Upscaling DVD player/recorder

MOH

Buying a new DVD player, and looking for some advice.
- Since I have a HD tv, I reckon I should get an upscaling player to get some kind of use from it.
- Would also like DivX playback - I presume if I play a HD Divx file on a DivX DVD player I'll get full HD on the TV?
- Since I have Sky+, I don't really need a HDD recorder. But if it's possible to get a recorder with or without a HDD that supports upscaling playback and DivX, and doesn't cost the earth, I'd get it.
- Budget up to about 250 euro.
- Multi-region playback would be a plus, but not vital
- TV, if it matters, is a Samsung LE32R41BD

Just got a present of a Pioneer DV490V-K, but I think I'm going to return it, as reviews indicate there's a number of problems with playback of PAL DVDs, and reviews are contradictory as to whether it upscales or not.

After a quick scan of avforums, the Panasonic DVR-EZ25 looks good, but has freeview which I don't need, and doesn't support DivX. And it's slightly dearer than I'd like to spend A similar model without freeview might be a runner.

Have also seen the Samsung DVD-R145, but can't find any information on this.

Any suggestion would be very welcome, or comments on the models I've mentioned. Or even hints on anything I need to consider when choosing a model.

Thanks.

mossym

be careful. Divx support doesn't necessarily mean hddivx support. look at the original xbox..will play a lot more than jsut divx, but jsut can't handle hd material in any form.

toms hardware had a review of one lately that u think did hd playback. I'll try and find a link.

hshortt

The Samsung HD-DVD860 is an upscaling player, made region free by entering codes on the included handset. Can play back ntsc, but you have to tell it to do so! i.e. enter the menu and select ntsc. For some silly reason it doesn't auto-detec like every other dvd player I've ever had.

Quality is good, firmware is updatable and it's not expensive. - 145 at DID.

Cheerio
Howard

quazzy

hshortt wrote:

The Samsung HD-DVD860 is an upscaling player, made region free by entering codes on the included handset. Can play back ntsc, but you have to tell it to do so! i.e. enter the menu and select ntsc. For some silly reason it doesn't auto-detec like every other dvd player I've ever had.

Quality is good, firmware is updatable and it's not expensive. - 145 at DID.

Cheerio
Howard

Hey Howard,

I have a Samsung Player (Samsung DVD-HR730 - I think )and just wanted to know how to update the firmware. Can you point me in the right direction?

To the OP. The Samsung I have upscales and plays DivX and Xvid up to version DivX ver 5.0

Regards

Q

hshortt

quazzy wrote:

Hey Howard,

I have a Samsung Player (Samsung DVD-HR730 - I think )and just wanted to know how to update the firmware. Can you point me in the right direction?
Q

Head on over to www.samsung.com then choose the UK from the Region (No Ireland - hate that!) on the right hand side you will see a 'Download' graphic, click it and then using the fields choose TV, Video and Audio, DVD Player, DVD Player (again) and then choose your model from the list, this will open a new page with manuals and firmware downloads.

You would burn the firmware to a CD and then use this to update your player.

Cheerio
Howard

quazzy

Hi Howard,

I followed the steps but could not see a Firmware download. It turns out my modle number is DVD-HR725. I also checked your model in the same mannor and could only find a user manuel; no firmware.

Please see attached picture and lemme know if I'm missing something.

Much appreciated.

Q

hshortt

Nah, you are not missing anything, just means there's no firmware available yet. Look at the HD745 for an example of one with available updates.

Cheers

quazzy

Thanks

slave1

have a Sony 76 DIVX/Upscaler, no issues to date does a great job, is not multiregion, will not playback "HD"DIVX files, AFAIK virtually all divx players over here will not play the larger "HD"DIVX files, shame as they usually have 5.1 encoded also, you would need a PC for that task

Sad Professor

I have the Sony ns76h as well. €135 from powercity. It can be made region free with a all-in-one remote (must have a dvd and magic button) from argos. Upscaling picture quality is great. But it does have a problem with divx unfortunately. But other than that it's a brilliant player, I'd really recommend it.

MOH

Thanks for all the replies so far, folks. It's looking like a recorder is above budget, so I'm thinking of the Pioneer 696, or maybe the Sony 76.

As a list ditch bid for a recorder, anyone had any experience with the Samsung 135/145?

slave1

Hi Sad Prof, what issues are you experiencing, the only thing I look out for is packed bitstream Divx files which can effect lip synch, other than that AOK and I use it as a DIVX player almost every night

Sad Professor

slave1:

The player seems to output most divx as 4:3, which means that when watching via hd mode on a widescreen tv, the picture is stretched horizontally, making it fairly unwatchable for me. Some hd ready tvs let you change the screen format in hd mode but most (like mine) don't, which means I can't zoom in. The only way around this problem is to also connect via scart av and zoom in.

This is my first divx player so I can't really compare it quality wise but apart from a few glitches (trailing, after images, etc) most divx play fine. I'm just happy I don't have to watch them on my 12" ibook screen anymore

I'm really happy with the dvd upscaling. I can't imagine hd-dvd/bluray being much better than this, at least not on smaller/medium size sets.

slave1

the 4:3 is because the divx you are playing was encoded so, this is a bit of a b1tch alright, whenever I'm sourcing my divx files I always look out for the dimensions and format if I can get that info, like your TV mine will not allow anything when going through the HDMI lead, not a fault of the player really

Sad Professor

slave1, so is that not a fault in the player then? Like I said this is my first divx player but I was under the impression from the folks at avforums that the player should be outputting all divx at 16:9. They all seem to think it's a fault.

Does leaving the scart connected intefere with hdmi?

slave1

the player is actually outputting at 16:9, however whoever created the divx file in question did so with a 4:3 screen setup, kinda hard to explain but the black bits at the side are in the original file and are part of the 16:9 file being outputted to your tv.
I have a couple of - annoying - files like this and no matter what divx/tv - and I have a few! - I use I cannot get the file to stretch because it is already.
Feck, this is hard to explain, what I'm trying to say is that when you're looking at the TV I think you say you are seeing a 4:3 picture, you're actually seeing a 16:9 and whoever incoded the divx file in question has black bits left and right.
Is there someone out there who can explain better what I'm trying to say?

Does leaving the scart connected intefere with hdmi?
I have both scart and HDMI connected at the same time to the same tv and did not notice anything, it was just to see the difference between the two connections and I no longer use the SCART

hshortt

slave1 wrote:

Is there someone out there who can explain better what I'm trying to say?

Not me, but I can lend you a shovel

I know what you are trying to say though! As for leaving the scart connected, doesn't this in fact disable Progressive Scan?

Cheerio
Howard

Sad Professor

Thanks, slave1. I understand what you mean. Although I think the black bars at the side are actually created by the dvd player when you set the 4:3 output to "normal". If you set it to "full" the picture will be stretched horizontally. At least thats what happens on the divx that I've tried.

hshortt, the orange progressive scan light on the player is still on but then I've never seen it turn off. But the player can still output progressive scan via scart, can't it? Why would it interfere?

I'm more concerned that my tv isn't outputting in my chosen resolution. According to the ns76h manual if your tv doesn't accept the resolution (720p, 1080i, etc) selected, it will automatically switch to one that will. And my tv won't tell what resolution its in.

slave1

Hi, gald ye got the picture (excuse the pun)
Once you have the HDMI lead connected the DVD player automatically selects the progressive scan button so the light will always be on, p.scan is only optional using say the component lead.

The_g-man

€100 gets you the Philips D5900, does the job smoothly, doesn't play HD Divx, the only player I heard of that did was the kiss dp-600 and that had major issues when first released. Pixmania have it for sale though, so maybe a second batch has been made with bug-fixes.
http://www.pixmania.com/ie/uk/172897/art/kiss/dp-600-dvd-divx-hd-player.html#accessoires

MOH

The_g-man wrote:

€100 gets you the Philips D5900, does the job smoothly, doesn't play HD Divx, the only player I heard of that did was the kiss dp-600 and that had major issues when first released. Pixmania have it for sale though, so maybe a second batch has been made with bug-fixes.
http://www.pixmania.com/ie/uk/172897/art/kiss/dp-600-dvd-divx-hd-player.html#accessoires

Hurrah! A real reply on my thread!

Thanks for that, that's a heck of a machine - inbuilt wifi, ethernet connection, !!!!
Bit beyond the budget though, for that money I'd need a recorder.

I reckon I'm going for the Pioneer 696. My only problem now is I can't find anywhere that's selling it!