I've noticed that Samsung, Zenith and now Sony have 1080i High Definition upconverting DVD players that supposedly use HDMI input and component input to improve the quality of the DVD picture. Does anybody own one of these and does it do the job well enough for anybody with a large 57" TV to want to buy one. At the moment I'm very unsatisfied with the DVD picture on big screens and I'm hoping that a DVD player like this could make DVD's watchable on a big screen similar to that of HD broadcasting. Does anybody who owns one of these or who has viewed one tell me if it is a 'significant' difference or should I just wait for the HD DVD formats late next year.
I have one and I think it makes a big differnce in picture quality. I have a 56 inch Samsung DLP and a Monitsu 880 player. I usually have it set at 1080i with component cables. It has DVI capabilities, but I haven't bought a DVI cable yet.
I tested the HD-841 via DVI vs. the DVB318 via component on a 50" Sony RPTV and the Zenith blew away the Samsung. If you have a Hi Def TV then upconverters are the way to go. I tried the Sony DVP-NS575P & DVPNS775, as well as the Zenith XBV443 and the Yamaha DVS5750. They all blow compared to an upconverting player. What a waste of time they were. Might as well buy the $25 Cyberhome if your not going to buy an upconverter.
Who makes the HD-841? I recently set up an HD system using an HD satellite receiver with a DVI output, and a Toshiba upconverting DVD player (Model SD-5970). The staellite receiver works wonderfully in HD; and the DVD player worked well for the first week (uses an HDMI output-- combined digital audio and video- but as I am using DVI cables, I connected a HDMI to DVI cable. After the first week the DVD player would not provide a video image through the HDMI output (component output OK but the resolution was not as good). Troubleshooting isolated the problem to the DVD player, which I exchanged, but got the same problem with the new unit. The Toshiba website cites problems with the 5970 HDMI output. I changed to the Samsung upconverting DVD player, which also would not work through its straight DVI output. I am left using the component outputs of the Toshiba unit. I am looking for another upconverting DVD player to try. Can you tell me who makes the HD-841? TIA, solomon
Samsung makes the HD-841, but it's garbage. Samsung also has the new HD-941 which uses the same chip (Faroudja DCDi) as the Zenith DVB318.
