to upscale or not ??

W

worskeletor

Guest
planning on getting a samsung ps50q7 plasma - and only have an 8 yr old toshiba dvd via scart .
looking to spend around £100-£150 on a dvd player to take advantage of the HDIM and am thoroughly confused now after reading here .
Do i buy a "normal" player ,or an upgrading type ?

will the enhancing on the tv do a good enough job for my large collection of dvds ?
any recommendations welcome ---thanks


( needs to be black ) !!
 
With that sort of budget, you'd want to buy an upscaling player. This will be connected via hdmi, and will upscale your standard definition (sd) dvds when played on your tv. This function will be performed by the player, not the tv.

It does it's best to make sd content look like high definition (hd), which can be subjective of course :)

Hope this helps, though of course you could spend a bit more and go for an hd-dvd player which would upscale and play hd-dvd discs...probably best to stick to just a standard dvd player though.
 
Sorry to sort of hijack your thread but it is really the same topic. I have a Panasonic TH42PX60 (great picture). Planning to buy a Liteon DD-A500GX DVD recorder from Argos for £99.99, comes with HDMI connection. Anybody got any thoughts on the upscaling qualities of this item. I already have a Liteon DVD recorder, am I likely to notice much of a difference with the HDMI and upscaling capabilities of this newer model?
 
thanks --- thinking about the oppo 981 after reading reviews !
Is this a good choice or not ??
 
If the display is good quality it will do a good job of upscaling. What you want is a player that will give the best output for quality, component or HDMI.
 
Sorry to sort of hijack your thread but it is really the same topic. I have a Panasonic TH42PX60 (great picture). Planning to buy a Liteon DD-A500GX DVD recorder from Argos for £99.99, comes with HDMI connection. Anybody got any thoughts on the upscaling qualities of this item. I already have a Liteon DVD recorder, am I likely to notice much of a difference with the HDMI and upscaling capabilities of this newer model?

Appreciate this is only a DVD player but I've got the panny S52 and I think it's really good and definitely find via HDMI on 720P that a good DVD will be pretty close to some of the HD DVD Blu Ray stuff I've watched.
 
Appreciate this is only a DVD player but I've got the panny S52 and I think it's really good and definitely find via HDMI on 720P that a good DVD will be pretty close to some of the HD DVD Blu Ray stuff I've watched.

Panny S52 looks good, however, now seems to have been discontinued.
 
A decent non upscaling DVD player is much better than most upscaling players when using a LCD or Plasma as the tv will upscale for you anyway. However, the Panasonic S52 is a excellent player even when not using the upscaling capability.
 
I've a Marantz DV7600,Samsung HD850 and the panny s52 ,I use the s52 with my panny 37PV500 plasma and the picture really is good for the money, I'm able to use my DV7600 upstairs in my games room with my wee 26LXD600,and as my marantz cost me 5 times as much as the s52 and I'm happy for it to be in living room tell's you how well I think it performs.(I don't use its upscaler). :thumbsup:
 
A decent non upscaling DVD player is much better than most upscaling players when using a LCD or Plasma as the tv will upscale for you anyway. However, the Panasonic S52 is a excellent player even when not using the upscaling capability.

Could you explain a bit more. Would the TV need to be connected to the DVD player by either HDMI or component to enable the TV to upscale the picture? Surely a non upscaling player if unable to be connected to a HDTV by either HDMI or component will not produce an upscaled picture.
 
Surely a non upscaling player if unable to be connected to a HDTV by either HDMI or component will not produce an upscaled picture.
Think about what you are saying.
What do you think the image on the screen would look like if it wasnt being upscaled regardless?
Its the tv doing the upscaling,not the player.
 
Think about what you are saying.
What do you think the image on the screen would look like if it wasnt being upscaled regardless?
Its the tv doing the upscaling,not the player.

Hi,
Right, I am obviously not making myself very clear. It seems what you are saying is, it matters not a f..k if you buy a DVD player that upscales or not, or has HDMI or component or not. Is it correct to assume that all these DVD manufacturers who produce DVD's with HDMI and component and who suggest that they can produce a better picture on an HD enabled TV are talking ********. I really only want to know if I should waste a few quid buying a DVD that has HDMI output to give me a clearer picture on my Panasonic TH42PX60.
Edit. Are you suggesting that an ancient bog standard DVD player connected to my TV via a scart cable will have its picture upscaled by my TV? I do hope this is the case, however, it does seem rather unlikely given that scart is analogue and HDMI is digital. Apologies if I am talking rubbish. I keep editing this post because it sounds like the rantings of a crabbit old bugger, but I really only want a definitive answer to the benefits or not of buying a non fully HD DVD player. It strikes me that he jury is still considering its verdict and I should save my cash until fully HD DVD players become more affordable.
 
Hi,
Right, I am obviously not making myself very clear. It seems what you are saying is, it matters not a f..k if you buy a DVD player that upscales or not, or has HDMI or component or not. Is it correct to assume that all these DVD manufacturers who produce DVD's with HDMI and component and who suggest that they can produce a better picture on an HD enabled TV are talking ********. I really only want to know if I should waste a few quid buying a DVD that has HDMI output to give me a clearer picture on my Panasonic TH42PX60.


It's always worth having a better connection, don't you think?
 
It is worth having HDMI for the picture quality. I only have SD capability but use HDMI becuase I find it considerably sharper than my component connection (Sony NS76 DVD player).

A HD Ready TV will upscale everything you put into the TV at 576 (or 480 if it a R1 disc). It will also downscale a source from 1080 if the TV happens to 720 (or sometimes 768)
 
ok my view is

Connections are not as important as everyone seems to think , I am talking about HDMI here, its a digital connection thats all and IMHO the same as component.

So the descending quality is

Component/HDMI
RGB SCART
S Video
composite


see this

http://www.ramelectronics.net/html/howto-av.html

next on to upscaling

a normal DVD outputs at 480 i think so if its attached to any HD TV it will be upscaled anyhow

So the question to ask is which does the better upscaling the Flatscreen`s scaler or the dvd upscaler a case in point when buying one of these £80 upscalers highly unlikely it will be as good as the flatscreens

And finally do we go HD dvd route well maybe one day when they are down to a sensible price

regards
 
ok my view is

Connections are not as important as everyone seems to think , I am talking about HDMI here, its a digital connection thats all and IMHO the same as component.

That doesn't mean HDMI is equal to component (even when the HDMI is sending copmponent colour) on all displays. From my own experience with mutiple TV's and projectors. The HDMI has always clearly better with both SD and HD with the models I have used/seen.

Its down to preference to the person on which is better to them. Some people say there is no difference on their TV but it doesn't mean all TV's are like that.
 
planning on getting a samsung ps50q7 plasma - and only have an 8 yr old toshiba dvd via scart .
looking to spend around £100-£150 on a dvd player to take advantage of the HDIM and am thoroughly confused now after reading here .
Do i buy a "normal" player ,or an upgrading type ?

will the enhancing on the tv do a good enough job for my large collection of dvds ?
any recommendations welcome ---thanks


( needs to be black ) !!

Definitely upgrade, £90 on a panny S52 you can't go wrong connected via HDMI set at 720P :thumbsup:
 
Lots of folks saying oppo are a good choice, but are they only available in the USA ? Wouldn`t you have to have a step-down power supply thingy ? Will it play pal discs ? etc etc etc.
 
planning on getting a samsung ps50q7 plasma - and only have an 8 yr old toshiba dvd via scart .
looking to spend around £100-£150 on a dvd player to take advantage of the HDIM and am thoroughly confused now after reading here .
Do i buy a "normal" player ,or an upgrading type ?

will the enhancing on the tv do a good enough job for my large collection of dvds ?
any recommendations welcome ---thanks


( needs to be black ) !!

Right I am going to try again. If you have a HD ready TV which obviously upscales, what point is there in buying a new DVD if you already have an older one. What blooming difference will HDMI, component or scart make when going from the DVD player if it is the HD TV that is doing the upscaling totally independently of the cable sending the picture from the DVD. Basically, could someone who really is technically aware, advise what difference I will see if I buy a DVD with HDMI and connect it to my Panasonic TH42PX60 HD TV. I presently have a 2 year old Liteon DVD (no HDMI or component, only scart) and it works well. So will an 'all singing and all dancing HDMI DVD' make one tiny jot of a difference to my present DVD setup?
 
Yes,without a doubt.
But a cheap and basic one,over what you already have....probably not.

Thanks for the reply but could you explain what it is that the DVD does that improves the picture on the HD TV. Surely it is the HD TV that upscales and not the DVD player.
 
Yes,without a doubt.
But a cheap and basic one,over what you already have....probably not.

I would spend at least for a HDMI DVD player to make it worthwhile. The ones I have seen and like include Sony NS76, Panasonic S52, Pioneer 696 (replaced with the 600AV).

I wouldn't bother with these HDMI ones at £40. They make good component players but very little difference with HDMI.
 

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