Should I buy?

[gofer]

Guys

I am the proud owner of a Loewe Spheros 32 and currently I am plying DVD's through a very basic Sony (supermarket job) machine via Scart into the Spheros.

Now I know that I should upgrade the Sony to something (like a Denon 1920 or similar my max budget for the DVD player is 500 pounds) with HDMI and or component but the thing is, to my eyes the Sony is producing great pictures. I am assuming this is due to the signal processing and upscalingbeing done by the Spheros?

I am reading and hearing that any upscaling done by the DVD will only be as good as the processing of the TV. So am I right in thinking that I am already getting as good as I can expect because the processing of the Spheros is top notch and will not be bettered by the machine (unless I am
spending more than my budget) and that the only benefit I am likely to see is through the connection?

If the answer is yes, is this worth spending the cash on a new player to get the connectivity? Should I be looking at a reasonably proiced budget player that provides the connectivity and be content with the processing of the Spheros.

Or are all of the above wanderings rubbish! Any views and suggestions welcomed.

Gofer

Bring your current Sony into someplace decent (probably not one of the electronic supermarkets) and test it against somthing else - preferrably on a Loewe Spheros. I'd hazard a guess that you will see an immediate and marked improvement over the picture you are currently viewing if you upgrade to something better. You won't need to go mad for a 32" screen, so 500 is more than enough to give you an amazing picture. I believe that Spheros is supposed to be pretty good.

[cjohnson6]

At 32" I don't think you'll not see much difference, although changing SCARTs may be a better solution... I don't know what you're currently using. A good cable doesn't have to cost much and I reckon you'll see a huge improvement. If you're into DIY you can even make your own out of a cheapy cable and replace the coaxs with RG59 or RG6 cable... for a few quid you can have a top class cable. My personal experiance was when I upgraded from a Toshiba 220SE to a Denon 3910 on a 28" CRT. The differences were not immediately obvious, but changing from your cheap junk SCART to something better ... that's when things started to happen. I still use the Toshiba upstairs in the bedroom and it's still good on a 28" screen. The Denon now has to feed HDMI to a 42" Plasma.... much much better....

Perhaps try to get the most from what you already have...do some fine tuning.... unless that £500 is really burning a hole in your pocket.