I have several upconverting DVD players and many standard players, one 40" CRT Sony HDTV, one 32" CRT Sony HDTV, and one 62" Mits 1080p DLP. I have seen very little difference in picture quality with my upconverting players (on CRT using DVI or DLP using HDMI). I recently purchased the Xbox 360 HD-DVD add-on (which uses component connections) and the picture is amazing. I have read many articles/forums about the player and see that many people are just as impressed. My eyes are not the perfect tool for measuring quality, but for me it is good enough at $200. I will buy a Blu-Ray soon and maybe upgrade to a real HD-DVD when the prices come down. My understanding is that upconverting a highly-compressed movie can't look great (maybe good, but not great). HD and BD hold more information and therefore can deliver it on the screen. That's my two cents - not that two cents is worth anything these days!
This post may not be in the most appropriate forum. It's interesting to read the comments regarding upconverting players and CRT HD sets as my experience has been the complete opposite. I decided to go for the SONY DVPNS75H which was on sale here in Canada for under $100 a few weeks ago. I just couldn't justify the prices for BR or HD-DVD players (currently ranging between $700-$1200 CDN) and figured why not give the upconverter a try..if it didn't work I'd just return it. All I can say is "WOW"! Here is what I experienced. Using an HDMI to DVI cable to interface to my Pana CT-34WX53 1080i HD set I wanted to ensure I wasn't just seeing something I wanted to see so I decided to run the upconverter side by side with my current progressive scan player which is hooked up via component cables to the same TV. Until this test I used to think that player (also a SONY) produced excellent images. Yes I double checked all connections to ensure they were correct. I then compared two or three movies selecting various scenes and noted the differences between the players. There was no doubt in my mind that the upconverter's images were much more detailed and life-like. Just to be sure I wasn't seeing things I asked my wife to give me her opinions. She is not a technogeek by any means and had little knowledge of what I was actually showing her or why I was asking for her opions but asked her to comment on the picture quality figuring if she reacts the same as I then I wasn't just seeing something I wanted to beleive. When I switched to the upconverting player I consistenly heard her say..."oh yeah"..or "wow...I never noticed that scene before it looks so clear I could put my hand into the tv"....or with the regular progressive player..."hmmm..it's too dark...I didn't notice how dark it was before...the facial colours are sort of brown and not so natural looking"..."it's not as clear as the other one..."I'd like to watch that movie over again now". Based on her comments and my own thoughts it was clear that the upconverter was the winner and really was making a significant difference delivering near HD quality images on the CRT set. At the end of the day we can argue technical tid bits back and forth as to why and how upconverters do what they do and why or why not they should work with one type of technology better or worse but to the lay person all that matters is does the image look good. If the answer is yes it does then that's all the matters. I realize this may not be the most scientific testing method but it clearly demonstrated the differences enough for me to feel satisfied that my decision to go with the upconverter until a clear victor appears on the format war battlefield as well as the prices for these HD players come down to a more respectable level was a good one. Oh and maybe by then we will be able to back up those expensive HD disks as well. By the way this test was done using ONLY my backed-up copies thinking if the upconverter could handle them well then the store bought DLs would look even better.
G1nger- I have the big brother of your Sony DVD Player, the DVP-NS90V. I also have the 400 DVD Upconversion Jukebox, the DVP-CX995V. I have not been impressed with the difference between the Progressive Scan Sony players and the HD-Upconversion players. Maybe since I have been using component cables and the Sony progressive scan players, the jump to HD-Upconversion wasn't too noticeable. I can tell you for a fact (based on my setup) that the HD-DVD player makes the HD-Upconversion player look like a VCR. On Saturday my wife and I watched Accepted on HD-DVD, then immediately watched You, Me, and Dupree on the HD-Upconversion player - we could not believe how blurry and soft the standard DVD looked. My wife compared it to watching a regular TV channel to an HDTV channel. I had watched several HD movies already and was impressed, but I did not realize just how different the picture was compared to standard definition. I expected the HD-Upconversion player to knock my socks off when I bought it almost a year ago. The important thing is that you like the results you are getting - and that's really all that matters. All the specs and technospeak can't change that.
Hi Robtwilk, I'm glad you are seeing such a noticeable improvement with the HD-DVD player. It gives me something to look forward too once the price for that technology drops here in Canada. Just a bit too high for me at this time. G
not all upcoverting dvd players look the same . i seen several and the Oppo 971 blows them all away except for the 850.00 Denon
I just purchase Sony SXRD 60A2000 and I have a 6yr old Toshiba (SD-3109C) Progressive scan DVD player. I have hooked it up to my new HDTV using the old RCA jacks (YWR). I am in the same predicamentas the rest of the guys in this forum. Should I get a HD DVD or Upconvert DVD or should I just change the cables on my current DVD player to component. I feel if I just change the cable on my current DVD player the picture quality will be close to the upconver DVD players, since I think the new TV does some of the upconverting anyway. Any help in this regard would be most appreciated.
For all of you that haven't bought a HD-DVD player yet. I would hold off just a little bit longer and wait till the new Toshiba HD-A2 comes out next month. It's their 2nd generation HD-DVD player and has upconverting and will go for around $430 online. Also you know the older models are going to drop in price once it comes out. Check out this article I found on it- http://ultimateavmag.com/firstlookdiscplayers/1106toshibahda2/
One thing about the Xbox 360 HD-DVD add-on is that it is very "software" based, so maybe upgrades could be done via downloads?? Anyway, I'm guessing the next Xbox 360 will come with the HD-DVD drive included in the main console and include an HDMI output. But I agree with RMnTnA above - the next gen players will be better than the first ones and eventually the price will come down. It sucks to be an early adopter, but then again you do get to enjoy the good stuff sooner instead of later. To Rjessa- I have a 62" 1080p DLP TV, when I first hooked up the TV and HD-Upconversion DVD player I used composite (RCA) cables I had sitting around. The picture was so bad I thought I had just wasted $4,000 on the TV - I was sick! The next day I bought an HDMI cable and replaced the composite cables; the difference was beyond amazing (not just "hey that looks better", but "holy crap that's why I paid $4k for a 1080p HDTV"). However, the quality of the HD-DVD player is 5-10 times better than the picture from my HD-upconversion player.
Before I get all excited about HD-DVD or Blu-ray has anyone got one of these new players hooked up to a CRT-based HD TV? I'm just curious to hear of any experiences..good or bad.
I say AMEN to that. I would also add the enhanced quality of the new audio codecs namely Dolby TruHD - a much improved home theater experience altogether. My girlfriend's dad has a Toshiba HD-XA1 hooked up by component to a Sony CRT 1080i (can't remember the model) and the picture quality is excellent. He's really happy with HD-DVD playback and is planning on a BluRay standalone. Some people will say that CRT's still have the advantage over flat panels when it comes to picture quality.
No problem G1nger. I just found out that the model of his Sony HDTV is KD-34XBR960 - a direct view CRT set with excellent picture.
I am researching a TV and home theater package and have some questions about progressive scan vs HD DVD players and LCD vs Plasma big screen tvs that I hope you can help me work through. Question #1: I have a very large library of dvd's, none of which are HD, however I would like to start investing in HD content. I am wondering if there is a player out there that will do both. Question #2: Since my carrier (DISHNetwork) transmits in 1080i, I am wondering if it is worth the cost of investing in a 1080p TV at this point given that it will likely be a while before DISH will start trasmitting in 1080p and most dvd players cannot seem to accommodate anything above 720p. Question #3: I play World of Warcraft a lot and would love to be able to use my TV as my monitor. I have read that LCD flat panel is a better format than Plasma because of the speed at which LCD can reproduce the images. My PC is an Alienware Area51M 7700 laptop with an nVidia GeForce Go 7800 GTX video card with 256M of onboard memory. So whatever TV I choose should have a connection I can use to connect to my PC. What type of connection would be best for this application? Also, does the tv's resolution play into this at all? Question #4: I have a couple of Ipods that I would like to play through the home theater system. Many of the high end systems (Bose, Kef) advertise that they connect to ipods but I cant seem to find any info about how they do it. Any recommendations on a system that can reproduce theater quality sound from the TV, play HD dvds and progressive scan regular dvds, and connect to my ipods??? Well thats all my questions for now (I think). Help me spend my bonus and give me some direction here. Thanks in advance!!
one of the best sets out there are the new Sony SXRD . i have the 60" and love it along with many members in here so it def. a good set to consider. we have a couple threads on the set if you want to give it a look . http://www.sonystyle.com/is-bin/INT..._55to80TVs&Dept=tvvideo&ProductSKU=KDS60A2000 http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/358708 http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/327702
Actually current and upcoming 2nd gen HD-DVD players can be used for DVD playback. The Toshiba HD-A1 that I have does a better job of upconverting DVD's than my Oppo. If you want to start investing in HD content and are going HD-DVD - your current DVD collection will still be playable in your HD-DVD player. I'm not familiar with the specs of your laptop but if it has a VGA output you can use that and set the video card to display at your HDTV's native resolution. If it has DVI/HDMI then that would be my choice.
Thanks for your suggestions. I also found the Toshiba web site and saw that they are about to release the second generation of the HD-DVD player that also does upconverting for $499, significantly less than the $799 HD-DVD player that Circuitcity has right now. A follow up question on connecting my PC to a TV - is VGA the only option or are there better options to go with that can get me better video resolution (RCA, S-Video . . .)?
In a previous response, it was suggested that you will need to look for a set that has a DVI input to connect your PC there are plenty out there. you will need a respone time of 8ms to game on it and the res. on the highend sets will work fine What device needs a 8ms response and where would I look to find that type of information? Do you have any suggestions for sets that would comply?
The 1st generation Toshiba HD-A1 actually retailed for $499 and can now be had for much less if you look around. The HD-XA1 is probably the one you saw at $799 although I thought Circuit City didn't carry Toshiba products. The 2nd gen HD-A2 is priced at $499. I would stay away from composite RCA and S-Video if you want to connect your laptop. Stick with VGA or (if available) DVI/HDMI.
I'm surprised to see an earier poster recommend the Sony WEGA for PC monitor applications as I have heard that the projection tvs do not handle the video as well as the LCD flat panel. I have an old (I mean really old) RCA projection 52" tv that I hooked up to my playstation and PC and the video was horrible. Now I can assume that today's projection TVs are better but are they really the right choice as a PC monitor, especially for playing a game that is as video intensive as WoW??
