...or what?

You gonna beat us all up?

-THEEK! @ 3 O'clock

Just you, TEK... Just you.

&

-THEEK! [CRAPPING BRICKS IN HD]

Well, it's still early since I hooked this up maybe a half hour ago but I might as well offer my first impressions.

HD-DVD of course looks fantastic.

I was happy to find that load time on an SD disc isn't any longer than on my old player... apparently this is only an issue with HD discs?

As for the upconversion, as I said, it looked great on my set with my old SD player. Now it looks absolutely fantastic. I watched a bit of LOTR and it looks wonderful.

I have not yet switched back and forth between my SD player and the HD player with the same disc playing the same scene (I will borrow a copy of a movie I already have so I can do this test later) so it is hard to say exactly how much better it looks, but it does look darn near HD quality. I'm pretty sure it's far superior to the old picture I was watching but I'll do a blind test with someone later, as stated.

Now I'll enjoy a couple movies tonight before I do any more tests. I just had to take a break from work today to get it hooked up and throw some things on.

^

Congrats... and enjoy!

What model DVD player were you using before? Was it progressive?

I am curious. Does a Superbit DVD look even better upscaled? My A2 does a great job upscaling. I was thinking about picking up a Superbit Dracula to upscale since I dont have the original release and both versions are the same price.

Panasonic A310 DVD player

It wasn't my newest DVD player but it was the one that still worked.

The main difference between a Superbit DVD and a regular DVD is that the Superbits usually have ugly cover art and no extras.

. . . and DTS!! And let's not forget there were a few "Superbit Deluxe" releases, too.

My impression of the Superbit imprint is that perceptible differences are purely on a title-by-title basis. Honestly, though -- if it's a choice between barebones with no DTS and barebones with DTS, and the price is the same -- I'd go with the DTS.

Well, I'm finding some interesting results now as I try more SD discs.

The first one I tried, LOTR, looks fantastic as I said. So did Cars.

12 Monkeys and Bugs Life look terrible. Much worse than on my old system. There is tremendous grain added and I'm not sure why. It is not a subtle thing that only a picky person would notice. It's like watching a SD tv show on your new HD set and DVDs usually look far better than that, at least on my TV via component.

I believe all of these titles are anamorphic, so that isn't it.

I'll mess around a little more today and possibly even try component instead of HDMI to see if the same thing happens.

Anyone with info on this subject from an old thread?

Okay, I put LOTR back in, the same scene I tested with before. Looks terrible, all jaggedy and extra noise. Nothing looks good now from SD.

The only thing I can think of that I changed was I updated the firmware. I'm initializing the system and trying again, then I'll check to make sure I didn't change any settings on my television.

Edit: Yes, I think that was it. I don't know if it was running the firmware update or if I changed another setting on accident, but after initializing, powering down and then back, things look great again. Even A Bug's Life, which was the one I mentioned previously as having problems. Running the firmware update in between tests may not have been the best idea

Thanks for posting this thread.... this is something I have been wondering
about as I wait (at times patiently) to jump into the new formats of dvd.

If you stop short, you can cop a feel.

I am currently using the only HDMI input to my tv for the A2. If I was to add a Blu-Ray player or a PS3 down the road, how could I hook it up since I wouldnt have another HDMI input option?

I believe you can get a switcher box that allows you to plug multiple HDMI's into it and then into the tv. Then you just flip the switch on the box and the other one is hooked up.

Thanks Thor. Ill check into those. I hope they make them with a remote. I can be trying to flick a switch behind my tv everytime i change a format.

Thanks Thor. Ill check into those. I hope they make them with a remote. I cant be trying to flick a switch behind my tv everytime i change a format.

Update: I found a switcher that converts 1 input into 2. It also switches automatically when it recieves a signal. Well, if I ever jump into Blu-Ray I pick one up. It was only $30.00 on eBay.