Upconvert DVD player? (worth the purchase?)

[toddjb]

So, I've always been happy with my Sony Progressive scan player that I've had for a few years. Good remote, nice menus, fine picture.

Now, for less than $100 at Best Buy I can get a good name Upconvert DVD player (Sony, LG, Philips, Samsung...Yamaha for a bit more).

Is it worth it or should I sit tight until someone decides if HD-DVD or Blu-Ray is going to be the new standard?

I really had no issues with my player until I got Dish HD. Now I certainly notice that certain broadcasts are crisper than my DVD movies. So, I wasn't sure if I'd noticed the same crisp clarity if I upconverted, or if its only a marginal difference.

Thanks!

(and, if you're recommending the upconvert, do you have a brand preference? I don't. The Sony worked fine for me, the Yamaha would match my Receiver, the LG looks pretty, etc....)

 

[VinceT3]

my answer (I have both) is don't bother, just get a high def dvd player (you choose, I went with HD-DVD).. the upconverted doesn't impress me in the least.. most tv's upconvert anyway..

 

[ericha]

my answer (I have both) is don't bother, just get a high def dvd player (you choose, I went with HD-DVD).. the upconverted doesn't impress me in the least.. most tv's upconvert anyway..

Vince makes a key point--that an HDTV will upconvert a Standard Defintiion input. The only advantage to an upconverting DVD player is that it has a chance to do a better job of doing the upconverting, especially for material that was originally shot on film (at 24 frames per second). Buried in the MPEG program stream is some extra information that can let a DVD player figure out where in the sequence of frames the picture is--the sequence being caused by the conversion from 24 fps to 30 fps.

This conversion process can be better in the DVD player, but only if the manufacturer has done an excellent job (I've heard that players that have Faroujda DCD-i usually do this excellent job). Even then, I expect the improvement to be fairly subtle.

 

[Jhon69]

So, I've always been happy with my Sony Progressive scan player that I've had for a few years. Good remote, nice menus, fine picture.

Now, for less than $100 at Best Buy I can get a good name Upconvert DVD player (Sony, LG, Philips, Samsung...Yamaha for a bit more).

Is it worth it or should I sit tight until someone decides if HD-DVD or Blu-Ray is going to be the new standard?

I really had no issues with my player until I got Dish HD. Now I certainly notice that certain broadcasts are crisper than my DVD movies. So, I wasn't sure if I'd noticed the same crisp clarity if I upconverted, or if its only a marginal difference.

Thanks!

(and, if you're recommending the upconvert, do you have a brand preference? I don't. The Sony worked fine for me, the Yamaha would match my Receiver, the LG looks pretty, etc....)

Is your HDTV 1080p?.That to me would be the only reason to go with Blue Ray or
HD-DVD because that IS your only source for 1080p.At $30 a pop for HDDVD's the
cost can outweigh the means.To preserve the DVDs you have a upconvert DVD player does help to keep costs down until 1080p becomes the standard.

 

[toddjb]

Yup, its 1080p, but I rent a lot more DVDs than I buy. So, until there is a standard and the DVD rentals are in HD or Blue-Ray, there's no point in me buying one of those players I guess.

Main thing was if it really crisps up my standard DVDs more than Progressive Scan I'd buy one, but it sounds like its marginal at best.

Thanks again for the feedback!

 

[navychop]

Yes, marginal. Your TV probably does quite well, probably better than a low end upconverting DVD player.

By the end of the year, we MIGHT know which high definition disc format is the winner. No need to hash that out here. And maybe next year sometime player prices will start to come down, opening up a lot of higher quality rental possibilities. They you'll have a high definition disc player that will no doubt do a good job upconverting. But probably your TV will still do just about as good a job upconverting.

 

[VinceT3]

Yup, its 1080p, but I rent a lot more DVDs than I buy. So, until there is a standard and the DVD rentals are in HD or Blue-Ray, there's no point in me buying one of those players I guess.

Main thing was if it really crisps up my standard DVDs more than Progressive Scan I'd buy one, but it sounds like its marginal at best.

Thanks again for the feedback!

I've been tempted to try GameznFlix.com, they offer blu-ray & hd-dvd rentals.. as well as dvds and every game system out there..

 

[Jhon69]

Yup, its 1080p, but I rent a lot more DVDs than I buy. So, until there is a standard and the DVD rentals are in HD or Blue-Ray, there's no point in me buying one of those players I guess.

Main thing was if it really crisps up my standard DVDs more than Progressive Scan I'd buy one, but it sounds like its marginal at best.

Thanks again for the feedback!

My son bought a Sony 50"SXRD LCOS 1080p display HDRPTV.He also got the Sony
upconvert 5 disc changer AM/FM 5.1 1000 watt Home Theater with speakers.We had to get 1 HDMI 6' cable from WalMart and we were good to go(speakers came with wire).We were watching Armageddon on it and it even had me crying"Houston"!!!.