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DVD Player Recommendation (Upconvert Type)
This thread has 12 replies. Displaying all posts.
Post 1 made on Monday August 3, 2009 at 18:54
BillFromGI
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Hi folks, I'm shopping for an Upconvert DVD player and am open to recommendations. I have about $125 or so to play with but am willing to spend a little more if it will get me a player that will last a long time and not poop out after 6-12 months. I do not have $250 - $400 to spend on a BR player right now. The TV I'll be hooking this up to is a Dynex 720P resolution with HDMI inputs. The player has to be able to output 720P (I think?). In closing I would like a good reliable player that will work with my Dynex, and if I happen to spring for a 1080P TV in a year or 4 I'd like to be able to force the DVD player into 1080P mode. Thanks in advance guys.. . Bill
Post 2 made on Monday August 3, 2009 at 21:42
OTAHD
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The DVD's are still going to be 480i regardless, so it really doesn't matter what the player outputs. I'd usually recommend not using the upconvert feature as the TV's scalers are usually better than the DVD player's, however in the case of a Dynex TV it's probably going to be a wash.
LET'S GO BUFFALO!!!
Post 3 made on Tuesday August 4, 2009 at 01:13
Daniel Tonks
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Right now with a 720p TV... you're probably not going to see any difference.

A good upscaling DVD player with an excellent chipset CAN massage the image to be better than the upscaler built into most TVs (ie. I find the Sony PS3 looks better than a Sony DVP-NS999ES going into a Pioneer Elite 1080p Kuro), but at the non-BD end of the market a lot of these upscaling players are merely marketing gimmicks.

Which DVD player are you using now?
OP | Post 4 made on Tuesday August 4, 2009 at 08:04
BillFromGI
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Which DVD player are you using now?

I have an old Apex AD-600 that is starting to show its age.

I'm thinking perhaps that I save my money for a BR player? Help! :-)
Post 5 made on Wednesday August 5, 2009 at 08:00
Daniel Tonks
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That's what I would do. Just make sure that when you do get a BD player, it has the type of connections you need to enjoy uncompressed audio on whatever equipment you have now - because the audio is just as big of an improvement as the video.

With BD players dropping quickly in price, you may not have to wait long. You can already buy a low-end one...
OP | Post 6 made on Wednesday August 5, 2009 at 16:18
BillFromGI
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Thanks Dan, that's what I'll do.. .
OP | Post 7 made on Friday January 8, 2010 at 21:21
BillFromGI
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On August 5, 2009 at 08:00, Daniel Tonks said...
With BD players dropping quickly in price, you may not have to wait long. You can already buy a low-end one...

Folks, we "sprung" for a Blu-ray player last week! We purchased the Panasonic DMP-BD60 from Best Buy. Got the player and 2 movies for $150 with tax. What led me to this player was that it can "upconvert" regular DVD's. The BR movies looked fantastic! To my surprise the movies played in 1080i on my 720p Dynex via HDMI. I'm very satisfied with this purchase and am already planning to ask my son if I can "borrow" his Blockbuster card!

The only think lacking is a surround sound system. I'm presently playing audio thru the TV speakers and supplement that with a subwoofer & 2 speakers (old PC speaker setup I had in the garage) connected to the TV audio outputs. Poor-mans "2.1" I guess.. .

Dan, it was worth the wait! Thanks for the advice.. . :-)
Post 8 made on Sunday January 10, 2010 at 19:56
Daniel Tonks
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The only problem playing 1080i through a 720p display is that you end up with multiple progressive/interlated conversions - 1080 progressive to 1080 interlaced then 720 progressive. Technically with proper pulldown detection it shouldn't cause issues, but there's really no benefit to giving your set 1080i versus 720p.

With some cheaper screens there is an actual reason not to do this - as to convert 1080i to 720p they simply discarded one of the fields, resulting in the equivelant of 1280x540 resolution.

If it were one of those 1366x768 screens then there MIGHT be a reason to give it 1080i (for a few more pixels resolution), as long as the built-in scaler works correctly.

And on TV sources, I know with my cable box I do see occasional issues with 720p to 1080i to 1080p.
Post 9 made on Monday January 11, 2010 at 03:11
Mr Griffiths
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my experience of upconverting dvds is very positive i have a panasonic plasma capable of accepting a 1080p 24 frames signal . I previously was watching DVD's on an old but in its time excellent Pioneer DVD 757ai (What Hi-Fi Group Test winner in the April 2003 this was £549.00 at the time) this could output 576p this was connected via component cables which at the time for uk customers was the best res you could get.

I recently dipped my toe in the Blu Ray player water and got a cheap BDP-S360 connected via HDMI this can up convert to 1080p after the usual tweaking of settings i can say the Sony is in a different league in terms of picture quality graphics are noticeably sharper more stable and less edgy , gamma levels are more accurate overall the picture just "pops" in comparison.

This Blu Ray has filled me with joy at what great picture you get but also sadness as in the past decent performing products always cost a premium (which as an enthusiast i was willing to pay)and pushed manufacturers to make quality kit now people expect things too cheap and this stops development due to risky R&D and returns on the investment and forces production in china or India rather than in our own countries . no one burglars your house for a DVD and it will mean Blu ray too any more as its not worth there while. enough of the social commentary back to the player...

for £100 it was a great buy and the up conversion made a difference in my case.
OP | Post 10 made on Monday January 11, 2010 at 18:17
BillFromGI
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On January 10, 2010 at 19:56, Daniel Tonks said...
The only problem playing 1080i through a 720p display is that you end up with multiple progressive/interlated conversions - 1080 progressive to 1080 interlaced then 720 progressive. Technically with proper pulldown detection it shouldn't cause issues, but there's really no benefit to giving your set 1080i versus 720p.

With some cheaper screens there is an actual reason not to do this - as to convert 1080i to 720p they simply discarded one of the fields, resulting in the equivelant of 1280x540 resolution.

If it were one of those 1366x768 screens then there MIGHT be a reason to give it 1080i (for a few more pixels resolution), as long as the built-in scaler works correctly.

And on TV sources, I know with my cable box I do see occasional issues with 720p to 1080i to 1080p.

Dan, I have not spotted any issues, yet. The Dynex 32" screen is 1366x768. Next time I play a BR movie I'll try switching the BR player output resolution from 1080i to 720p to see if there is a difference. However, I suspect that the small screen size would make any difference virtually unnoticeable, especially to my untrained eye.

(ah ha moment)

One thing I did notice is that the TV must be placed into "wide" mode in order for the movie to display properly. My son has an Xbox 360 and when he plays his games on that TV via HDMI cable he also must force the TV into "wide" mode. I wonder if forcing the Xbox and the BR player to put out 720p stop this quirk from occurring?
Post 11 made on Tuesday January 12, 2010 at 00:15
Daniel Tonks
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Probably not. HD should always be in "full mode", which is using the whole screen... I don't know why the set isn't defaulting to that.

Your post prompted me to test something last night, check out the displays forum.
OP | Post 12 made on Tuesday January 12, 2010 at 17:57
BillFromGI
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On January 12, 2010 at 00:15, Daniel Tonks said...
Probably not. HD should always be in "full mode", which is using the whole screen... I don't know why the set isn't defaulting to that.

Your post prompted me to test something last night, check out the displays forum.

This TV has always done "odd things". Besides the screen issue, it has a habit of "freezing" (for a period of 5 to 15 seconds) right after a channel change while viewing TWC QAM. During this time I am unable to adjust TV volume or change channels at the TV and via the remote. The video and audio are ok during this time. This "freezing" does not occur while viewing OTA. I suspect that the TV is "learning" new QAM channels or something.. .

PS: I checked the display forms. From hereon out I'll go 720p too.. .
Post 13 made on Tuesday January 12, 2010 at 19:12
Daniel Tonks
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Well, I think it all depends on the set: some might work bettwe than others depending on how they were designed. For instance if you have a lower line model that was part of a family designed for 1080p at the top, it might actually do pretty good with 1080i input.

The flickering I saw on mine was completely unexpected. And it might just be placebo effect, but I swear that motion on 720p channels like Fox is actually smoother - more... "solid".


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