What Is Video Upscaling?
As opposed to upconverting, video upscaling refers to the process whereby a picture may be resized from one set of dimensions to another. Thus, for example, many HDTV capable set-top boxes can “stretch” an SDTV picture that ordinarily fills less than the full HDTV screen to cover the entire viewing area (though the aspect ratio is by necessity reset from 4:3 to 16:9 in the process, and image elements may look stretched, especially in the horizontal dimension) as a result. Some viewers prefer to watch the larger image that results from upscaling, while others prefer to maintain native resolution so as to also maintain native aspect ratios and image appearance. That’s a judgment call that varies from viewer to viewer.
