ds6161

any good up-converting dvd player reviews??

Chew

http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/cgi-b...h&articles=124

mbs

The Oppo has gotten great reviews here and at Secrets.

But you might also consider picking up the Toshiba HD-A1 HD-DVD player. It's a little over twice the price of the Oppo, but based on reports, it upconverts as good (or better) than the Oppo. And you get access to one of the new formats. For $499 total (versus $200 for the Oppo), it's quite a deal.

mrhan

I actually bought the Oppo and waiting until the dual format (HD-DVD/Blu-Ray) players come out at the end of the year. I can't see investing in a format that may or may not become the standard. The Toshiba may be a good player but do you want to take the chance it might become just a paper weight by next year.

mbs

You are going to be waiting a lot longer than the end of the year (quite possibly forever). While LG announced development of a dual-format player, there are no specifics (target dates, et cetera). In addition, Samsung had to scrap their dual-format player because Sony would not allow them a license for a dual-format player. Most likely the LG product is forever vaporware, as Sony simply won't allow dual format players to be made. And you cannot make a Blu-Ray player without Sony's approval.

Ghery

I'm starting to root for HD-DVD to win this format war...

mrhan

Well, you maybe right but I'm not going to invest in either until there's a clear winner. Besides, the players themselves will be cheaper and better down the road. I will however be buying a PS3 when it is released and own a blu-ray by default. How do you know Sony won't license Blu ray? Do you have some inside info. otherwise that just not true. Either way, I will sit back and wait.

mbs

A Samsung offical stated they dropped their dual-format player because Sony would not allow it.

You may be right that HD-DVD might be obsolete in the future (who knows what will happen to the formats), but if you are looking for an upconverting DVDp and willing to spend $200 on one, I'd argue that the extra $300 will be worthwhile spent toward the Toshiba model, especially since reports are that it upconverts better than the Oppo.

BSTNFAN

But can it also be region free like the Oppo?

mbs

I don't think anyone has found the service menu (yet?). So no, not yet.

mrhan

Well, that maybe so but I personally can't see spending another $300 on something that may be obsolete. I still hope it ends up like the DVD-R/DVD+R battle; no winner except the consumer.

E Unit

I wrote about the Samsung HD 755 in another thread. I got this one really cheap and it plays everything I've thrown at it with no problem at all.

http://forum.dvdtalk.com/showthread.php?t=462920

ds6161

can't find any samsung 755 / 850 or 950 anywhere but e-bay & they are all referbished....

any other up-converting idea's...
I'm not going with HD for at lest a year...too many ??'s & too much $$

E Unit

I found these by Googleing the model. I was also at Fry's yesterday nd they look to have about 30 or so there, all brand new. Of course Fry's always has stuff that's hard to find sometimes.

http://www.nextag.com/Samsung-DVD-HD...RE-PRICES-html

Same here, I am perfectly happy with upconversion until this HD battle reaches some kind of realistic solution that won't have so many of us delaying payment on our electricity or car bill just so we can spend $500+ on a damn player.

ds6161

OK I did some research last night.. today I picked up Sony's DVP-NC85H player..
I have not done any tv setting changes yet..
my tv SONY KDF-E42A10 720P NATIVE
my old dvd player Pioneer DV-525 connected to TV with component R/B/G
I am playing Lotr Two Towers chap 1 Gandalf & Balrog fall...
I don't notice any diff. in picture in 720p / 1280p or 1920i settings.. connected to TV with HDMI
review on the web from diff. sources made it sound like I should notice it...

can anyone sugest another movie??
I will be trying Star wars 3 & 4 next..
thankz for putting up with my posts lately....

John72Tex

You should at least be able to tell a difference in color. I went from a Toshiba DVD player to the Sony DVP-NC85H and marvelled at how vivid the colors were. I am running the resolution at 720P and can tell some difference, especially on newer movies. I have the Sony KDF-E50A10, so we should be getting relatively the same results. Revenge of the Sith looks amazing.

mbs

It depends on the scaler in your TV. If your TV has a good scaler/de-interlacer, you won't notice much difference (if any) with an upconverting player (because your TV automatically upconverts all sources to its native resolution -- 720p in your case).

ds6161

so the diff. will be more in the color range than in the picture (clearity)

also.. with HDMI sound output.. I have a soround 5.1/DTS system
when in 5.1 I get TV sound from the HTMI connection ...
any way to kill it other than setting the TV volume to 0..

thankz

dleedlee

Samsung now has an 860 model. Circuit City carries it.

Vipper II

Is this for real? If so, might you (or anyone) know where I can read a little more about it?

mrhan

http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/vidscale.htm

Vipper II

I just bought this TV yesterday:

Westinghouse

I was looking to possibly get an up-convert DVD player to go along with it. The one I have my eyes on is the Panasonic DVDS52S, which I can get for less than 100 bucks. What pointed me to that one was that it was one of very few that have a DTS converter built in. While my receiver has a DTS decoder, too, I found out that unless the DVD player has one built in, I get no sound from my TV when playing DTS-encoded tracks, just the surround speakers. This happens whether the DVD player is connected to the receiver via coaxial or optical. Whether this is legit is another story; I just know that's what I experienced.

Moving along (albeit very slowly), I guess part of my question has to do with whether I'll notice a difference with the up-convert player. I've been told that if the TV has a good scaler/de-interlacer, up-convert doesn't really matter. Is this true? The Westinghouse supports 1080p through component cables, as indicated by that review, so would its built-in scaler automatically up convert standard DVD, without needing an up-convert player? If not, and I have to get the Panasonic up-convert, by what means should I connect it to get the benefit of up-convert and full surround sound (DD/DTS) where appropriate? Would the component connection work, given my TV, or would the HDMI connection be sufficient?

The reason for my question is that a while back I tried one of the Toshiba up-converts, and when I made use of the HDMI connection, it included the audio, but not in full, 5.1+ surround. But, it didn't have the decoders built in like the Panasonic does. Basically, I just want to make sure that the same thing doesn't happen here. Furthermore, I want to get the best quality across the board as possible. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

mbs

Yes. You'll need to try for yourself. Get an upconverting player from somewhere you can return it and test-drive it on your set.

Yes. Your LCD will ONLY display 1080p. ANY source you feed it (480i from DVD, 720p OTA HDTV) will be scaled to 1080p. This does not mean that an upconverting player would do no good, it depends on the quality of your TV's scaler.

Does the Panasonic upconvert to 1080p or only 1080i? Keep that in mind, even with a 1080i upconverting player (which most on the market are), your TV's de-interlacer will be doing some work (rather than all the deinterlacing being done in the DVDp).

All upconverting DVD players ONLY upconvert over HDMI (or DVI in the case of the Oppo). Thanks to the DVD copy protection (macrovision), upconversion cannot be done over component. You would have to use HDMI.

For sound, use an optical cable to your receiver. You should be able to correct the DTS anamoly you described with some detective work. It should not work the way you said it does.

Vipper II

One more question and then I'm pretty sure I'll be good - will an improvement even be noticeable on a 42", if I choose to get the upconvert player? Thanks again - I really appreciate the info.

mbs

Yes, you would be able to notice a difference on a 42" set (assuming the scaler in the DVDp is better than the TVs). You might hear otherwise, but my eyes say different. I have a 37" set and the difference is quite noticable (I have a JVC LCD and its scaler is less than perfect). My buddy has a 32" LCD and the difference there is also noticable (though less than with my LCD, however, that could be that his TV's scaler is better).