Hi,

Just joined the site and am still trying to find my way around, got a Samsung LE40M86BD on Monday and have used some info from the site to get a decent picture - thanks!

I want to buy an upscaling DVD player around £100 to connect to the TV, there seem to be quite a few - each with their own pros and cons could someone point me in the right direction based on the best picture at 1080i?

Thanks!

[andykn]

For 100 quid I'd spend all the money on the DVD player itself and use the scaler built in to the TV rather than spend some of the 100 quid on a scaler built in to a DVD player.

[spooney]

I second Andy. Unless you spent serious money on a DVD player your panel will do a much better job.

Thanks for the reply, are you saying that the Samsung LE40M86BD will automatically upscale any DVD player that it is connected to? Or do i have to set certain functions within the setup on the TV?

[spooney]

Originally Posted by Pololfc

Thanks for the reply, are you saying that the Samsung LE40M86BD will automatically upscale any DVD player that it is connected to? Or do i have to set certain functions within the setup on the TV?

All LCDs and Plasmas have to upscale/downscale to their native resolution to display the image. this is why you always will get the reply either drop in some serious money or leave it to the display over an average player.

[TommyVecetti]

Don't fall for the idea that your screen will always do a better job, especially if you have a model that's a year old or more. It's quite possible that the latest crop of consumer upscaling players will offer an improvement. As I discovered with the Toshiba 370E.

Remember an upscaling player will be creating (artifically) a Hi-Def picture which is fed to your screen. The LCD/Plasma is just scaling the picture to fill up the screen. That's why if you toggle the HDMI settings on the player between 576p and 720p, the latter looks more detailed.

Anyone want to recommend an upscaling dvd player? What about the Sony DVP-NS76H or the Samsung DVD-HD870? These both seem to get good reviews.

[endian675]

Now I'm confused. I've got a Sony 46X2000U display, and was going to get an upscaling DVD player whilst I wait for HDXE1 prices to come down. I was considering the Toshiba SD370E. Are you saying that my TV is already upscaling the SCART output from my knackered old Hitachi DVD player?

Regards
Baffled of Essex

[DGP999]

I have an HD ready TV with HDMI and currently use a DVD player via component leads - no HDMI connector. Will I get a better picture with DVD player with HDMI connector??

[andykn]

Originally Posted by endian675

Now I'm confused. I've got a Sony 46X2000U display, and was going to get an upscaling DVD player whilst I wait for HDXE1 prices to come down. I was considering the Toshiba SD370E. Are you saying that my TV is already upscaling the SCART output from my knackered old Hitachi DVD player?

Regards
Baffled of Essex

Q. How many lines does your Hitachi DVD Player output?
A. 576
Q. How many lines does your screen actually display?
A. 1080
Q. How does your TV display 576 lines on 1080 lines?
A. It upscales the 576 to 1080.

A DVD Player may upscale better than the TV but at 100 quid all in its very unlikely. Especially as many older TVs have 768 lines, which will not be an output of an Upscaling DVD player. So a DVD player would scale to 720 lines and the screen would have to scale again to 768 lines.

[andykn]

Originally Posted by DGP999

I have an HD ready TV with HDMI and currently use a DVD player via component leads - no HDMI connector. Will I get a better picture with DVD player with HDMI connector??

Look on the Sky HD forum at the Pioneer HDMI issue posts. Pioneer owners have been advised not to use HDMI because of compatibilty porblems and are using Component instead. There does not seem to be a clear consensus that either is better.

I had an old Daewoo DVD player connected via component to my new Sony KDL-40V2000 and was very pleased with the picture quality, although I found the picture a bit warm with overpowering reds. When this DVD player started to die I tried two Toshibas (360E and the new 370E, which both went back due to freezing problems) and over HDMI I didn't find a great deal of difference in the DVD upscaling compared to TV upscaling. I now have a Sony DVP-NS76H and I can say I am extremely happy with it. The colours are spot on, very detailed and I can honestly say that it's by far the best picture quality so far. So the DVD player must be doing something over the TV or all my pictures would have been the same.

[Lexeus]

If it helps anyone I just got my Samsung HD870 delivered today and i am only using it over S-video at the moment until I can pickup my new HDMI cable, but so far I am very pleased.

I am using it with my Sanyo Z3 projector so it seems very suited to eventually use with the 720p upscaled output as the projectors native resolution is 1280x720 and it is happy to handle 720p.

My first thought when I took it out of the box was, hmm it looks nice enough but you can see it isn't the most expensive DVD player, but for £52 (£60 next day delivery) I suppose you shouldn't really be expecting it to be. Not poor build quality, on the contrary very impressively sturdy feeling, but just looked largely plastic budget materials on the fascia.
But on the flip side I was thinking thats not too much of a bad sign as hopefully they have spent most of the money on the inside
Oh yea, the blue light around the power button is a bit too bright I think, not awful, but just stood out against the warm glow of my pioneer receiver's bluw power light

Anyway I watched Swordfish on it this afternoon and the only thing that irritated me at all was when, at the beginning the women gets blown up and there are loads ball bearings flying in slow motion, I couldn't really see the shrapnel clearly and I didn't get a proper sense of the zoomed in carnage, but I think that may just be they didn't film it like that as I have only watched it once before ages ago ...
But overall I was very impressed for an S-video output.


I played a few cd's on it too and they sounded great over optical SPDIF.

The remote does the job

[spooney]

Originally Posted by andykn

Especially as many older TVs have 768 lines, which will not be an output of an Upscaling DVD player. So a DVD player would scale to 720 lines and the screen would have to scale again to 768 lines.

Very valid point. You have try out how the double scaling will work. Some people report they have the best result when upscaling to 1080i and let the panell down scale to native resolution.

BTW: It is no only the older modells with the 'odd' resolution there are also newer models out there...

[moonbucket]

Originally Posted by Ska88

I had an old Daewoo DVD player connected via component to my new Sony KDL-40V2000 and was very pleased with the picture quality, although I found the picture a bit warm with overpowering reds. When this DVD player started to die I tried two Toshibas (360E and the new 370E, which both went back due to freezing problems) and over HDMI I didn't find a great deal of difference in the DVD upscaling compared to TV upscaling. I now have a Sony DVP-NS76H and I can say I am extremely happy with it. The colours are spot on, very detailed and I can honestly say that it's by far the best picture quality so far. So the DVD player must be doing something over the TV or all my pictures would have been the same.

No, its just a better DVD player.

[dowzer]

Originally Posted by Lexeus

Anyway I watched Swordfish on it this afternoon and the only thing that irritated me at all was when, at the beginning the women gets blown up and there are loads ball bearings flying in slow motion, I couldn't really see the shrapnel clearly and I didn't get a proper sense of the zoomed in carnage, but I think that may just be they didn't film it like that as I have only watched it once before ages ago ...
But overall I was very impressed for an S-video output.

How do Halle's 'you know whats' look like upscaled on a projector?

Zoomed in Heaven?

[Lexeus]

Poor taste

She is weird shaped saggyness and attitude on legs

Hi All,

I'm in the same boat looking for a DVD Player that upscales (I have a few R1 (USA) movies) and have heard from another forum that the samsung M86/M87 LCD TV doesn't handle these too well.

Has anyone seen a Panasonic DVD-S53EB-K in action .I know its quite a new model but it does upscaling to 1080P .Any thoughts would be appreciated

Thanks

[dowzer]

Originally Posted by Lexeus

Poor taste

She is weird shaped saggyness and attitude on legs

[davy1shoe]

I have a 50 inch Pionerr and a hmdi amp, had a Samsung 850 upscaler and was very happy with it.
Got a try of a Phillips dvp5980 and i can say is wooooo its stunning massive jump from the Samsung which has amazing reviews.
I also own a PS3 and i can say i cant notice and diff with blue ray and normal dvds with this amazing cheap dvd player.
Cheap and vwery good option if your not up for the daft prices for hd viewing.

[andykn]

Originally Posted by davy1shoe

I have a 50 inch Pionerr and a hmdi amp, had a Samsung 850 upscaler and was very happy with it.
Got a try of a Phillips dvp5980 and i can say is wooooo its stunning massive jump from the Samsung which has amazing reviews.
I also own a PS3 and i can say i cant notice and diff with blue ray and normal dvds with this amazing cheap dvd player.
Cheap and vwery good option if your not up for the daft prices for hd viewing.

So what looks best?

1/ Philips DVP5980 set at HD output
2/ Philips DVP5980 set at 576p output with upscaling done by amp (what model?)
3/ Philips DVP5980 set at 576p output with upscaling done by Pioneer (what model?)

And you can't tell the difference between a HD DVD on the PS3 and an SD DVD on the Philips?

[davy1shoe]

Dvd set at 1080i my tv doesnt do 1080p but mt friend that put me on to this amazing player does and he says its stunning.
Everything is via hmdi outputs.
Dvd player upscales everything.
Even retail dvd backups look stunning .
HD dvd players is not the way after you see what this baby can do.

[andykn]

Originally Posted by davy1shoe

Dvd set at 1080i my tv doesnt do 1080p but mt friend that put me on to this amazing player does and he says its stunning.
Everything is via hmdi outputs.
Dvd player upscales everything.
Even retail dvd backups look stunning .
HD dvd players is not the way after you see what this baby can do.

But does it look better using its own upscaler or the Pioneer upscaler? It may look better with the DVD set to 576p.

[TommyVecetti]

Got the samsung HD870 after being peed off that there was no region hack for the tosh 370. Glad I did anyway as I think the SD870 has better upscaling qualities than the tosh. Porn looks great

[Lexeus]

I take you are using an HDMI connection then?

Can you confirm for me the HD870 will only display 525p over component i.e. progressive DVD quality, and to get an upscaled picture you have to use HDMI, giving either 720p or 1080i ?

EDIT: Will it output an upscaled image on the RGB Scart ??? I have a Sanyo Z3 and want to get the special Sanyo Scart to VGAconnector cable to use with my freeview box, but ideally I would like to use the cable with my DVD player too for a month?
Anyone? please

[TommyVecetti]

Originally Posted by Lexeus

I take you are using an HDMI connection then?

Yes I am.

Can you confirm for me the HD870 will only display 525p over component i.e. progressive DVD quality, and to get an upscaled picture you have to use HDMI, giving either 720p or 1080i ?

Yes I think you should be able to get a progressive image through component, but I think upscaling only works with HDMI. Not 100% sure though.

EDIT: Will it output an upscaled image on the RGB Scart ???

I don't think so. I can't check becuse I'm only using HDMI.

[Lexeus]

Will it do 525p over scart though ?? Any ideas ?

[andykn]

Originally Posted by Lexeus

Will it do 525p over scart though ?? Any ideas ?

Unlikely, very few consumer devices accept progressive RGB. Home DVD players invariably only output progressive over component, even if they have SCART RGB outputs. And very few devices output Component via SCART.

[Lexeus]

What resolution is RGB Scart then?? 525i ?

[spooney]

Originally Posted by Lexeus

What resolution is RGB Scart then?? 525i ?

I guess you mean 576i? This would be SD.
Usually you would get interlaced output on RGB.