DVD upscalers any good

thepharcyde

thepharcyde

thepharcyde

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I am all new to this advance in HD technology, but after recently spending some money on a 32" lcd, i want to get the best possible picture.

While shopping at the weekend, I came across a LG DVX9900H which looks like a nice piece of kit. I currently have a Sony DAVs 550 system, which I have had no complaints about. But what drew this LG to my attention was this upscaling capability.

I purchased a few DVD's at the weekend, and the picture is extremely good, so no complaints from the Sony.

My question being is that would there be a dramactic improvement, should I purchased a upscaler, or is it not worth the money?
 
Unless your LCD TV has a poor in-built upscaler I would not bother if your DVD player can be connect via componant (and progressive scan if possible). If you are limited to scart leads I would consider a new player, but wait to see the cost of HD-DVD players which (hopefully) will come out in the next few months.
 
Remember that there is a scaler in your TV and the question really is whether or not the upscaler in the dvd player is better than the one in your TV. If you are happy with the picture for now than I would wait for HD-DVD/Blu-Ray players which should upscale standard DVDs as well as playing the new formats.

Saying that, I've got Denon-1920 which upscales and the picture is amazing but I have no basis for comparison with other DVD players on my TV (Panasonic 26LXD500)
 
I think you will get a better picture if you use a better interconnect. If the player has an RGB scart output then I would use that as it should give a better picture than the s-video cable.
 
metallic said:
I think you will get a better picture if you use a better interconnect. If the player has an RGB scart output then I would use that as it should give a better picture than the s-video cable.
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Unfortunately not, it is this or composite :(
 
In that case i would say that a newer player would make a definate improvemnt. It wouldnt have to be an upscaling player although that would probably be the better option. You should see a significant improvement in picture quality between a DVI/HDMI connection and your current s-video connection.
 
Something like a Toshiba SD350E would be ideal. It features a HDMI output and will scale to 1080i or 720p.

If you shop around you should be able to pick it up for around £75 delivered. Slightly more for a multi-region one.

Does you home cinema kit have an optical input?
 
Tesla said:
Something like a Toshiba SD350E would be ideal. It features a HDMI output and will scale to 1080i or 720p.

If you shop around you should be able to pick it up for around £75 delivered. Slightly more for a multi-region one.

Does you home cinema kit have an optical input?
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It does yes, but only the one, which is connected to my pc sound card. it has the other two connections (red) like composite, does this also not transmit a digi signal so I can still play divx movies in 5.1? Sorry for my lack of knowledge but with loads of interconnects etc its a right pain knowing what everyone does!

the card I have is a trust 514dx, so if I was to by an upscalling dvd, can I connect the dvd to this via the coaxal to my sony dav which accepts coaxal?

http://www.think4.com/pi_img.php?images/w400/31/f2/31f2af5b-13ca-47cc-9c83-d6d05f72dcaf.jpg
 
but is his pc quiet enough - to spend £80 on a decent dvd player ( i have a sammy HD850 myself) rather than muckin about lookin for quiet quality componants might be worth it.

Sorry, sounds like you are using your sound card anyway, so pc has to be on hmmmmmmmm looks like thats the way to go then, i just think its a waste usually using a pc (with all the hastle this involves) to output to anything other than a higher def res than 1360*768 for dvd use (obviously 4 gaming this is a good res)
 
FrankJH said:
but is his pc quiet enough - to spend £80 on a decent dvd player ( i have a sammy HD850 myself) rather than muckin about lookin for quiet quality componants might be worth it.

Sorry, sounds like you are using your sound card anyway, so pc has to be on hmmmmmmmm looks like thats the way to go then, i just think its a waste usually using a pc (with all the hastle this involves) to output to anything other than a higher def res than 1360*768 for dvd use (obviously 4 gaming this is a good res)
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Hassle?

Get a remote for the PC and it's no different to a dvd player. You can easily make windows autoplay DVD's with your DVD software and all DVD software has the option to start full screen. So works exactly as a DVD player would but with superior results.
 
my pc is connected to the lcd via DVI, but the playback is jerky in comparison. Because the refresh is 60hz locked with DVI, and playback from a DVD is only 24 or something, it suffers real bad.

I have tried Win DVD, Power DVD, Nvidia pure codec, and they all still do not play as smooth as a standalone dvd player?

Suggestions?
 
Must be your graphics card then as I use the PC for sky+, DVD's and gaming. The DVD is just simply amazing on my 20"TFT @ 1680x1050 @ 60hz.

Thats with an x1900 avivo though.
 
speeduk said:
Must be your graphics card then as I use the PC for sky+, DVD's and gaming. The DVD is just simply amazing on my 20"TFT @ 1680x1050 @ 60hz.

Thats with an x1900 avivo though.
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I am using 9800prom 128mb edition. I would like to know for definate if I am able to up the fresh to 72hz without damaging the screen with powerstrip using a dvi connection, but i think it is locked
 
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