[rushdenx1]

Have just ordered a Toshiba EP30, thinking I would get the best of both worlds. Upscaling to 1080p on my current DVD collection and the chance to watch even better quality HD DVDs. However a friend of mine has said he has read that HD DVD players will not upscale existing DVDs aswell as a normal DVD player with upscaling capabiilty, because these manufacturers have concentrated on getting the HD DVD part right and are less interested in the upscaling bit. Can anyone comment on this ?

[dazza74]

Originally Posted by rushdenx1

Have just ordered a Toshiba EP30, thinking I would get the best of both worlds. Upscaling to 1080p on my current DVD collection and the chance to watch even better quality HD DVDs. However a friend of mine has said he has read that HD DVD players will not upscale existing DVDs aswell as a normal DVD player with upscaling capabiilty, because these manufacturers have concentrated on getting the HD DVD part right and are less interested in the upscaling bit. Can anyone comment on this ?

Your friends got this wrong IMO, the XE-1 for example has the same Reon chip Denon were putting in their 2930.

By all accounts the reports I've read coming out of the states say the EP30 & EP35 are very good an upscaling SD DVD's they even give the XE-1 equivalent there a run for it's money.

[Silver Serpent]

Originally Posted by rushdenx1

Have just ordered a Toshiba EP30, thinking I would get the best of both worlds. Upscaling to 1080p on my current DVD collection and the chance to watch even better quality HD DVDs. However a friend of mine has said he has read that HD DVD players will not upscale existing DVDs aswell as a normal DVD player with upscaling capabiilty, because these manufacturers have concentrated on getting the HD DVD part right and are less interested in the upscaling bit. Can anyone comment on this ?

Your friend is wrong, maybe he/she is jealous

It will depend on the upscaling capabilities of the player and what processor it has, but I'd imagine the EP30 will do a fine job of upscaling, although I doubt it will have a Reon?

What processor will it have?

[dazza74]

Originally Posted by Silver Serpent

Your friend is wrong, maybe he/she is jealous

It will depend on the upscaling capabilities of the player and what processor it has, but I'd imagine the EP30 will do a fine job of upscaling, although I doubt it will have a Reon?

What processor will it have?

Both the EP30 and EP35 share the same Anchor Bay processor, Reon will still only be available on the XE-1

[Avi]

Originally Posted by rushdenx1

Have just ordered a Toshiba EP30, thinking I would get the best of both worlds. Upscaling to 1080p on my current DVD collection and the chance to watch even better quality HD DVDs. However a friend of mine has said he has read that HD DVD players will not upscale existing DVDs aswell as a normal DVD player with upscaling capabiilty, because these manufacturers have concentrated on getting the HD DVD part right and are less interested in the upscaling bit. Can anyone comment on this ?

That's not been my experience and is the sort of thing some retailers selling "premium" brand DVD players tell their prospective customers. I have a decent DVD setup and the HD DVD players holds its own pretty well at upscaling DVD. There may well be some difference with higher end DVD players i.e. £1.5K+.

What display will you be using and out of interest what display does your friend use ?

AVI

[rushdenx1]

Thanks for all your helpful replies. I have a Panasonic TH37PX70.

[TommyVecetti]

So what's this Anchor Bay scaling chip like then? Where in the pecking line does it fall compared say to the older faroudja stuff and the newer silicon optix reon stuff?

If it's very very good I would be more inclined to buy one of these machines.

[Nic Rhodes]

Pretty much at the top of the pile. Personally I prefer it over the Reon.

[TommyVecetti]

Excellent and is it definitely the same chip used on both these models?

[Nic Rhodes]

Don't know I haven't seen any internal pics or lifted any lids yet.

Anybody noticed that the ep35 won't upscale some (if not a majority) of standard DVD's? Everytime i play a SD i get a message telling me it wont upscale above 576p (approx). I have a component cable going from my tosh to my panny 42 and a HDMI out to my onkyo 805.
I've checked the usual to make sure i'm not in muppet zone , but resolution out is at 720p and input at the TV is component not HDMI, (DTS is getting through to my amp as it's getting displayed where available)........

So much for "nearly reon comparable" scaling

[PJTX100]

Very early days but my initial reaction is that the EP30 upscales as well as my Oppo and, when I bought it, the Oppo was a very well regarded "upscaler".

[TommyVecetti]

Originally Posted by andygixxer

Anybody noticed that the ep35 won't upscale some (if not a majority) of standard DVD's? Everytime i play a SD i get a message telling me it wont upscale above 576p (approx). I have a component cable going from my tosh to my panny 42 and a HDMI out to my onkyo 805.
I've checked the usual to make sure i'm not in muppet zone , but resolution out is at 720p and input at the TV is component not HDMI, (DTS is getting through to my amp as it's getting displayed where available)........

So much for "nearly reon comparable" scaling

You won't be able to upscale DVDs via component. Only HDMI.

[Barzo]

Originally Posted by PJTX100

Very early days but my initial reaction is that the EP30 upscales as well as my Oppo and, when I bought it, the Oppo was a very well regarded "upscaler".

My Ep30 gets within spitting distance of my Denon 3930, at least on my 40 inch screen. Lack of picture adjustments is the key missing feature on the Tosh, but given the price tag, and the HD capabilities, something of a steal! There is still a difference, and I'd favour the Realta based 3930, but the difference is probably not worth the five times more expensive price tag.

[AgentCool]

Got to say I've been hugely impressed with the upscaling abilities of the EP35. At first I thought it was only a small improvement over those of the E1 but having tried a few more discs the EP35 is the clear winner. The E1 had a few jaggy problems that aren't seen here and the whole image seems quite a bit sharper at 1080i. Not only that but it easily trounces the Denon 2910 (Faroudja scaler) I bought 3 years ago for £520.

Considering the excellent overall quality of the player plus the 7 free discs costing a total of just £270, the EP35 is, to me, the AV bargain of the year.

[TommyVecetti]

I have to say once I'd readjusted the picture settings on my TV with the THX optimiser, I'm now very pleased with the upscaling of the EP30.

[dazza74]

Been impressed with the upscaling on my EP35 as well

[Dr Force]

Hi guys

Any tips what to adjust on my Plasma (see sig) to get the most out of the EP-30 upscaling. It is good but if it can be better............................................ .......................

[binbag]

This thread just tipped me over the edge of ordering an EP35. If its good enough for Nic...

[TommyVecetti]

I hope we get some kind of MR firmware sooner rather than later.

Originally Posted by TommyVecetti

You won't be able to upscale DVDs via component. Only HDMI.

I'm assuming that it's a limitation of the tosh that it won't upscale through the component??

I was hoping to channel the video straight to the TV and sound only through the amp, (isn't that what THX recommends as well??)

[TommyVecetti]

Originally Posted by andygixxer

I'm assuming that it's a limitation of the tosh that it won't upscale through the component??

No upscaling DVDs is only allowed via HDMI across the board. It's like a rule or something.

[fox2020]

Originally Posted by TommyVecetti

No upscaling DVDs is only allowed via HDMI across the board. It's like a rule or something.

And a bloody stupid rule

[Jase Winter]

I was actually taken back by how much better my ep30 was at upscaling than my old dvd player, I kinda wondered what all the fuss was with the upscaling business until i got the ep30, but then it was only a sub £100 player.

So yeah i'm really happy with the upscaling.

[TommyVecetti]

I Agree. Now that I've tried different kinds of DVD material on the EP30 such as new films, older films, archive TV stuff. It's surprising how good it is. Now we just need it multiregion.

[Redjay]

I set mine up last night and only had time to watch a bit of one Sd Dvd and was not at all impressed! ( The Firmware upgrade was no problem)

It was nowhere near as good as my Denon DVD-1930 on my Sony Kds-55a2000, 1080P full HD screen.

I tried it at 1080p, 1080i and 720p.

Any ideas anybody. Anyone also upgraded from the Denon?

[TommyVecetti]

Originally Posted by Redjay

I set mine up last night and only had time to watch a bit of one Sd Dvd and was not at all impressed! ( The Firmware upgrade was no problem)

It was nowhere near as good as my Denon DVD-1930 on my Sony Kds-55a2000, 1080P full HD screen.

I tried it at 1080p, 1080i and 720p.

Any ideas anybody. Anyone also upgraded from the Denon?

Interesting. I have the Denon 1940, which is the model up from the 1930, which you have. Perhaps people look for different things in upscaling, as I think the EP30 is a bit better than the 1940. What are your picture settings on the 1930?

I think the upscaling of my EP-30 is awful loads of jaggies (my tv is a panny
32lxd700) try star wars episode 2 the clone wars,skip to 17 and 20 and the jaggies are every where,so i'm gonna use my panny s97 dvd and let the panel do the scaling,i think the HD-E1 has less jaggies

[TommyVecetti]

I think it depends on the DVD to an extent. Attack of the Clones looks better on my Denon, but my Battlestar DVDs look better on the EP30. The Denon can make some DVDs look awful, which isn't the case with the EP30. So far.

[richardb70]

Well, I'd like to say that my old Panny S97 has been doing a fine job of upscaling - until the EP35 came along. Having just seen the new kid on the block upscaling Return Of The King, I won't be using the Panny again.

Also, and this could just be me, the sound seemed improved?! I've got the Toshiba wired up to a Yamaha 757 over analogue and optical at the moment, with the Tosh configured for analogue (300 in True HD last night). I couldn't be bothered to go into the EP35's setup menu to enable the optical bitstreaming, so left the Tosh to decode the DTS track. Ran the "evacuate Osgiliath" scene from Disc 1 - great sound demo - and it sounded fantastic...