Upconverting DVD Players

[hamsquatch]

Anyone have a basic upconverting DVD player? One that upconverts standard DVDs to 1080p...I'm hesitant to purchace a Blue Ray player since I'm not convinced the technology is sticking and it seems expensive. I also don't want to repurchase any of my DVDs. These non Blue Ray modes seem inexpensive but I don't know if the 1080p upconvert is a bunch of BS or not.

help?

 

[Mike_Rupp]

Why don't you think Blu-Ray isn't sticking? HD DVD is dead, so it is the only higher quality technology at this point.

That being said, the basic upconverting DVD players do a decent job. It will make the picture slightly better, but it isn't going to blow you away. It isn't even in the same ballpark as a Blu-Ray disk. Even with the better picture quality, I definitely won't be replacing any of my old DVDs with Blu Ray disks.

 

[hamsquatch]

So for south of $60 is it worth my money to get a 1080p upconvert or man up and get a blue ray? I'm running an old 720p DVD player now.

I look at the Blue Ray players and they are bulky looking, which leaves me to think that as soon as I buy one then they will come out with better models.

I acknowledge that BR has beat out HD...but won't people eventually migrate to so some sort of PC based entertainment system anyway ?

 

[bigred]

Man up. I've got a Blu-Ray, and it will knock your socks off. The difference between it and regular dvd is amazing. Mine also upconverts standard dvd's, but just to 1080i. Even the upconverted standard dvd is night and day from 720 though. You owe it to yourself and your good tv to do it. I've got a Samsung and it pretty slim. Check around for the features you want though. Unless you need your dvd player to go online to get "exclusive" content and shit like that, you don't need a top of the line model.

 

[hamsquatch]

Thank Reg. You up for summer rally? Not sure of the scoop yet.

 

[bigred]

Probably. Daddy needs a trip.

 

[Finn]

Don't buy a Blue Ray player get a Sony PlayStation 3 instead - game console and Blue Ray all in one (store your music collection on it too).

 

[Ballah06]

I got a regular dvd, but what bout the price per Blu-Ray dvds themselves? Do you guys think its worth paying 1.5-2 times more per dvd??

 

[bigred]

I got a regular dvd, but what bout the price per Blu-Ray dvds themselves? Do you guys think its worth paying 1.5-2 times more per dvd??

I don't know. I don't buy any movies, just rent them. Blockbuster has a pretty decent stock and is getting better all the time.

 

[noee]

Another option is your computer. With free software, a good 1080P TV and a reasonable graphics card, you can beat the set top upscalers easy. With SD material (DVD, 480P), you can decode the stream, apply sharpening and noise filters and upscale to your panel size with minimal hardware. If your CPU is really weak, you can offload decoding and upscaling to your video card should it support the h/w acceleration. HD material at high bitrates is another animal and requires pretty serious h/w if your post-processing.

As and example, one of my HTPC boxes has a middle of the road AMD X2 with a 4-generation-old ATI HD2600XT and I've got plenty of headroom for resizing and sharpening filters, CPU/GPU barely break a sweat on SD material.

This is connected (HDMI) to an LG37 1080P TV that accepts both PC and TV video levels.

 

[57loboy]

Another option is your computer. With free software, a good 1080P TV and a reasonable graphics card, you can beat the set top upscalers easy. With SD material (DVD, 480P), you can decode the stream, apply sharpening and noise filters and upscale to your panel size with minimal hardware. If your CPU is really weak, you can offload decoding and upscaling to your video card should it support the h/w acceleration. HD material at high bitrates is another animal and requires pretty serious h/w if your post-processing.

As and example, one of my HTPC boxes has a middle of the road AMD X2 with a 4-generation-old ATI HD2600XT and I've got plenty of headroom for resizing and sharpening filters, CPU/GPU barely break a sweat on SD material.

This is connected (HDMI) to an LG37 1080P TV that accepts both PC and TV video levels.

Impressive but way too technical for me - I'm a plug and play kind of A/V guy. That said, my current DVD is an ancient Sony from when 5.1 surround was "cool". I really need to make the step to a progressive scan model. Heck, even the portable one for the car is a progressive scan...I'm just too cheap right now though I am sure the 52" Panasonic plasma would appreciate a more modern player.

 

[noee]

Yeah, if you're not willing to fiddle around a little, then stay away from the HTPC option. I will say, however, a lot of the "hard" work has been done in terms of video and high-quality 10/8bit renderers. HD audio is new frontier and it is proving to be difficult to conquer for the "open source" crowd.

That said, on a panel that large, just about *any* upscaling of 480P material is going be disappointing compared to BD, IMO. You will want to just sit back from the panel a little bit farther.

I would suggest as the others have, a BD player or some such.

 

[57loboy]

Oh I'm sitting a good 8-10 feet back from it... I think I'll end up with a BR player soon, but won't upgrade any existing DVDs, just the rare ones we do actually buy - maybe 3-5 a year at most...