Merrill

I have a 2 year old Panasonic plasma hdtv. I have an old Samsung DVD/VCR player hooked up via component cable. I want to do netflix DVD's, the picture is not that bad using the current system. If I got a upconverter dvd player and used the HDMI connection will the netflix std dvd's look any better? the cost is only about $100.00 for the Panasonic S54K upconverter.

Thanks for your input,

Merrill

Mr. Salty

Why would Netflix's DVDs look any different from anyone else's DVDs?

Merrill

They would not, just put that in to tell what I would be using the dvd player for

sremick

OPPO is legendary for having the best upconverting DVD players. I'd definitely look into picking one of those up, even if it's used (eBay?) and even if it's still a bit more than the Panasonic.

If your TV is small (under 42") you'd be fine with the 980. However, I sprang for the 983 since I have a 92" screen.

Brian Shannon

Maybe.

Depends on the transfer and the disc. There is no magic upconversion that makes every standard dvd look great.

Merrill

Ok, as always when you do research your decision making gets more complicated. Can someone out there tell me this: If all I want to do at this time is get the best picture on my hdtv from sddvd's and not spend a lot of money, do you upconvert, use a hddvd player or continue to use my old Samsung dvd/vcr unit. My Panasonic 50 inch plasma does a fairly good job, but I thought if I buy a upconverter dvd player and use hdmi it might give me a better picture. It makes no sense to buy a bd player yet, but when the prices come down, and everything is available in Blu-ray it probably will.

sremick

Answer = OPPO.

Define "not a lot of money"? This means different things to different people.

If "under $200", then you can get an OPPO DV-980H for under $150.

If "under $1000" then you can get an OPPO DV-983H for under $360 and it'll be even tons better than the 980.

jonnyquest

@ sremick:
You offer no explanation as to why OPPO is "better" or why a used more expensive OPPO is bettter than a new less expensive Panasonic or Sony or Philips or whatever. Does OPPO perform the magic upconversion that BrianShannon claims does not exist? More substance please.

Spiky

Original Oppos had Faroudja 2310, IIRC, which offers an excellent de-interlacer that jumped them ahead of many competitors, even though the upconversion is only ok. But things are different now, much more upconversion competition. The 983 uses a good ABT processor that should be very, very good. Better than most.

Most of the HD players of any sort had very good upconversion processors, too. And the PS3 does pretty well in software.

The money would have to be defined. You can get a Lumagen or ABT processor for $2500 or more that will definitely improve the quality. But I'm guessing that is not in most people's budget.

sremick

Spiky basically answered it for me. I was merely trying to point the OP in the right direction. One can certainly do any Google search for OPPO reviews and find a wealth of information that goes into far more-detail than I can. Or just spend a few mins searching the AVS Forum.

OPPO is legendary for their upscaling, by just about unanimous decision. The older models are better than most, and the 983 is better than just about anything. People who own both talk about how even the 981 is far-better at upscaling DVDs than modern Blu-Ray players such as the PS3, Panasonic BD50, etc... and the BD50 costs like $600.

davidlynchfan

another perk for the oppo is the region-free capabilites. the panny might or might not,you can check videohelp to find out but the oppo is the sure thing in that regard.

Spiky

Legendary, at a