Muadib
Lifer
- May 30, 2000
- 18,120
- 910
- 126
SlickSnake
Diamond Member
- May 29, 2007
- 5,235
- 2
- 0
Why wait to go high def? Just go buy a cheap Toshiba HD-A2 or higher up to an HD-A35 on Ebay for about $100 and get 20 HD movies or so that you know you will like for $300 total. And you can do even better than that, for the number of HD movies, price wise. I scored 2 HD movies new for $11.37 from the same shipper. Many sellers combine shipping, and that's how you get the best deal. Win 3 or more HD auctions from the same seller, and you get an even better deal shipped! And you won't believe how incredible the upconversion is on the newer HD Toshiba units. Makes the PS3 SD upconversion look poor, by comparison. Many video forums agree with this fact. But some rabid PS3ers who havent seen them upconverting SD DVDs side by side, will disagree, obviously.
And by the way, I own about 800 SD DVDs, and the superb upconversion is one reason I won't sell my HD players anytime soon. Others certainly feel the same way.
When the b00-way prices fall (or IF) you can allways sell the old HD stuff back on Ebay, and most likely make a tidy profit on it. Right now is the best time to build a cheap HD library, while you can still get most HDs new for the price of used. And the selection is excellent. A few months or more down the road, and you will pay a premium for HD disks, as the market dries up, trust me. Anyone selling HDs now, is just losing money. Once you win a few HD auctions of popular titles new for $6 or $7 each shipped, you will believe me.
90 days is only for TVs, computers, projectors, & cameras/camcorders. everything else is unlimited return period.
Blue ray players...the best upconvert (in the sub $900) players is the ps3. And it is not that great.
sony says upconvert? BUY NEW Blue DISK!!!
funny that all of the HD-DVD players were able to upconvert very well.
Sony again demonstrates how they intend to FORCE everyone to spend more for anything with sony on it.
they won....the consumer lost
sony says upconvert? BUY NEW Blue DISK!!!
funny that all of the HD-DVD players were able to upconvert very well.
Sony again demonstrates how they intend to FORCE everyone to spend more for anything with sony on it.
they won....the consumer lost
- Nov 30, 2005
- 50,231
- 118
- 116
I think the upconversion from the PS3 looks pretty darn good, much better than the Samsung upconverter I was using previously.
The only drawback to the PS3 (aside from no IR, which is fixable) is the fact it is freaking ugly.
KT
I think most tests I've seen rate the PS3's upconverting as only marginally worse than the Toshiba HD-A3/HD-A2 level HD-DVD players. Probably identical when not being compared directly. Toshiba's more expensive HD-DVD players upscale noticeably better than the PS3. But the PS3 is no slouch.
I think it is absolutely gorgeous. Obviously this is personal preference, but I really think Sony did a great job on the design. The 360 on the other hand, not so much.
- Nov 30, 2005
- 50,231
- 118
- 116
Agreed...I might not say hideous...but I gotta give Nintendo the nod on most attractive console design.
didn't the ps3 have one problem about stop and resume didn't work? you stop you start back at the menu.
good to here that vi
to the people who said it is ugly.
Sony is talking a new version, external HD and maybe even going back to hardware ps1 and 2 emulation.
That would be something that could get my money.
but still with all my DVD's and I am not going to junk them. I still want BEST upconverter. Nope I am not paying $800 dynon.
to the people who said it is ugly.
Sony is talking a new version, external HD and maybe even going back to hardware ps1 and 2 emulation.
That would be something that could get my money.
but still with all my DVD's and I am not going to junk them. I still want BEST upconverter. Nope I am not paying $800 dynon.
This thread has veered off topic, but I'll keep it on track with my experience.
I picked up a Samsung BDP-1200 recently. This thing was known as one of the worst, most buggy players around, at least when it first came out. Because of that reputation, I was able to get a used one for under $200 shipped.
With the latest firmware (which Samsung frequently releases) I have been very happy with it. Played about a dozen movies, both new and old, without a single problem. This player also has the Silicon Optix Reon upscaling chip, which is basically the best you can get without spending several thousand $$ on an outboard video processor. So all my old DVDs look really really good. I am missing out on Dolby TrueHD and DTS HD/MA soundtracks, but I do get the uncompressed PCM sound that many movies have, as well as the DTS 1.5MB core (which is still excellent).
Moral of my rambling story: Some of the older players can be had for very cheap, and will serve you well for a few years until you can get something significantly better for $200 or so.
I picked up a Samsung BDP-1200 recently. This thing was known as one of the worst, most buggy players around, at least when it first came out. Because of that reputation, I was able to get a used one for under $200 shipped.
With the latest firmware (which Samsung frequently releases) I have been very happy with it. Played about a dozen movies, both new and old, without a single problem. This player also has the Silicon Optix Reon upscaling chip, which is basically the best you can get without spending several thousand $$ on an outboard video processor. So all my old DVDs look really really good. I am missing out on Dolby TrueHD and DTS HD/MA soundtracks, but I do get the uncompressed PCM sound that many movies have, as well as the DTS 1.5MB core (which is still excellent).
Moral of my rambling story: Some of the older players can be had for very cheap, and will serve you well for a few years until you can get something significantly better for $200 or so.
ultimatebob
Lifer
- Jul 1, 2001
- 25,134
- 2,450
- 126
I'm curious... do the newer BluRay players still have crummy load times? I'm frustrated with my Sharp Aquos BDHP20U, because the damn thing takes about 40 seconds to start and about another minute to load either a BluRay or DVD disc before it starts playing. My old Sony upconverting DVD player could power up and start a movie in about 1/3rd the time!
All HD players are slow, excluding the PS3... some slower than other, but non will compare to a basic DVD player. If you look at HD DVD side, the 1st gen HD-A1 was just a Pentium4 cpu at around 2.5ghz. The next gen HD-A2 was something like a Celeron at 900mhz. The last gen HD-A3 was a mips processor running at 333mhz. So as the technology got better, they were able to do more (later units were faster) with less horsepower. Blu players are in the same boat. Remember that they have to access much larger discs, with way more bandwidth than what is required of a regular DVD player.
I understand complaining about the first gen units with original firmware, but most units now aren't that bad: my Toshiba HD-A3 and Samsung BDP-1200 both take just under 30 seconds to power on, and roughly 20-30 more to start the disc playing.
I understand complaining about the first gen units with original firmware, but most units now aren't that bad: my Toshiba HD-A3 and Samsung BDP-1200 both take just under 30 seconds to power on, and roughly 20-30 more to start the disc playing.
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