Upscaling region 1 DVD's - solution needed

[coffin137]

Hello,
I am buying a variety of kit soon and appear to have run into a problem.

I've a LX Pioneer plasma on the way and Onkyo 875 amp and was going to buy a Sony PS3 as a 'cheap' Blu ray and upscaling solution until the Blu ray players improve (which they surely will over the next 8-10 months). However, as suspected I went through my DVD collection last night and DISASTER! Over half of my DVD's (so that's 100 odd) are region 1 Obviously the PS3 will be tied to region 2 as I will be buying a standard UK version.

I really don't want to have to buy another piece of equipment solely to play these region 1 DVD's. The stand alone player I am using at the moment is ~10 year old Sony so that won't do. As previously mentioned, I have my heart set on the PS3 as it's a good Blu ray player and I do enjoy playing games now and then too.

What is the 'best' thing to do in such a predicament? (other than replacing all 100 DVD's with region 2 versions of course!) I will have 1080p capable PC hooked up to amp/TV via HDMI, assuming the DVD playback on this PC is multi region will that upscale my region 1 disks? I'd rather not use the PC but if it saves buying more equipment fair enough! Running out of physical space too!

Many thanks

[ndenbow]

Use your existing multi-region DVD player (if it's still ok)? I am sure the Pio plasma will do a sterling job of upscaling for you.

Put it this way; I have a Fujitsu 58 series plasma and the AVMII processor murders anything I have thrown at it, upscaling-wise. I suspect the Pio will do something similar (if not quite as well ) Please don't be fooled by the marketing cr*p. I have my trusty Pioneer DV-575A, set to 576i, attahced via Mark Grant component cable to my plasma and it's fantastic.

Save some cash and buy something else.

[YellowSphere]

I'd agree with ndenbow. Connect your current player via RGB SCART or interlaced component (480i) and set PureCinema to "Advance" for that input, then connect up the PS3 to one of the HDMI inputs and switch upscaling to off (BD is output at 1080p, DVD is output 576p)

Either that, or buy a Panasonic BD30, as there is a multiregion hack available for this player. 1.1 with no option for upgrade to BD Live...but I'll let you ponder that one. The BD50 will be on the way later with Profile 2.0 compliance.

[coffin137]

Thank you for your replies

YellowSphere, is there any specific purpose for disabling the upscaling on the PS3?

connect up the PS3 to one of the HDMI inputs and switch upscaling to off

I didn't realise the Pioneer will do a good job of upscaling the picture even from my OLD! Sony dvd player. Does this mean that the PC will do a similar type job? (thus removing the need to have my old Sony player connected at all). I would rather not have the Sony wired up as not only is space at a premium but it seems crazy to have 3 optical DVD capable reading drives all plugged in at the same time! And it's gold too and everything else will be black

Many thanks again

[ndenbow]

A lot of people don't realise...but that's marketing for you. It is especially important if you invest in a good panel, like the Pio is That is why you pay more for things like the Pio - they do the work for you and they do them WELL. Rest assured your investment is worth it.

I think a PC would be lightly different. From experience I have set my PC to the same (native) resolution as my panel. In this case that would be 1024x768. You can muck about with refresh rates but I think 60hz would be best (for my Fuji it is). If you have a good GFX card you can do some really fancy advanced settings but plain old 1024x768 @ 60hz works for me and it looks great. Obviously if you connect using VGA (Dsub 15 connector) you will have a lot more work do if you want to calibrate but it should be fine.

I think many people prefer different software players as well. Theatertek is quite good apparently but not cheap. It depends how much money you want to spend. VLC (videoLAN - google it) is a perfectly good media player and it's free.

[coffin137]

Hi again ndenbow

Thanks for all your info, yup I use VLC at the moment, it works with everything, love it

I think I'll have a go from the PC first and if that fails my old Sony DVD player will prove its worth yet and soldier on !

Cheers

[YellowSphere]

If your computer doesn't have the ability to output your region 1 DVDs at 60 interlaced frames per second (i.e. how they are on the disc, and something your Sony DVD player will do) then you won't take advantage of your televisions ability to detect the original 24fps film speed within the digital file and turn your juddery region one disc into a lovely smooth image.