[canlabmaster]

I have been trying (unsuccessfully) to get some expert opinion by trawling through various threads on this forum on what DVD player to upgrade to from my Pioneer 575 which will achieve good PAL de-interlacing with movie material - and I have asked the question over on the projector forum. At present, neither the 575 nor my Z3 projector can be relied upon to the job adequately with many discs showing horrendous amounts of moiré, staircasing, etc. I would rather change the player than do anything else, though I am very happy with the 575 in other respects. I just want to spend as little money as possible to get good results via the analogue component connections I am currently using, though if I have to go the digital route, so be it. Oppo 970, Oppo 971, any of the Denons or even the newer Pioneer 696 have all been discussed, but not with this particular issue as a focus. Can anyone out there help?

[Bolander]

I have been using the Sony DVP-NS76H with my Themescene 30A projector for some months and have experienced none of the problems you mention. The picture quality is genuinely cinematic when seen at its best with high quality films such as the original Star Wars, or Back to the Future.
The only problem is that, presumably due to its many virtures, it now seems to be in short supply. Amazon have it at £81 but quote delivery as 4 to 6 weeks.

[Nic Rhodes]

PAL deinterlacing is generally the poor cousin to NTSC wrt deinterlacing and proper 'detection' of the signal. Even the well regarded SiI504 chip leaves something to be desired unless significant additional circuitry is put around the chip for PAL. The ABT102 based players (New Arcam) are likely to solve the issue if the ABT102 equipped video processors are anything to go by but are expensive. At a more realistic price then the Oppo is likely to be the most interesting prospect. The Faroudja equipped 971 and NOT the 970, as that doesn't do 2:2 pull down for PAL. There are down sides like MB but that is the tradeoff you will have to make. However it is NOT about the chips that are used but HOW they are used. Oppo has spent allot of time developing the firmware in order to optimise PAL performance and this is probably why the performance is good rather than 'just' the inclusion of a certain chip.

[canlabmaster]

Thanks Bolander and Nic especially. Is this down to incorrect or inadequate flagging on the disc? I have recently watched The Revenge of Frankenstein (R2 Columbia) which is absolutely super and looks as artefact-free as any NTSC disc I have. But On her Majesty's Secret Service (R2 MGM Special Edition) and especially To Catch a Thief (R2 Paramount) are poor.

[Nic Rhodes]

Some players are flag readers but many disc are poorly flagged unfortunately, end result yuk!. The better deinterlacing chipset generally try and work out what is what and ignore the flags. I think the Oppos are in the latter category.