I have to look no further for an HD provider.

[DarrellP]

I received my Neodigits upconverting DVD player today and it is awesome! I played The Fifth Element Superbit as my first test disc and it was almost indistinguishable from a broadcast HD movie. Incredible!! Plus the sound was much more dynamic than I've ever heard before. I had rafters rattling that I'd only heard when running an LFE test disc.

No dilemma for HD here, I am going to get a Netflix or BB DVD subscription.

 

[richard_rd]

DarrellP,

I assume your Projector has a built in scaler that will convert the 480i/480p from your old standard DVD player to 720p. So what you are saying is the scaler/interlacer in the Neodigits DVD player is alot better then the scaler/interlacer in your projector (what kind of projector and scaler is it).

My projector has a Fujuna Scaler in it that is already supposed to be one of the best, do you think i would notice the differance. Is there any way you could post a digital picture of the output of the same frame of a movie using the Projectors scaler/old dvd player and the 720p directly from your new DVD/projector.

Also if you use a standard non superbit DVD title do you still notice the same dramatic differance, Thanx in advance for any input!!!

 

[vurbano]

I received my Neodigits upconverting DVD player today and it is awesome! I played The Fifth Element Superbit as my first test disc and it was almost indistinguishable from a broadcast HD movie. Incredible!! Plus the sound was much more dynamic than I've ever heard before. I had rafters rattling that I'd only heard when running an LFE test disc.

No dilemma for HD here, I am going to get a Netflix or BB DVD subscription.

DarrellP,

You can get 1080i or 1080p over component for commercial copy protected titles? Are you running component cables?

 

[John Kotches]

DarrellP says:

I received my Neodigits upconverting DVD player today and it is awesome! I played The Fifth Element Superbit as my first test disc and it was almost indistinguishable from a broadcast HD movie. Incredible!! Plus the sound was much more dynamic than I've ever heard before. I had rafters rattling that I'd only heard when running an LFE test disc.

No dilemma for HD here, I am going to get a Netflix or BB DVD subscription.

A lot of people get initially revved up when they see scaled DVD for the first time, then they go back to HDTV and realize that they're still missing a ton of detail that the scaled DVD simply can't put back into the image.

Yes, it can look better than straight SD out but to say that it looks as good as broadcast HD indicates overenthusiasm.

As far as soundtracks go, I'd say you were listening to the DTS soundtrack, which has heightened LFE and surround levels vs. the Dolby Digital track.

 

[John Kotches]

vurbano asks:

You can get 1080i or 1080p over component for commercial copy protected titles? Are you running component cables?

Some of the overseas manufacturers ignore DVD forum guidelines and provide scaled outputs over component video. Whether that output is any good or not remains to be seen. As an example, the Bravo D1, which had scaled output over component video, had dramatic rolloff due to poor construction of the analog output stage.

This player might suffer from the same issue. I don't know, I haven't seen it myself.

They are usually better performers via digital out than analog though.

Best,

 

[Bruce]

I have had the Zenith 318 up-converting player for about a year now, and it does a great job, I do find that the picture from it ( up-convert to 1080i ) compares to non-OAR HD movies ( like 2:35 zoomed to fit 16 x 9 ) but HD OAR movies usually always beats out the Zenith.

And this player also does the up-converting via component, no problem with any title.

 

[Sean Mota]

how big of an improvement is over an HTPC? Anyone?

 

[bookwalk]

I received my Neodigits upconverting DVD player today and it is awesome! I played The Fifth Element Superbit as my first test disc and it was almost indistinguishable from a broadcast HD movie. Incredible!! Plus the sound was much more dynamic than I've ever heard before. I had rafters rattling that I'd only heard when running an LFE test disc.

No dilemma for HD here, I am going to get a Netflix or BB DVD subscription.

What type of comparison research did you do before purchasing--how does it compare with the Samsung, etc?

WIll it play HD DVD's when they come out?

Where's the best deal on these, apart from the site you gave--or is that the best deal--I see them on EBAY.

 

[Bruce]

how big of an improvement is over an HTPC? Anyone?

For the Zenith, pretty close to the same for the picture, for the pain in the a*s of using the computer and pissing the wife off because the husband was always tweaking it, a big improvement.

 

[jnardone]

I have the iodata Linkplayer2 DVD player which also upconverts over component. It also plays HD-WMV and HD-Divx files and HD mpg-2 transport streams and a bunch other formats either off a cd or dvd or served wired or wirelessly from my PC. The only thing it can not do yet is the MS DRM on their commercial WM9 HD DVD's and Windows Pro Audio format audio. Both of these are supposed to be fixed in upcoming firmware upgrades.

 

[Sean Mota]

For the Zenith, pretty close to the same for the picture, for the pain in the a*s of using the computer and pissing the wife off because the husband was always tweaking it, a big improvement.

Agreed but for those of us with an HTPC already, makes very little sense to invest on it. I am waiting for the real HD DVD hardware.

 

[Bruce]

Agreed but for those of us with an HTPC already, makes very little sense to invest on it. I am waiting for the real HD DVD hardware.

Well for the $200.00 that the Zenith cost, I brought the HTPC ( Pentium 4-1.8 ) to my business to replace my very old Pentium 2 here, so that saved me a few dollars that way, and the wife is happier, which after 18 years was worth all of that $200.00 dollars .

 

[zombie]

Well for the $200.00 that the Zenith cost, I brought the HTPC ( Pentium 4-1.8 ) to my business to replace my very old Pentium 2 here, so that saved me a few dollars that way, and the wife is happier, which after 18 years was worth all of that $200.00 dollars .

Yeah I've had my zenith since the first run of units. I have no complaints. I do notice upconversion seems to work better on "well" animated programs.. like Disney/Pixar dvd's..

 

[DarrellP]

DarrellP,
I assume your Projector has a built in scaler that will convert the 480i/480p from your old standard DVD player to 720p.

Yes, it does, but it's not all that great.

My projector has a Fujuna Scaler in it that is already supposed to be one of the best, do you think i would notice the differance.

If DVD's already look super on your pj, probably not.

Is there any way you could post a digital picture of the output of the same frame of a movie using the Projectors scaler/old dvd player and the 720p directly from your new DVD/projector.

No, I don't have a high res digital camera, the one I have is SD quality and would not show the difference.

Also if you use a standard non superbit DVD title do you still notice the same dramatic differance, Thanx in advance for any input!!!

Yes. I played a couple of other disc, including some home burned DVD's and there was quite a difference in quality.

You can get 1080i or 1080p over component for commercial copy protected titles? Are you running component cables?

This unit does up to 1080p and will display over component or HDMI. I bought an HDMI to DVI convertor cable and it is just a tad sharper via HDMI.

What type of comparison research did you do before purchasing--how does it compare with the Samsung, etc?

I've been watching the chatter at AVSForum for a couple of years now and those who purchased the previous model had nothing but good things to say about it. This model was just released, I got one of the first units shipped.

WIll it play HD DVD's when they come out?

No, the Chinese developed their own proprietary HD DVD's, I ordered one with the unit, but I think The Fifth Element looked better, the Chinese disc had lots of compression artifacts in the transfer.

Where's the best deal on these, apart from the site you gave--or is that the best deal--I see them on EBAY.

As far as I know, they are only sold online from Neobits. For $199, it's a steal.
You guys know from the Voom forum what a stickler I am on PQ and I give this unit a Thumbs up! :up

 

[richard_rd]

As far as I know, they are only sold online from Neobits. For $199, it's a steal.
You guys know from the Voom forum what a stickler I am on PQ and I give this unit a Thumbs up! :up

Thanks for your reply Darrel, the only additional input i would give people who may be interested in purchasing this model or some other manufactuerers upscaling DVD player is to make sure you buy it from a place that has a 30 day no questions asked return policy. The reason is because the HDTV or HD projector that they already own has the ability to upscale the 480i/p signal from a standard non scaling dvd player to 720p/1080i, and they may find out the the upscaler that is built into their TV/projector is already as good or maybe even better then the one they are getting with the upscaling dvd player. Just would be ashame to waste the mony on a upscaling DVD player if their current equipment already does a decent job of upscaling the DVD's 480i/480p.