SUPERMANROB

What is a good upconverting DVD player for a good price? Fry's Electronics has what I think is a decent one: Panasonic S52 for under a hundred by 30. Anyone have any experience with this player? how is it? is there a better one at that price or close to it?
thanks for any help on this

P.S. it says it upconverts to 720P/1080i I'm assuming thats for all SD DVD's ? How well does it do that and is there a big difference to a progressive one?

Trippin315

I have a Sammy DVD-HD850 and I have 0 problems with it. it was 120 a year ago.

SoSpacey

newer TVs can sometimes do upconversion better than the dvd player can.

i only bought an upconverting DVD player because i needed a dvd player.

i have a sony.

jonw9

There are a couple of threads already:
http://forum.dvdtalk.com/showthread.php?t=487577

I am still on the fence. I am trying to decide between one from BB (gift cards), an Oppo, or just getting the 360 add-on.

im_ryandick

i just got the DVD-HD860 and a monster 800 HDMI cable.

i seriously see no difference. i've changed the dvd settings to 720p and progressive, and nothing. what am i doing wrong?

the picture is output into a 50 samsung DLP purchased about three months ago.

SoSpacey

did you have a dvd player on that tv before you switched to the 860?

mzupeman2

For some people it makes a difference, for others it doesn't. Upscaling doesn't obviously improve the physical image quality, it just does what it can to display at your screens native resolution by filling in some blanks, giving you a little bit of a sharper looking image with some more vibrant colors. In many cases, many won't see enough of a difference to car.

im_ryandick

yea, i did. it was a panasonic dvd recorder, the first model. i don't know the number itself.
it was just running through a composite connection.

however, now i don't care.
yesterday i went to go watch the first disc of harvey birdman season one on the 860, and the sound wasnt working at all. i checked the hdmi connection, but since it's one cable and the video was working, it's not that. the settings on the dvd player were all the same.

what the hell is going on?

SoSpacey

is your dvd player connected directly to your tv or to your receiver?

im_ryandick

directly into the one hdmi port my tv has.

Chew

I can recommend any of the Oppo line. It made a pretty huge difference for me (YMMV), it's the best picture quality I've ever gotten out of a DVD player.

SoSpacey

you got me. i was going to tell you to check the dvd player settings to see if it is set to output audio over hdmi but it seems like you did that already.

have you searched over at avs forums?

Mr. Cinema

I own the new Oppo 981 player. It's excellent, and region free. Not quite as good as the Toshiba HD-A1, but it is only around $230.

im_ryandick

it's obviously the hdmi cable.
i'm SO happy.
i need a longer cable anyway, so this is a good reason. yessss.

JACOB

I have both the oppo 971 and the HD add on (360) and the HD add on does a much better job.

Jacob

Pistol Pete

I'm waiting on an Oppo 970HD to arrive. It is one of my few options since my TV only has component inputs. And I have to flash it with a modified firmware to allow upconvert on commercial DVDs. I'll let you know next week how it went.

jonw9

What kind of set are you using this on? I heard Oppo doesn't recommend this unit for DLP sets, and I was wondering if you were having any issues with macro-blocking.

Mr. Cinema

I use it with a Sony 30" 16:9 CRT. Pic looks fine to me. I think the 970 is probably better suited for DLP sets and it's only $149, yet still offers SACD support and it's also region free.

Pistol Pete

I installed my Oppo 970 last night. The process was wire it into the rack, converge the image on the RPTV, test playback with a CSS-stripped disc, then flash the hacked firmware for component output on CSS discs. As a bonus my 4:3 HDTV has independent convergence controls for the HD input. This allowed me to configure the HD input as a 16:9 image. The 480i/p SD input is still 4:3.

The difference between the Oppo 970HD and the previous Toshiba 4950 is like night and day. The Oppo's image is nothing short of spectacular. I can highly recommend it for analog-only HDTV's.

SUPERMANROB

Ok I bought the 360 add-on,Panny's s52 and the Sammy's 860. At this point I'm just looking for something to hold me over and the add-on did fine for HD-DVD's. now the other two Iwant for SD-DVD's. first of all for FYI, the add-on for SD was very bad. after trying a few dvd's on both the Panny and Sammy, we are going to keep the Panny.
The Panny seemed the put out a better picture but I think it would come down to your preference. hard to explain but the Panny seemed to be "harsher" but had more detail and the color was better. with the Sammy it was very soft(fuzzy), to soft for us and did not have the detail the Panny did. I tried both 720P and 1080i and we liked the 1080i better on both. Thought of trying a Sont, I think it was ...75(with was $149) or a Denon one at C/C for $149...didn't get the model number. But we didnt want to spend that much, since we got the Panny for $69 and the Sammy for $79.
just my two-cents here.
P.S. she really liked the add-on for HD-DVD and does not want to take that back .

yashan

Slightly off topic...

My HDTV (Samsung LN-S4692D) has a native resolution of 1366(H) x 768(V). What resolution should I output from my Oppo 981 DVD player? I obviously can't use 1080p (yet ) so is it 720p or 1080i? I want to set the right output resolution before running the calibration routines. Thanks.

steebo777

Oppo 981 without a doubt. Unless you're using a plasma/dlp, which I would then say the Oppo 970 since the 981 has macroblocking on some sets.

gimmepilotwings

Depending on what my budget is like, (after buying a receiver and speakers) I may buy an Oppo 970. I have a DLP set, so I can't use the 981.

jonw9

I wanted the Faroudja chip, but apparently that is the cause of the macroblocking.
I am just waiting for wife approval before ordering the 970HD. I keep delaying in hopes of a 1080p unit w/o the macro blocking issue.

jonw9

What is all of this stuff? Is it standard, or something with the Oppo? What is a CSS-stripped disc? I am ordering mine next week (970)! Thanks !