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upconverting dvd player

acheron

acheron

Diamond Member
I am planning on a new TV soon. Right now leaning towards one of the Panasonic Viera S1 plasmas, either 42" or 46", but I'm also considering a Sharp or Samsung LCD, about the same size. They're all 1080p sets.

I have a DVD player that's a few years old. It does have component out. Is that going to look 'good enough'? (I know that's a bit subjective.) Are upconverting DVD players worth it? I wouldn't go really high end, so just a decent/average player.

I guess one answer is "get the TV and hook up the current DVD and see how I like it first", so yes, I'd do that before getting anything new. Just wondering what your opinions are.

(Not going to do Bluray.)
 
Originally posted by: acheron
Originally posted by: BlahBlahYouToo
just get bluray.
Click to expand...

That doesn't help the several shelves of DVDs I already have.
Click to expand...

Sure it does

I agree with him. The blu-ray player would be your upconverter and it will position you so you can buy HD movies in the future.
 
My PS2 on component cables is "good enough" on the sharp aquos lc-42d65u. Not so bad that I consider replacing it. Blu-ray shortly and that'll take over dvd duty, but for now its plenty.
 
(Not going to do Bluray.)
Click to expand...
Why not? Blu-ray has richer colors and 6x the resolution. Netflix only charges an extra $1-5 a month to add blu-ray rentals and they have almost every title in print.



You could always get a PS3 from Sonystyle.com for $300 (after $100 credit for a Sony/Chase CC) and play a few games with it too. It has very good upscaling of DVDs.
 
Originally posted by: DaveSimmons
(Not going to do Bluray.)
Click to expand...
Why not? Blu-ray has richer colors and 6x the resolution. Netflix only charges an extra $1-5 a month to add blu-ray rentals and they have almost every title in print.



You could always get a PS3 from Sonystyle.com for $300 (after $100 credit for a Sony/Chase CC) and play a few games with it too. It has very good upscaling of DVDs.
Click to expand...

That's what I did. I was lucky enough to order it when they had a promotion for free shipping and a free second controller, so all that only cost $325 after tax. I use it as my upconverting DVD player, Blu-Ray player, and game console, and it works great.

I will mention two negatives of the PS3 as a BD player compared to other BD players. It comes without an IR receiver. I originally spent $12 on the Nyko Bluwave USB IR receiver and used it for a year, but it had very limited control over the PS3. I then wound up spending $63 on an IR-to-bluetooth converter (IR4PS3) in order to perfectly integrate my Harmony remote with the system.

The other negative is the lack of analog outputs. If you do not have an HDMI receiver (like me) but want to play the better HD sound tracks from BD, then you're out of luck with the PS3. Many other BD players can decode the HD sound tracks and then send them over multi-channel analog outputs, for which most/all receivers will have inputs.

Those two issues are probably moot for the OP, but I wanted to point them out so that he can make a well-informed decision.
 
Upconverting HDMI DVD players: Fact vs. fiction

A good read, I think.

3. Which has more impact on image quality, my DVD player or my TV?
This is where things get interesting. Here's the problem: Your TV is also equipped with video-processing chips that deinterlace and scale images. And sometimes, particularly with higher-end sets, the TV's internal processing does a better job than your DVD player.

There tends to be less variance with scaling (most TVs do it well enough) but some sets are blessed with better deinterlacing skills than others. For instance, you'll potentially see more of a benefit from letting your basic sub-$80 upconverting DVD player do the video processing if you own more of a budget brand set such as a Vizio or Insignia. However, if you own a higher-end HDTV with good standard-def processing, you'll want your TV to do the work--unless you have a high-end upconverting player (the Toshiba HD-A2 or HD-A3 HD DVD players don't qualify--sorry).
Click to expand...

Y'know, one thing I've never tried is turning off the upscaling on my PS3 (and letting my TV upscale) and comparing DVD images on my TV. Maybe when I get home tonight.

While I can certainly appreciate your not wanting to replace hundreds of DVD's with Blu-Rays, why limit yourself? You don't have to replace what you already own, but you can buy new movies on Blu-Ray.
 
Originally posted by: tk149
Upconverting HDMI DVD players: Fact vs. fiction

A good read, I think.

3. Which has more impact on image quality, my DVD player or my TV?
This is where things get interesting. Here's the problem: Your TV is also equipped with video-processing chips that deinterlace and scale images. And sometimes, particularly with higher-end sets, the TV's internal processing does a better job than your DVD player.

There tends to be less variance with scaling (most TVs do it well enough) but some sets are blessed with better deinterlacing skills than others. For instance, you'll potentially see more of a benefit from letting your basic sub-$80 upconverting DVD player do the video processing if you own more of a budget brand set such as a Vizio or Insignia. However, if you own a higher-end HDTV with good standard-def processing, you'll want your TV to do the work--unless you have a high-end upconverting player (the Toshiba HD-A2 or HD-A3 HD DVD players don't qualify--sorry).
Click to expand...

Y'know, one thing I've never tried is turning off the upscaling on my PS3 (and letting my TV upscale) and comparing DVD images on my TV. Maybe when I get home tonight.

While I can certainly appreciate your not wanting to replace hundreds of DVD's with Blu-Rays, why limit yourself? You don't have to replace what you already own, but you can buy new movies on Blu-Ray.
Click to expand...

Note that a PS3 will not pass 480i over an HDMI cable. Therefore, it'll still do the deinterlacing. I turned off the upconverting on mine, and I think I can notice a positive improvement in PQ. I'd like to try out some component cables and 480i, but I haven't gotten around to it yet. It would also be a pain to have one activity on my Harmony remote for DVDs and another for BD/games.
 
Originally posted by: kalrith
Originally posted by: tk149
Upconverting HDMI DVD players: Fact vs. fiction

A good read, I think.

3. Which has more impact on image quality, my DVD player or my TV?
This is where things get interesting. Here's the problem: Your TV is also equipped with video-processing chips that deinterlace and scale images. And sometimes, particularly with higher-end sets, the TV's internal processing does a better job than your DVD player.

There tends to be less variance with scaling (most TVs do it well enough) but some sets are blessed with better deinterlacing skills than others. For instance, you'll potentially see more of a benefit from letting your basic sub-$80 upconverting DVD player do the video processing if you own more of a budget brand set such as a Vizio or Insignia. However, if you own a higher-end HDTV with good standard-def processing, you'll want your TV to do the work--unless you have a high-end upconverting player (the Toshiba HD-A2 or HD-A3 HD DVD players don't qualify--sorry).
Click to expand...

Y'know, one thing I've never tried is turning off the upscaling on my PS3 (and letting my TV upscale) and comparing DVD images on my TV. Maybe when I get home tonight.

While I can certainly appreciate your not wanting to replace hundreds of DVD's with Blu-Rays, why limit yourself? You don't have to replace what you already own, but you can buy new movies on Blu-Ray.
Click to expand...

Note that a PS3 will not pass 480i over an HDMI cable. Therefore, it'll still do the deinterlacing. I turned off the upconverting on mine, and I think I can notice a positive improvement in PQ. I'd like to try out some component cables and 480i, but I haven't gotten around to it yet. It would also be a pain to have one activity on my Harmony remote for DVDs and another for BD/games.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info, you just saved me a couple minutes of complete confusion and completely useless testing. I don't think I even have a component cable.
 
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