour of footage on the disc, the main programme is just 35 minutes, so compression artefacts and the like are non existent. Aside from the fact that it is an NTSC-PAL conversion (understandable on a music title where sound is more important), the image is better than the feature film on DVD. There's no macroblocking or colour banding at all. It's worth comparing the opening sequences of both. It looks awesome upscaled, and the DTS sound is sweet.

Ironically, I've had the Blu-ray of Innocence on my to-watch pile since March. Just haven't found the time yet.
 
Some more upscaling examinations yesterday, beginning with Manga's forthcoming Sekirei. Upscaled boobies ahoy! And it isn't that good. Sekirei's an NTSC-PAL conversion, it has a bright, hazy overexposed look to it, and I had issues with ghosting, interlacing, and jaggies around fine detail. I'd much rather watch this on the CRT.

I also caught an episode of Shakugan no Shana from MVM. I expected exactly the same, it's an NTSC-PAL conversion, with a bright, hazy look to it. But it upscales just fine, and it looks just the same on the CRT as it does on the LCD.
 
I had a look at Manga's Black Butler and that upscales just fine, indeed the larger screen brings out more detail, so I'd say it's better.

MVM's Trigun on th eother hand is worse. It doesn't have the best transfer in the first place, with problems with rainbowing and shimmer, which upscaling just amplifies. It is still watchable on the bigger screen though.
 
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