no wonder, when we played regular dvd, i pointed out to the salesman that the x30 has sharper picture than the ut30. So he immediately went to adjust the ut30, unsuccessfully. so i guess, my observation was right, that playing regular dvd, the x30 performed better.
however, the ut30 has better skin tone renditions.
when i asked my son to point out which has better picture, he pointed to the x30 to the dismay of salesman. He kept on pointing out that the ut30 has better blacks, which i can not differentiate.
It's easier to upscale from 480p (DVD source resolution) to 720p (X30 native resolution) than it is to upscale from 480p to 1080p (UT30 native resolution), assuming that both the 720p and 1080p TVs have similar panels and software generations. It's the big jump from 480p to 1080p that gives the scaling softwares of the TV and the player a harder job.
But it is possible to render a good SD upscale on a Full HD panel. The higher-end NeoPDP/NeoPlasma models, all of which are 1080p native panels, render very good pictures from DVD sources. It's just that Panny doesn't use the good scaling software on the lower-end 1080p plasmas.
question sir barrister - playing a 720p source, will the ut30 perform better than the x30? similarly, playing 1080p source, will the x30 play poorly?
btw, the difference between the x30 and ut30 is about 14-15k. Im trying to see if the price difference is worth it.
There's no way to tell until I actually eyeball the two units in a side-by-side comparison. I can only guess that 1080p and 720p will look similar on both units, but 480p will look better on the X30.
Why? Because it's easier to downscale than to upscale.
On the UT30, a 1080p source looks good since all the TV has to do is render a 1:1 pixel map from the source to the panel; a 720p source looks good because it's a close match to the native resolution; but a 480p source will not look so good because it's a big upward jump to scale it to 1080p.
On the X30, a 480p source looks good because it's a close match to the native resolution; a 720p source looks good because it's an even closer match to the native resolution; and a 1080p source looks good because the downscaling process simply removes unnecessary pixels, making it an easy job for the scaling software.
btw, the difference between the x30 and ut30 is about 14-15k. Im trying to see if the price difference is worth it.
It depends on your requirements.
You have a viewing distance of 8 to 10 feet -- get the X30. You might need the extra resolution if there are times when there are a lot of guests, and some of them need to sit up close to the TV -- get the UT30. You have a lot of SD material --- get the X30. You hardly watch any SD DVD anymore --- get the UT30.
My personal recommendation: X30. The 2012 models provide a big jump in improved tech, so I wouldn't want to spend more than I have to on older tech. P15K is a lot of money. If you buy cheap now, you'll get a better 1080p TV for a smaller price difference the next time you upgrade.
