I have a Sony KD-34XBR970, which is a 34 inch CRT with HDMI input. That's what I have read and as much as I know lol! I am not an expert...that's why I found this place. Is there an upconverting DVD player that will provide a significantly better picture than a standard player (garden variety $40-$70)? I use it to play good old Blockbuster rentals, nothing unusual.
You can this player from sony DVP-NC85H/B or the single disk player that they have you want to stay with sony.
Up conversion for CRTs is pointless. So I guess my answer is no, but no meaning you don't need an upconvert DVD player at all. You would do better to find a really good DVD player or an upconvert DVD player that is also a great SD-DVD player. Why? Your CRT is an "Interlace" scanning display and works fine with direct analog/digital interlaced feeds. Also, because your TV is a "Tube" TV it can adapt naturally to different resolutions. Other technologies that have a fixed amount of pixels (LCD, DLP, Plasma, ect...) need up-convert DVD players because by design they can't adapt easily to lower resolutions. Its not a short coming its just a reality of digital video recreation schemes. Most people go with up-convert DVD players just because they promise to make the picture look better. This just isn't true in most cases as the video processors are either flawed or worst than the one inside your TV (or both). --After Thinking About It-- I really didn't give you any useful info. Lets define a good DVD player... Warning: I rant about more than a sane person would want to know about DVD players. Read at your own risk. Feel free to skip to the bottom at any time... -Needs to be able to detect and adapt to different Cadences! The most common cadence is "3:2" (or 2:3; A.K.A. 3:2 pull-down and reverse 2:3 pull-down) used to display movies on tv screens correctly. You see movies are shot at ~24 frames-per-second (fps) while TVs move at ~60fps. To make it all work properly you must know that the source is film. If a player doesn't get this fundamental step right you are wasting your time since every step above it (including up conversion) will be wrong. Clip: Cadence detection http://www.hqv.com/technology/index1/cadence_detection.cfm?CFID=&CFTOKEN=22060665 If your player is a progressive scan DVD player... -Needs to de-interlace properly! If the DVD player can't take the SD interlaced (480i or 720x480 interlaced pixels or SDTV quality) content and make it SD progressive (480p or 720x480 progressive pixels or EDTV quality) without dropping detail then you are wasting you money. Sadly this is what most of the bargain players are plagued by. Again just like with bad cadence detection if the content is not properly de-interlaced then the whole idea of up-conversion is DOA. Clip: Good vs Bad De-interlacing http://www.hqv.com/technology/index1/deinterlacing.cfm?CFID=&CFTOKEN=22060665 Lastly; If your player is an up-convert DVD player... -Needs to be able to detect and enhance fine detail without adding noise to the picture! Most up-convert DVD players under $300 don't know how to figure out what is detail and what is noise in the first place. So then all you see is a crappy picture blown up to epic scale. That isn't good. If the system can't identify detail then the noise reduction system doesn't know what not to take out and makes the whole picture look soft (like turning the sharpness down on an older TV set). What's worse is that some players that can detect fine detail can't do it when the random variable of motion is entered into the equation (especially with bad cadence detection). Starting to see how all of this is linked? Thought so... Clip: Noise reduction http://www.hqv.com/technology/index1/noise_reduction.cfm?CFID=&CFTOKEN=22060665 Clip: Detail enhancement http://www.hqv.com/technology/index1/detail_enhancement.cfm?CFID=&CFTOKEN=22060665 [bold]--Bottom--[/bold] Now for the useful information. Make sure that the brand you pick has a good name in making great pictures. Chances are that if they make great DVD players then their up-convert players will be just as well done. Here is a list to start you off: Toshiba HD DVD players, Denon, Pioneer-Elite, and Yamaha. For the more budget minded: Oppo, Panasonic, and Philips. Ced
