Upscalimg DVD Players

1975jas

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I have read and heard a lot about upscaling dvd players and am rather confused.

If these type of players do as promised, as in 'upscale' your current dvd's to the quality of HD/Blu Ray - whats the point in waiting for either medium to be released and then spending money on the latest technology - which I assume will be sold at a premium in the first year or so.

I would be interested in anyones thoughts and if possible an exact description of what these things do - as in would I be able to see any difference on my Pioneer 43sxde plasma - as I must say the current quality I get out of it is very good.

Whats the best value for money upscaling DVD out there? and is it better to wait for HD/Blu Ray

Any thoughts would be much appreciated.

Thanks
Jason
 
Jason,

I have the samsung hd950 and its fine... does a decent job.

the truth is upscaling dvd players do an 'adquate' job....but not really anything in comparison to true HD....

If you have a spare £100 get an upscaling dvd player to placate your curiosity....if not, hold on 12 months and get a true HD one :O)
 
These players upscale to a higher resolution, they don't upscale your current DVDs to quality of that you might get HD DVD / BR. The infomation on the DVD is limited and you can't get something from nothing, all they do is to, in some circumstances better, others worse, is to match the resolution to the display device. It bears little resemblance to true high definition material and should not be confused with it.
 
Worth a look at the Oppo thread a bit further down - arguably the best of the DVI upscalers.
 
Not all upscaling DVD players are created equal. Basic ones will possibly be worse than the upscaling/deinterlacing built into a decent display, better spec'd ones will probably be better. Its a matter of trying it to see what works best.
 
But....don't most displays, e.g. quality plasma display, do their own upscaling?

Is it that the DVDs contain better upscaling technology?

EDIT> Oops - just read Ianh64 post which kind of answers my question. So presumably I would need to get a decent DVD player to go with my Pioneer 436 XDE because the built-in upscaling/deinterlacing is probably better than a cheap dvd one?
 
Correct
 
I would also argue that most displays don't have good upscaling engines, they display a video source. DVD players create a video source so IMO have better scaling engines.

I also think a good upscaling player produces a picture very similar to HD and until the next format is at an 'everyday' price, are a good substitute for true HD material. I watch HD everyday and still enjoy watching my DVDs being upsampled - 'cause I certainly can't watch them at 480p no more:eek: .

Try to demo a few and take along your favourite DVD and see if you notice the difference, also if you have a digital connection then try view the demo digitally.

If you are looking for a player for your display then ask folk what unit they use for your specefic TV, that way you can narrow down what is ultimately a huge selection.
 
I have to disagree with this, due partly to personal experiance and also the fact that the job of a fixed pixel display is to take a video source and scale it to it's native resolution so there's no reason why the scaling engine in a £1K-£2K LCD for example won't be better than £200 DVD player.
 
...this is where I get confused. If the benefits of a decent player are so clear to see, why is there disagreement about it.

If it is debatable and down to individual's eyes and what they pick up then maybe I should go and take a look as for me it might be 'the emporer's new clothes' !
 
Put it this way, dvd player manufactures needed a new gimmick to shift more dvd players and at the same time introduce HDMI. Blow anything thing up the quality does not get better it gets worse. So you need a scaler to try and keep the pQ as close to the original RES as possible. Some plasma scalers are pretty good some dvd players are better. If you want the best then get a video processor.
 

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