Help me pick a DVD player for my budget Home Theater system

[HomeAppraiser]

We just bought this Sony HT-DDW900 Home Theater receiver with 5.1-channel speaker system for $198.

The 30? wide CRT TV 30HF85 Specs say Accepts 480i, 480p, 720p, and 1080i inputs; one HDMI input; Cinema Mode 3:2 pulldown reversal corrects frame rate for film-based sources; and CrystalScan HDSC upconverts all signals to 1080i or progressive-scan 540p resolution <so is this EDTV?

Looks like I don?t need an upconverting DVD player if the TV already does that. Optical sound output to the receiver is needed since the HDMI will be linked to the TV. I mainly want to take advantage of the 3:2 pulldown and HDMI on the TV without spending too much.

 

[mchammer]

My understanding is the DVD player handles the 3:2 pulldown and outputs 60fps to the TV. I don't know why a TV would need 3:2 pulldown built in, where would it get a 24fps source from?

 

[HomeAppraiser]

I am not sure, I just did a copy and paste of the specs from the Amazon listing. Correction on the specs there is only 1 HDMI input on the back of the TV.

 

[mrrman]

TVs dont upconvert DVD's, you need a player for that

 

[Mrvile]

Originally posted by: mrrman
TVs dont upconvert DVD's, you need a player for that

True but most cheapish (~$100) DVD players have HD upconversion.

 

[jst0ney]

My dad is a home theater hobbyist, who actually has a ton of knowledge in the field. According to him this is the player to get. Its a little over budget, at $148 but apparently people that have $150K home theaters are using this player. I've only seen one movie, Ronan upconverted to 720p, and it looked great.

 

[HomeAppraiser]

Heck I don't know. Here is the full speel on it:

CrystalScan HDSC? upconverts all video signals (including 480i/p) to 1080i HD on CRT based models, resulting in a significant reduction in jagged line artifacts. Selectable 540p, for users who want to display a progressive scan image from a progressive scan source, is vailable via the on-screen menu.

Cinema Mode (3:2 Pulldown) virtually eliminates the possibility of errors or artifacts that can be caused by the process of transferring film to video. The Cinema Mode circuitry identifies original film-based content from DVDs. The 3:2 pulldown process is a method to map the 24 frames per second that are captured during film production onto the 30 frames per second of a 525 line TV system. If film-based content is sensed by the circuitry, it reassembles the frame sequence to more accurately reproduce the original 24 frame film-based material.

* Benefit: The system has Film and Video settings. When Video mode is selected, the circuitry is turned off. When Film mode is selected, it is in automatic mode.

So do I NEED a DVD player with HD upconversion or not?

Edit TV specs are 1080i / 540p so is this EDTV?

 

[DaveSimmons]

My Samsung DLP did a great job of upconverting 480i over even just s-video before I upgraded to an unconverting player. The difference was not huge, so I'd say if you already have a DVD player with s-video or component outs, just try that first before spending the money.

 

[HomeAppraiser]

Thanks Dave.

Our old DVD player was a Sanyo all in one Home Theater in a Box that lasted two years from the day it was purchased. This new Sony has a "real" powered sub-woofer and sounds much better. No more all in ones for me. Other than that we just have a pre-1999 DVD player that was tossed in the garage. I am hoping that direct HDMI from the DVD to the TV will give the best 1080i or 540p picture for movies. And I will also need optical sound output to the receiver. I am unsure on the 3:2 pulldown, but it sounds like an upconverting DVD player will not benifit a tv like mine with only 1080i / 540p.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

480p is ED, Looks like you have a real 1080i set which is HD.

The oppo units are good players to get.

 

[daveymark]

fyi, the HDMI on that sony reciever is only a passthrough for the video, not the audio, so it's kind of a waste. You'll still need a cable for the audio, so it defeats the purpose

I was going to go with the same sony system, ended up going the component route.
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The other issue is how far away you will be sitting from the TV. a 30" TV will only get you so much detail if you're sitting a certain distance away

that said, this player supposedly gets good reviews:

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wait till the 5th to use your 12% off rewardzone coupon

it has digital coax for audio, which your reciever should have

 

[Quasmo]

I would definately get the oppo if I could afford it, but for that price I can buy an HD-DVD player for my roommates XBox360. I'm all up in arms!

 

[HomeAppraiser]

Originally posted by: daveymark
fyi, the HDMI on that sony reciever is only a passthrough for the video, not the audio, so it's kind of a waste. You'll still need a cable for the audio, so it defeats the purpose

Yes I was dissappointed to find out that the Sony was HDMI "passthrough" only, so the HDMI will be going direct to the 1080i/540p TV and a the DVD player will also need optical sound output to the receiver.

One reviewer of the TV at NewEgg says "Great tv for the money, not worth it if you have no 1080i sources to watch. So plan on getting a nice upsampling dvd player and whatever hd channels you can." so I don't know if the specs off of Amazon are bunk.

 

[HomeAppraiser]

daveymark so you took the Sony back to walmart? They said I had 90 days to return it, so maybe. When our 2 year old Sanyo HTiB blew just before Christmas we really did not want to spend a lot considering that POS cost $280 two years ago. YOyoYOhowsDAjello and other steered me away from another all in one HTiB and the Sony is a good starter. I'll check out the Philips DVD. Thanks. Any other under $100?

 

[OutHouse]

Im so out of the loop. i have no idea what you guys are talking about with words like HDMI, and unconverted dvd player.

guess in need to start reading and get up to date on these terms.


one quick question. that OPPO player sounds great but i have a samsung EDTV if i get that player will it work on my TV?

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: Citrix
Im so out of the loop. i have no idea what you guys are talking about with words like HDMI, and unconverted dvd player.

guess in need to start reading and get up to date on these terms.


one quick question. that OPPO player sounds great but i have a samsung EDTV if i get that player will it work on my TV?

Yeah it will. It has very good 480p output via HDMI. When I was getting a player a while ago (When I had my Infocus 4805) I got a Panasonic S77 since the oppo 971 (the only one out at the time) had questionable component output.

 

[daveymark]

I took the sony back. I ended up going with a dedicated reciever + 2 speakers and plan to upgrade down the road(buying a sub, center channel, rears, etc). I listed to the polk r50's I thought and they sounded better than the sony system.

I bought the two insignia speakers at best buy because they happen to be on sale. For shiggles I'm going to hook them up as the mains and see how good they perform. They get really good reviews so I'm interested in seeing how they work. I'll use one of them as a center channel once a deal on a sub comes along.

I only bought the sony system because I thought it was a good deal. then I saw amazon selling it for $249 shipped, and at CC I could have bought it for $215 After coupon, and so I changed my mind.

 

[HomeAppraiser]

Morning BUMP. I found this for $89 at CC. Will go (100 miles to the nearest CC) and check it out this weekend. Any others to consider under $100?

 

[TeeJay1952]

CC
Philips 5960
HDMI
USB
PAL\NTSC
Xvid
$80
Watching Dexter, all 12 episodes, 1 DVD (rewriteable) or could play it from USB hard drive.

 

[DaveSimmons]

If you get a player that doesn't include a HDMI or component cables, don't buy a $50 cable locally. You can get good cables for $10-15 plus shipping from monoprice.com

 

[TheCanuck]

Hookup an HTPC / computer you don't use much (semi-powerful though) and run ffdshow. The results are considerably better than what you'll get with even the best upconverting DVD player:

Ffdshow examples

 

[FlashG]

Ask for a refurbished oppo. Mine was about $119 + shipping in new box with a warranty.
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[HomeAppraiser]

Right now it is the $69.99 AR Panasonic DVDS52K which upconverts to 1080i, the Philips DVP5960 while also attractivly priced at $69.99 does not upconvert nor does it have the Digital optical output. I DO have an Athlon 64 3000+ with a dead hard drive that I need to bring back to life and it has a PNY FX5700 Cinema video card with cable tuner and remote!

Another stupid question: The 3:2 pulldown, does the TV or the DVD player do this?

 

[TheCanuck]

While the upconverting DVD route is easier, an HTPC will give you much better results. Here's a review that just compared Purevideo / AVIVO to top of the line DVD players:

Review

Now, that review just compared Nvida's / ATIs decoders, neither of which can give you the quality of ffdshow. But it does take some messing around. But if you do have an Athlon 3000+ system you would get some great results -- I'm just using an Athlon XP @ 2ghz and the results are night and day.