Samsung Progressive-Scan DVD Player with 720p/1080i Upconverter
Model: DVD-HD931

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....oryId=cat03013

Has anybody checked out this model?

Also, I wonder when other companies (mainly Sony) will come out with similar technology?

Since DVI is not a "standard" as yet it may be some time before others try this. There are many reports of display problems with various displays.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...hlight=Samsung

sony is coming out with one, i saw the prototype yesterday. didnt get to see video quality, but it just look like another sony electronic piece...

i dont know why everyone gets such a boner when a dvd player has a line doubler in it, when every single higher end tv has one as well... its like getting excited because you can run audio out of a cd player optical rather than analog. its the SAME picture, its just being manipulated to be more dots. in the samsung;s case, its actually degrading the picture.

No, it's not. The line doubler in the TV tends to be much worse than the ones in the DVD players (Faroudja FLI2300 chip or Sigma Designs EM8500). Also, the ones in the DVD player handle the scaling before the signal is converted to analog.

The issue with image degredation on the Samsung is with the excessive edge enhancement on the older firmware, and has nothing to do with the scaling.

There is also the advantage of keeping the entire signal digital from dvd to picture with the right set-up.

In regards to the 931 specifically, I don't like it's operation. It seems very slow to execute commands. I definitely prefer the operation of my 4 year old Sony player.

The picture via dvi is excellent. Maybe not exciting to some people. Certainly not as exciting as bi-wiring one's surrounds.

cowanrg the reason some people are getting so excited over thses players is that they interpolate the 480i signal into a higher resolution of 1080i or 720p. This is different than a simple line doubler that turns a 480i signal into a 480p signal. This is where gotapex is correct that a player that line doubles from 480i to 480p is better than letting the TV convert to 480p since the player will have a much better deinterlacing solution than the TV has. These are seperate issues though since one is deinterlacing and one is upconverting the signal.

Many people who've bought the Bravo or Samsung players that upconvert were less than thrilled with the results though and returned them. They found that you only saw a real benefit from DVI on fixed pixel displays like plasma and LCD. With a CRT based TV the results were about the same as a good 480p with a Faroudja chip connected with component cables. IMO hold off until true HDDVD comes out and save the DVI connection for a HD STB.

i understand how they work, i was just simplifying it becuase i didnt want to type it all.

i work with all these pieces. i sell them, and have the opportunity to hook them up side by side to MANY different screens, in all sorts of configurations. and with the samsung specifically, i have. and i think its an awful piece of electronics. i have yet for it to look even equal to a decent denon at the same price.

Sorry I didn't know you understood it since you called upconverting a line doubler which it isn't and I didn't want others to think they were the same thing.