DVD Player \ Upscaler

Static M.e.

Hi all,

Im looking for some advice on a new DVD player, I have a new (ish) Samsung LE32R87BD Tv which the good people here helped me pick.

Its HDMI capable but I havent had the chance to use it yet

SOo at the weekend I broke my old DVD player which was just a very basic one, only had play/stop/eject buttons.

Would anyone have any recommendations for a new one please?

Do I need a HD \ Blue Ray one or is thier anything else new and cool in the world of DVD players that I should get?

Any help would be great, thanks

Glenbhoy

I would like similar information.

Basically a cheap upscaler, that's region free (or can be unlocked) and plays Divx.

This one mentioned on avforums might be the job, but I'm not sure if it can be unlocked as reviews on amazon say that it can't.

http://www.avforums.com/forums/dvd-players-standard-definition-upscaling/845923-toshiba-sd-580-a.html

MediaTank

Philips also have a number of models in the same price range that do what you want.

Glenbhoy

I threw this post up on AV froums

Hi all,
I would appreciate some input on the following.
I am in the market for an upscaler in or around the £70 mark and from what I can read these are the best:
1. Samsung DVD HD1080P
2. Samsung DVD HD870
3. Toshiba SD580
4. Philips DVP 5980
5. Sony DVPNS708

Now, my problem is that I have a Sony KDL 32 V4000 and would ideally prefer the Sony, however reviews for the samsungs and toshiba are quite impressive.
Is it worth sacrificing a little picture quality for the compatibility the Sony offers?
AFAIK all the above are/can be multi region and play Div-x - these are must have features.

Any input or suggestions greatly appreciated.

one guy reckons that the sony is as good as the others, but reviews I've seen suggest it isn't. Another guy reckons that for a 32" an upscaler is a waste of money - any thoughts?

Idleater

The _only_ point in buying an upscaling DVD player is if the scaler in it is better than the one in your TV.

I am willing to bet that the scaler in your TV is *probably* better than the scaler in any upscaling DVD player < €500.

Which means that you could buy a BluRay (ps3) which _will_ not only upscale plain DVD's, but will also output HD video for €300-€400.

Unless your only fixation is using the HDMI connection, in which case _any_ €99 dvd player that has HDMI output will give you the same net video quality on your nice new screen.
L.

Glenbhoy

nereid wrote: »

Unless your only fixation is using the HDMI connection, in which case _any_ €99 dvd player that has HDMI output will give you the same net video quality on your nice new screen.
L.

Feck yeah, haven't even taken delivery of the tv yet:D
TV is a sony kdl 32v4000

Idleater

Glenbhoy wrote: »

TV is a sony kdl 32v4000

A specific upscaling DVD player will not be needed on that tv.

I'd save the money and put it towards a ps3.

I have a region free DVD player running component video at 576p native, and the ps3 running hdmi 1080p native.

There is no difference between watching a plain dvd on the pioneer, as it is on the sony.

Glenbhoy

Yeah, I will be going for ps3 at some point in the not too distant future (think the ps2 has finally packed in after nearly 10yrs!!).
My current region free dvd player though is a matsui which cost me £20 - might it not be worth it to upgrade to the sony dvd player just to increase functionality of both tv and dvd player? I've seen reports of home theater type functions, better sound and only one remote being used when the Sony DVPNS708 is added to the bravia tv.

Idleater

Those are all nice features to have, but the original question was about picture quality.

For PQ, there is no way you can get better than 576p for DVD's, and the TV is probably going to have to scale that anyway to 720p (and then to the native resolution of the screen - probably 1366x768).

As for sound, some DVD players offer internal decoding of digital 5.1 sound formats and out put them through discrete channels, but this requires you to have an amplifier that will send the sound to the speakers.

As for the one remote, you will be back to two when you get the ps3... but agreed, less clutter is handy for the coffee table.

Glenbhoy

Thanks for the info nereid, just out of interest, would I be right in thinking that the concept of upscaling is basically bollox? Or does it ever have some advantages?

Idleater

"Bollix" is harsh but when you get down to it yes.

Think about it this way:

The DVD has got lots of 1's and 0's on it. These all add up to 576p for a normal DVD.

That is essentially 576 lines drawn across the screen progressively.

That is the *total* information on the disc - there is no more than that. ever.

Next you have to take into account the native resolution of your screen - 1024x768 (4:3 computer format), 1366x768 (typical hd ready TV), 1280x 720 (720p video), 1920 x 1080 ("full hd) etc... there are countless combinations.

The thing to remember is that your TV *always* displays whatever image you send it at it's native resolution. It will insert black bars if you tell it not to stretch the image, but it will *always* be (for example) 1366x768.

So, go back to your DVD running at 576p. When this gets sent to the screen the scaler in the TV has to convert this to 768 lines and it does this using 3:2 pull down (inserts an extra line every 2 lines) to give you the full resolution.

If on the other hand, you connect a 720p game from your ps3, it needs to add in a couple of extra lines to scale it to 768 lines.

Conversly, if you give it 1080i or 1080p it needs to squash the image down to 768 lines.

So now you see the "problem" with upscaling DVD players: you take 576 lines off the disc, roughly double it to 1080, send it to the screen, where it is reduced to 768 lines.

You could head down the route of buying a proper external scaler that would probably be better than the scaler in your tv but these would I guess cost you €1.5k+ so there is a law of diminishing returns present.

Hope this helps somewhat.

L.

Glenbhoy

excellent, thanks again nereid.