Recommend Upscaling DVD Player

[SoulAssassin]

Friend just finally bought a HDTV and was asking me for a recommendation on a upscaling DVD player. I have a Panny S77 I've been very happy w for a couple years but haven't been keeping track of what's new out there.

Any recommendations for a 1080i upscaling DVD player with HDMI somewhere in the $100 neighborhood or at least not too much over. The S52 seems to be coming in a little under and looks like a decent value.

 

[arcas]

I'll ask a related question... can you really tell the difference between an upscaling DVD player and the upscaling built into a decent HDTV?

 

[cubby1223]

Originally posted by: arcas
I'll ask a related question... can you really tell the difference between an upscaling DVD player and the upscaling built into a decent HDTV?

Yes.

 

[giantpinkbunnyhead]

Originally posted by: cubby1223

Originally posted by: arcas
I'll ask a related question... can you really tell the difference between an upscaling DVD player and the upscaling built into a decent HDTV?

Yes.

Seconded. Generally an upscaling DVD player will do a MUCH better job than the TV will. The DVD player will have specialized chips or programs for DVD's to help interpolate and make educated guesses at what the missing pixels should be; whereas the TV seems more like a simple "fill in the blank with whatever color is next to it" kind of process.

 

[SoulAssassin]

Originally posted by: arcas
I'll ask a related question... can you really tell the difference between an upscaling DVD player and the upscaling built into a decent HDTV?

I can definitely tell the difference when watching a good quality movie. If I throw on Billy Madison it might not be noticeable but put on Return of the King or Star Wars III and it's an absolute improvement.


Now that we have this out of the way, anyone care to answer the original question?

 

[A5]

This one does well, and I trust the testing they do.

They also like this Sony, which is easier to find and just under $100.

Methodology

 

[DBL]

Originally posted by: arcas
I'll ask a related question... can you really tell the difference between an upscaling DVD player and the upscaling built into a decent HDTV?

I've wondered this also. I know people say yes but where are the actual tests which show a real visible picture quality improvement? Its got to be a lot easier to build an upscaling or down scaling algorithm for one TV rather than for every TV.

Also, you can use an app like photoshop to demonstrate small improvements in different interpolation methods (I know it doesn't exactly correlate) that can be noticed so long as you place your eyes a few inches from a printout. But how does that translate in reality when viewing 1 or 2 million pixels at 60 f/sec from an average viewing distance of 10 feet?

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

I honestly don't notice much of a difference feeding 720p from my Panasonic S77 player to my Panasonic AE900U projector vs. giving it 480p and letting it do the scaling itself.

I notice a bigger difference in the original quality of the discs vs. the difference I get from upconverting. Some DVDs just look terrible and others look excellent.

The biggest difference I noticed in something that I could control was getting a calibration disc and getting my colors, contrast, sharpness, etc. dialed in. Getting Digital Video Essentials was the best ~$15 improvement I made to my system. MUCH bigger difference for me vs. the upscaling of my player.

 

[mshan]

Perhaps just wait till you can afford the Oppo 981HD? (around $229 list)

EDIT: what tv are you inputing into? (diagonal and native resolution)

 

[SoulAssassin]

Originally posted by: mshan
Perhaps just wait till you can afford the Oppo 981HD? (around $229 list)

EDIT: what tv are you inputing into? (diagonal and native resolution)

If I was buying a new DVD player now I would definitely get the Oppo but this is for a friend a price is a little more of a concern apparently. He's got a Aquous LC60C46U 46" LCD.

 

[techfuzz]

If you'd looking for something under $100 that has HDMI and does upscaling, the Philips DVP5960/37 is a good choice. You can get it for $54.99 + s/h from the Philip's employee store.

http://www.google.com/search?h...employee+store+Philips

techfuzz

 

[Indolent]

Along these same lines, would there be any benefit to using the oppo 970hd which does 720p/1080i with a 1080p lcd tv?