Upscaling to 4K - TV or Bluray player

[dereklane]

I have just ordered a 4k TV (65XD8599) and it comes with a free 4k upscaling blu-ray player (BDP-S6700). Both the TV & player can upscale but which will give the better result?

[Anonymous]

Hi there

Which upscaler is better.  To be frank i dont think you would be able to tell the difference, assuming there is one that is.

Cheers

[Jonnie1266]

Hi dereklane,

I asked this same question a couple of years ago when I bought the X9005A & BDV-N9100W (the latter did not come free however :smileysad:). At the time the clue was in the cost of the product, the cost reflected by the processing power. So being the most expensive item the television was regarded as having the superior upscaling ? To that end I never activate the upscaling on the Blu-ray player and leave it to the television.

With respect to Quinnicus, all things said, he is probably right and it would take a keen eye to 'spot the difference' so to speak.

Regards 

[royabrown]

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@dereklane wrote:

I have just ordered a 4k TV (65XD8599) and it comes with a free 4k upscaling blu-ray player (BDP-S6700). Both the TV & player can upscale but which will give the better result?

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You will find in Settings, Screen, on the BDP-S6700, that your 4K Output setting is Auto 1 (default), Auto 2 or Off.

Auto 1 is a mode that detects a Sony UHD TV, and passes the native signal from the media being played for the TV to upscale.

Auto 2 is a mode that detects any UHD TV, upscales in the BluRay player, and passes the upscaled signal.

Off is a mode that never upscales in the BluRay player.

You will not, annoyingly, find this in either of the manuals you will find at first online on the Sony site for the BDP-S6700 (12 and 13), but if you choose 'view all manuals' there and download the 2.98Mb one, you will get version 11, which does explain these settings 😞

Here is the relevant manual extract:-

[4K Output]

[Auto1]: Outputs 2K (1920 × 1080) video signals during video playback and 4K video signals during photo play when connecting to a Sony 4K-compatible equipment. Outputs 4K video signals during playback of 24p video contents in BD ROMs/DVD ROMs/Data content/ Network content or photo play when connecting to a non-Sony 4K-compatible equipment. This setting does not work for 3D video image playback.

[Auto2]: Automatically outputs 4K/24p video signals when you connect a 4K/24p -compatible equipment and make the appropriate settings in [BD- ROM 24p Output], [DVD-ROM 24p Output], [Data content 24p Output] or [Network content 24p Output] and also outputs 4K/24p photo images when you play 2D photo files.

[Off]: Turns off the function.

NB: If your Sony equipment is not detected when [Auto1] is selected, the setting will have the same effect as [Auto2] setting.

i believe things are unchanged regarding this from the BDP-S6500 I have actually explored this on, though I do now have a BDP-S6700 as well.

The logic of Auto 1, presumably, is that Sony are not going to sell an upscaling BluRay player which, by default, lets somebody else's kit do the upscaling, but that they are actually keen to cede the upscaling to any of their own TVs.

The implication is that even an older Sony TV will be able to upscale at least as well as this up-to-the-minute BluRay player; though Auto 2 and Off are there if you don't trust this assumption.

I had to put my BDP-6500 on Auto 2 to check that my Yamaha soundbar was doing the 4K passthrough that it claimed, when using a Sony Android TV; apart from that consideration, any difference on the TV between Auto 1 and Auto 2 upscaling was undetectable.

As is any difference between Off and Auto 1/2 when using the Samsung TV we now have there, though I leave the BluRay on Auto 2 so as to get my money's worth. Actually, there is no point in a BluRay player upscaling, unless you (or Sony!) think it can upscale better than your TV, but you need the BDP-S6700 over its lesser, or older, brethren for the extra goodies like Bluetooth, maybe 🙂