Difference between "upscale" and "upscan"

[geist]

Because of the way my TV's inputs are laid out I've bought this:

http://www.svideo.com/sv2hdmi.html

There's only one S-video input and one available "video" input (the single yellow video cable type... I can't remember what it's called). The S-video is for my Saturn and Gamecube and the video is for my Genesis. Basically what it comes down to is that if I have the S-video plugged into the TV it will default to that input. Currently, in order to use the video input I have to physically unplug the S-video from the back of the TV which is a major pain in the ass because of the way it's set up.

It seems that this device will solve my problem since it can be kept accessible to switch back and forth between input types and I can plug it into an HDMI port that I have open.

I guess my question is:

Will this make games lag and will it improve the quality of the picture? I have an Sharp Aquos LCD TV if that matters.

Thanks

[Droid party]

I'm not really sure if this will make any kind of improvment. S-video and composite are crappy (on HDTV's) to start with and feeding them through one of those most likely won't change anything. I can only see this as a good thing if you don't have any spare S-video or composite vid inputs but you have a spare HDMI.

You can put lipstick on a pig ,but it's stiil gonna be hog aint it.

[Niode]

All that box does is scales the resolution to a standard 720p input. The picture will still look rubbish though.

Short of splashing a grand on a proper HD upscaler you won't see much of a difference at all (and even then it won't be perfect). I think you're better off just using that money and getting yourself a decent crt TV or something just for playing older generation games on. Even if you get a true upscaler and I mean it would be nothing short of the best upscaler in the world for it to look crystal clear on a hdtv you'll probably be disapointed as the games will look absolutely terrible in comparison to how they looked before on SDTV. You'd be surprised at how much CRTs cover up.

[geist]

I guess I'm really interested in using it as a switch. I was just hoping that it wouldn't cause lag and that maybe if I crossed my fingers it would improve the picture a little.

[Majors]

The XRGB is a good device for what you want from what I hear. It's $300...I do not own one, but a shmup fanboy friend of mine got one so he could play this games w/ scan lines. But I think it would be cheaper for you to get a CRT.