Quantum Leap Video / Anyone else notice...

Is it actually in HD? Or is it just a standard definition image that's being played at 720p/1080p?

I have a few blu-rays where it's just a 480p image that's been stretched to a 1080p resolution with a bit of sharpening and recolouring. The image quality is acceptable, but it's like an upscaled DVD. I watch SLIDERS on my HDTV with Cyberlink PowerDVD's HD upscaling.

The software 'smart-stretches' the 4:3 image into 16:9 by stretching the sides of the picture and zooming in slightly so the image doesn't look distorted. The software also ups the pixel contrast slightly so that edges are more jagged and there's more grain on textures. It creates the illusion of slightly more detail by 'roughening' the picture. And the image has a slightly lower-contrast, not distractingly so, but enough to diminish the flaws in the sharpening. It's not actually HD, though. It's just that playing the DVD without the enhancements would offer a slightly blurrier, pillarboxed image while the enhancements make the video letterboxed and moves it from somewhat inadequate to mostly adequate.

Watching an upscaled SLIDERS on a laptop is a pretty ugly experience, but it looks good if watching it in a living room where you're sitting back from the screen.

Also, it looks good in motion, but the screencaps look ugly. All the jagged edges from the sharpening are just ugly.