Should I get a progressive scan DVD player?
 

Right now, I have a Toshiba SD-K610 DVD player. It's okay and rather a bit old, so I wanted to get a newer better DVD player with "Progressive Scan." But, what exactly is Progressive Scan? Will it actually be worth it to buy a DVD player with this ... will it actually improve picture quality, even by a minimal margin?

What kind of TV do you have? If you have an older TV or a TV that cannot do 480p, progressive scan won't help improve the picture quality.

Progressive scan produces a 480p "enhanced definition" picture, which can only be displayed by a digital TV. If you have a standard analog NTSC TV you will have to turn progressive scan off.

The new player may still be superior to the old one, but if your TV is, say, 32" or less you may not be able to discern the difference.

My general advice to people with analog TVs is to wait until after you've upgraded the TV before choosing a new DVD player, as long as the old player is still functioning properly and does everything you need it to do.

RichC

But most dvd players have Progressive Scan as a standard feature nowadays, so if you're looking to replace your dvd player anyway, if you spend above say 50 bucks, odds are you'll get PS whether you want it or not.
But basically, like RDClark said, on an older, analog tv, you won't notice much if any difference. To truly benefit from it, you'd need a newer, digital tv. So don't get a progscan player just because it's progscan, until you get a digital tv; but if you're getting a new player *anyway*, go ahead and get one that's progscan, since you probably won't be paying much if any extra for that feature, and you'll probably upgrade your tv sometime.

Ummm... that's not true. There are plenty of analog CRT TVs that can display progressive. It isn't a digital vs. analog issue.

I was under the impression that the only tvs that could do progressive were digital. What analog tvs can display a progressive signal?

A CRT TV is an analog device but the TV needs to be either an EDTV or HDTV in order to process and display a progressive signal. A ordinary SDTV with component connections will not have the circuitry to display the progressive signal or create one itself.

Any recommendations out there for players at a good price? I'm looking for one as well.

As chipmac says, analog CRT RPTVs can handle progressive images. They have to be EDTVs or HDTVs... but they don't have to be 'digital'.

My own display, a Toshiba 46H84, is one of these.

The display technology -- CRT, plasma, LCD -- isn't the issue. Whether the signal processing is digital or analog is. Progressive scanning requires digital signal processing.

RichC