Will I see a difference with a new DVD player?

[PGT]

I have an old DVD player which was very far from the top of the pile when I bought it 4-5 years ago. I think it was something like £40 in 2004-2005. It's made by MICO. Anyway, I bought a new LCD before Christmas (Samsung 26" A457) and as that can connect a DVD player with HDMI I have been considering an upgrade to the trusty MICO.

But will I really see a difference in a new player connected via HDMI to my old one with SCART?

The one I was thinking of is the Onkyo DVSP406. So if anyone has any thoughts on that in particular they'd be welcome.

[LV426]

You may well see improvement, but perhaps not as massive as you might imagine........provided that your existing kit is giving of its best. Assuming equally correct adjustment in either case, the difference between HDMI and a properly configured RGB connection is not huge.

So I'd suggest, the first thing to do is ensure you are getting the best out of your existing kit, before you go buying a new one. You may, for example, be getting a composite video feed between your DVD and the TV. You should do ALL of these things; any one of them not done right will cause composite video, which is poor.

- use the TV SCART output on the recorder (not, say the VCR output if it has one)
- in the recorder's menu, set the TV output SCART to output RGB. See the manual if necessary.
- ensure the SCART cable being used has all 21 pins connected up. Most do, but some/few don't. It doesn't mean you have to spend a fortune.
- use an input on the TV that is RGB enabled. See the TV manual
- if necessary (usually, it isn't, but do check the manual) set the TV to RGB for this input.

Once you've done all that - go back to step 2 and change it back to Composite or Video or whatever it's called. Compare with the picture from RGB. If you see no difference, then one of the other 4 points is still wrong. If you see a difference, set it back to RGB and leave it there.

Now return to your TV and turn off or down or to their mid (null) value and sharpness enhancers, detail enhancers, noise reducers etc. And set brightness and contrast to a comfortable level.

Any good?

[Dude a llama]

I reckon you would see a difference. I have a cheap dvd player £80 5 yrs old connected via scart and a decent Pioneer dvd (about £700 from memory) connected via component (that is also getting on in years), there is a big difference in picture quality!

[PGT]

Thanks. I will try the options for the existing player and see what it looks like. It's not a bad picture by any means at the moment anyway although it does have a few issues (that may be the TV of course anyway).
Does the fact the Onkyo one is upscaling make any difference? Surely that should look better than an older standard player?

[LV426]

Not necessarily. Your TV is upscaling anyway. The only difference might be if the new player's scaler is notably better than the one in the TV.

And then there is this to bear in mind. If I am to believe the web the actual native panel resolution of your TV is 1366 x 768 pixels. That might otherwise be referred to as 768p.

Scaling is a process which is theoretically best done only once. I suspect that any player you consider will not be able to produce 768p as this isn't a standard video resolution. If not, and you set it to produce 720p then your TV will have a further upscale to do (to get to 768) and if you set it to 1080p then the TV will have to downscale back to 768.

So, even if you get an upscaling, HDMI player, theory would have it that you should leave the output unscaled - as it comes off the disc - and let the TV do it (so, just once).

As I say - try RGB if you aren't already using that and see what you think. The most likely reason for the substantial difference many people experience when moving to HDMI is, in fact, that they were previously (inadvertently, perhaps) using composite video.