Upscaling, any improvement?

sisko

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I have a Panasonic 42"PX60 with a Phillips DVP5100 conected using the component inputs.

If I change the Philips for an upscaling DVD player will I see any improvement in the picture? At present the screen has to upsacle the picture to fit the screen. Is the Panny scaler any good or would a scaling DVD player be any better?

Grateful for any advice, and recommendations of a good player to get.

Many thanks.
 
I watched star wars 3 on my mates 42" tv using a denom upscale dvd player and it looked much better than without upscaling. That said, I'm comparing it to a 32" crt viewing.
 
I have a Panasonic 42"PX60 with a Phillips DVP5100 conected using the component inputs.

If I change the Philips for an upscaling DVD player will I see any improvement in the picture? At present the screen has to upsacle the picture to fit the screen. Is the Panny scaler any good or would a scaling DVD player be any better?

Grateful for any advice, and recommendations of a good player to get.

Many thanks.

To be honest with scaling DVD players, you have to spend a fair bit to get any worthwhile improvements. Denon's 2930 for example would be a good start also the Pionner 989AVI can be had at excellent discounts now. You best bet would be to go to a dealer and ask to see several mchines at different price points and then make your own mind up. There are other facets to a good picture performance from a DVD player such as noise reduction, colour enhancement, de-interlacing etc.
 
Yep, quite agree with Jakal. Too much emphasis is put on upscaling. It really depends on how good you panasonic's scaling is compared to your players. And invariably the screen, if it's an LCD or plasma, is going to have to do a bit of scaling as well.
 
To be honest with scaling DVD players, you have to spend a fair bit to get any worthwhile improvements.

Don't agree (unless you consider £100 too much)

Admitted, I don't have a large TV with it being a 32" but it is supposed to be one of the best (Sony Bravia 32V2000 720p/1080i).

Recently replaced an old £30 DVD player & Philips DVD Reocorder both connected via RGB SCART with the Sony DVP-NS76H connected via HDMI at 1080i. Couldn't believe the improvement and even the wife (who usually doesn't notice such things) commented on how good the image was. And I'm comparing it to Blu-ray playback on my PS3!!! (before you say anything its also been reviewed as better than stand-alone Blu-ray players).

If upscaling DVD's can look this good it makes you wonder if HD will take off. Sure the difference is more noticeable on 42"+ screens though and there are some poor DVD transfers.

PS. Bought it based purely on recommendations in AVForums. In fact, all my kit was based on recommendations from AVForums :D
 
Thanks for all the responses guys, gives me something to think about.

I will probably end up buying an HD DVD player at some stage, but with over 600 DVDs I will need a reasonable player for these as too which is why I am considering an upscaling player.

I may as well wait until the January sales and see what is on offer.
 
FWIW I booted out my Denon 1920 for an Oppo and I am extremely happy.

I also have the same panel as you. Search on here for for Oppo or look up my thread. They are relatively inexpensive and give great value in my opinion.
 
I have a 52xd1e Sharp lcd.

Connected is a Sony 999es dvd player 2 years old now, connected via component. @ 480p
Connected is also a Samsung 860 upscaling dvd player connected via HDMI @1080i.
Connected is a xbox360 HD drive connected via component @1080i.

The picture of the Hd drive of course blows the others away, but my Sony with its 480p output runs rings around the Samsung with its 1080i upscaled picture. So my conclusion is a £500 + quality player can outperform any budget upscaler.
Unless your going to spend at least £300 + on an upscaler, I wouldnt bother, stick with what you have and wait for the format war to end, or get an xbox HD drive for £120, bargain:smashin: the xbox is a fairly good SD dvd player as well.:)
 
well I just finished comparing my 360 through component (which as far as Im aware doesnt upscale) to a sony 76 using hdmi on my sammy 40" lcd and to me I cant tel lthe difference, and I did plenty of testing. From what I can tell the upscaling has improved loads in the tvs...
 

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