[scoobydav]

Hi Guys just purchased a LG lc55 37 inch lcd tv and next on my list is a up scaling dvd player

Can anyone point me in the right direction to which player to buy
Or any tips to buying one of these

Do they make a big difference to your viewing pleasure

Also i have been putting down hd dvd's for christmas will these work on up scaling dvd players thanks guys

[scoobydav]

Would i be best just buying hd dvd's and a hd dvd player rather than a up scaling model

[mjcairney]

Originally Posted by scoobydav

Also i have been putting down hd dvd's for christmas will these work on up scaling dvd players thanks guys

No, HD-DVDs will not work on an upscaling DVD player, but an HD-DVD player will play them, and will also upscale your SD DVDs.

Cheers,

Martin.

[danjaq]

Originally Posted by mjcairney

No, HD-DVDs will not work on an upscaling DVD player, but an HD-DVD player will play them, and will also upscale your SD DVDs.

Cheers,

Martin.

So, knowing now that a HD-DVD player will also upscale SD DVDs .. and in advance of me buying my new Sony 40" Bravia V3000 LCD tele:

1) What would be a reasonable price and make to get please?
2) If I have no real busting urge to buy HD-DVDs, what would be a good price/model for just an upscaling player? Sony DVP-NS78?
3) Lastly, would an upscaling DVD player give a better picture quality over a conventional DVD player?

Thanks.

[scoobydav]

Thanks Martin

Now how much do i need to spend on a hd dvd and any good ones i should look for guys

[mjcairney]

Guys, have a look at the Toshiba HD-EP30 which is available for £199.99 here - possibly a few £s cheaper elsewhere if you search around, and bear in mind that the price includes delivery and seven (7) HD-DVDs. It also does a pretty good job of playing SD DVDs. I can tell you this because, as you'll see in my signature line, I have already invested.

As to whether or not it is better than a conventional upscaling DVD player, that very much depends on the player(s) you compare it to and is not a question I would attempt to answer.

Cheers,

Martin.

[scoobydav]

Thanks again Martin

will get my order in for one

[mjcairney]

Originally Posted by scoobydav

Thanks again Martin

will get my order in for one

You're welcome, and I hope you enjoy it.

Cheers,

Martin.

[danjaq]

May also get, reviews say the standard DVDs upscale well!

How would you playback non-region 2 DVDs though?

[mjcairney]

Originally Posted by danjaq2004

How would you playback non-region 2 DVDs though?

As things stand, you wouldn't.

That's not to say that a firmware update won't come along in the future that will make them region-free, but that is not the case at this moment in time - an HD-EP30 bought in this country will only play region 2 DVDs at the time of writing.

Cheers,

Martin.

[danjaq]

Originally Posted by mjcairney

As things stand, you wouldn't.

That's not to say that a firmware update won't come along in the future that will make them region-free, but that is not the case at this moment in time - an HD-EP30 bought in this country will only play region 2 DVDs at the time of writing.

Cheers,

Martin.

Thanks Martin for your reply, it is tempting to get this HD-DVD player you know. I was considering a Sony upscaling DVD player for £50 (which could be made multi-region) ... but knowing now that the HD-DVD player will only play R2 DVDs, I am uncertain what to do - guess I could always play my non-R2s through my current player (without upscaling) as a compromise. But biggest question is ... will I buy HD-DVDs? .. probably not for now, so save £150 and not buy it?! Oh the decisions!

[mjcairney]

Originally Posted by danjaq2004

Thanks Martin for your reply, it is tempting to get this HD-DVD player you know. I was considering a Sony upscaling DVD player for £50 (which could be made multi-region) ... but knowing now that the HD-DVD player will only play R2 DVDs, I am uncertain what to do - guess I could always play my non-R2s through my current player (without upscaling) as a compromise. But biggest question is ... will I buy HD-DVDs? .. probably not for now, so save £150 and not buy it?! Oh the decisions!

Decisions, Decisions.

Whichever way you go, all the best.

Cheers,

martin.

[danjaq]

Originally Posted by mjcairney

Decisions, Decisions.

Whichever way you go, all the best.

Cheers,

martin.

Indeed - thanks for your help!

[mjcairney]

You're welcome.

Cheers,

Martin.

I have been shopping around for a while but can't seem to find a definitive answer. Do any of the phillips upscaling DVD players provide the upscaling via Component? I have an older 1080i CRT rear projection TV and I only have one digital (DVI) input that I use for my cable box.

Any suggestions? Thanks in advance

[LV426]

Upscaling of copyright material for Component outputs is prohibited by industry agreements.

In any case, as all pixel-based displays (Plasma, LCD, most RearPro types) already upscale any incoming signal that's not already a match for the display itself, your "need" for this is questionable.

Originally Posted by LV426

Upscaling of copyright material for Component outputs is prohibited by industry agreements.

In any case, as all pixel-based displays (Plasma, LCD, most RearPro types) already upscale any incoming signal that's not already a match for the display itself, your "need" for this is questionable.

interesting...I've never heard that before, I didn't realize it would be a legal issue. I suppose I could run my cable box on the components and the DVD player on the DVI. Maybe this is just another reason to get another TV.

I don't really understand your second statement though. If most displays already upscale, why does anyone buy uspcaling dvd players? why does this forum exist? Bottom line is SD DVDs look like crap on my TV. In other words, they look like SD cable programming.

[nwgarratt]

Originally Posted by ricodemus

I don't really understand your second statement though. If most displays already upscale, why does anyone buy uspcaling dvd players? why does this forum exist? Bottom line is SD DVDs look like crap on my TV. In other words, they look like SD cable programming.

It's another marketing method to sell more players. There is a chance that the scaler in a player could be better than in a TV. I believe Oppo DVD players upscale on the component.

[LV426]

Originally Posted by ricodemus

I don't really understand your second statement though. If most displays already upscale, why does anyone buy uspcaling dvd players? why does this forum exist? Bottom line is SD DVDs look like crap on my TV. In other words, they look like SD cable programming.

There is no "magic" that can wrest more definition from a standard definition source. The best any upscaling process can do is guess at what's been stripped out by the low resolution recording process and try to put it back.

There's no "if" about it; if a pixel based display did not upscale an incoming 720x576 signal (say; that's PAL standard definition) then the on-screen image would occupy 720x576 pixels. On a 1920x1080 screen it would probably be in the middle of the screen - less than half the width, and about half the height - with a big black border around all four sides. Making it fit the whole screen IS upscaling.

Why do people buy upscaling players? Good question and there are many possible answers, such as (guesswork):

- simple ignorance and/or salesman's spiel and/or misleading advertising
- player has a better scaler onboard than the one in the TV (possible but by no means a promise, and unlikely to be vastly different)
- upscaling players come with HDMI. Previously they've perhaps been inadvertently using composite video; they switch to HDMI and see a huge improvement - and they believe upscaling in the player is responsible
- differing settings in the TV for different sources...

etc.

Now, a standalone upscaler of semi-professional quality (costing, say, as much as a fairly large flat panel TV) may well give a visible improvement. These things have enough processing power to analyse, not just the one frame, but a succession of frames to try and work out the true shape of anything moving, and use that to help the guesswork.

Scaling is an inherently degrading process, in fact (although subjectively this may not be apparent) and is therefore best done only once. Scaling in the source, and ensuring that no further scaling is done can be tricky:
- the source needs to scale to exactly the resolution of the pixels in the screen
- the screen needs to be "willing" to accept this and not rescale it - known as 1:1 pixel mapping, and something of a dark art on many screens.
...whereas scaling in the screen (only) is, by definition, done only once.

So ALL OTHER THINGS BEING EQUAL there is little to be gained by scaling in the source, and the potential for loss.

[BrianPK]

Watched Moulin Rouge last night on my Pana. 42px60 through my £50 Tosh. 370 player. Excellent picture quality through 720p and 1080i upscaled(no diff.between the two).watched through scart and component and noticeable deterioration in quality.I've done this test with numerous dvds over the last few months and tweaked the picture every way possible .Result always the same.Upscaled kicks the backside off other connections.Go figure.

[ProDelgado]

Hi there, some advice would be appreciated here. I'm currently in the process of buying a 1080p (with full 1920x1080 pixel count) LCD, and could do with a HDMI DVD player. Multi-region capabilities would be essential, as would the ability to play straight from a USB drive. If the player had an optical out for my surround sound then that would be a bonus too.

There are conflicting reports about how good upscaling DVD players are, so I figured if anyone would be able to give me the right info, it would be the users here.

What player comes recommended?

[nwgarratt]

Originally Posted by BrianPK

Watched Moulin Rouge last night on my Pana. 42px60 through my £50 Tosh. 370 player. Excellent picture quality through 720p and 1080i upscaled(no diff.between the two).watched through scart and component and noticeable deterioration in quality.I've done this test with numerous dvds over the last few months and tweaked the picture every way possible .Result always the same.Upscaled kicks the backside off other connections.Go figure.

The scart and component will be upscaled as well by the TV. If the TV is 720/768 then that will always be the resolution you will see (even when selecting 1080i/p).

In my own experience, HDMI/DVI is sharper than other connections.

[marko polo]

all this talk is getting a bit confusing.i've got an lg pc56 plasma and the picture aint as good as a normal tv(including watching dvd's)im thinking of getting the samsung hd870 upscaler dvd.has anybody got these two and if so whats the picture like?thanks.

[TommyVecetti]

It depends entirely on the quality of the scaler. The one built into the DVD player might be using a better upscaling algorithm than the one in the panel, but on the other hand it might not.

There's also an argument that the scaler in a DVD player might be aware of the type of video content on the disc by looking at embedded flags, so could possibly tailor its conversion algorithm for best quality on progressive or interlaced material.

[BrianPK]

Originally Posted by marko polo

all this talk is getting a bit confusing.i've got an lg pc56 plasma and the picture aint as good as a normal tv(including watching dvd's)im thinking of getting the samsung hd870 upscaler dvd.has anybody got these two and if so whats the picture like?thanks.

I've just had a look in the plasma forum and your tv has had mixed reviews.Some but not all have been delighted with the sd performance and some with dvd performance .I think they all thought it had a good Hd performance.
My sense of this is, assuming you have your dvd player set up properly and if your best dvds are not very acceptable on the tv then I would be pretty
confident that the Samsung 870 would give you a superior performance.

[soulman247]

Originally Posted by mjcairney

No, HD-DVDs will not work on an upscaling DVD player, but an HD-DVD player will play them, and will also upscale your SD DVDs.

Cheers,

Martin.

Going back to this earlier quote, I'm thinking of buying an upscaler but didn't realise that upscalers couldn't play HD DVDs. Seeing this has at least saved me some wasted effort and possibly money.

Has I'm having a bit of trouble finding the product I need, can anyone recommend some\a player that will both upscale SD DVD's and play HD DVD's ? Or point me in the right direction of a resource.

Thanks in advance and apologies if I should have posted this somewhere else or the information is already on the forum and I've been too thick to fiind it !

[mjcairney]

Originally Posted by soulman247

Going back to this earlier quote, I'm thinking of buying an upscaler but didn't realise that upscalers couldn't play HD DVDs. Seeing this has at least saved me some wasted effort and possibly money.

Has I'm having a bit of trouble finding the product I need, can anyone recommend some\a player that will both upscale SD DVD's and play HD DVD's ? Or point me in the right direction of a resource.

Thanks in advance and apologies if I should have posted this somewhere else or the information is already on the forum and I've been too thick to fiind it !

Glad to have saved you some money.

This will play HD-DVDs and upscale SD DVDs. Also, when you're on the site, have a look at the HD-EP35.

I would also advise that you have a look around other possible suppliers as you may find a better price.

Best of luck.

Cheers,

Martin.

[mjcairney]

And, if you really want one, there's a code listed here for a 10% discount at Play.com for today (Monday) only - be quick.

Cheers,

Martin.

[danjaq]

Originally Posted by mjcairney

And, if you really want one, there's a code listed here for a 10% discount at Play.com for today (Monday) only - be quick.

Cheers,

Martin.

Thanks for your help and with that 10% voucher, just placed my order! Just need to buy the tele now and stand!! As for the free HD-DVDs, which two come with the player (are they the same always) and how soon for the other 5 please?

Thanks!

[dejongj]

Generally upscaling is not performed through component on any of the players.....