upscaling dvd players

movingtables · 17 Aug 2006 at 17:58

I cant seem to find out If an upscaling DVD player Is woth It.
Some folk say that the scaler on an LCD Is usualy better and an ordinary DVD player Is suffient enough whilst other people say an upscaling DVD player gives amazing results. As usual In our hi-tech world the market "thought" Is divided.
So what I would like to know Is:

1) Does anyone have an upscaling DVD player and is Impressed ?

2) Have you got an upscalin DVD player and not impressed one bit ?

I'm Determined to make use of my lonely "HDMI" socket on my TV.

Any thoughts ?

Raider · 17 Aug 2006 at 18:02

It really depends on how much you want to spend (not surprisingly). When I bought my LG HD LCD, I bought the LG upscaling DVD player to go with it (£100). The results were appalling. The image quality was v.poor, no detail, artifacting left, right and centre. The fact that it upscales doesn't cover up other low quality components inside the player.

My parents' 6 year old Sony S725D blew it out the water in terms of picture quality, and that was through RGB scart!

Then I went out and bought the Denon 1920 upscaling player (around £225), and the results were much better. The image quality was close to the 725D, but not quite. But it should be said that the S725D was £600 at the time, and is still a great player. Just goes to show that although DVD players have gotten much cheaper, it's mainly because they're using lower quality components!

If you have an LCD, then a good upscaling DVD player is well worth it, alternatively you can use upsclaing through a PC, which gives equally nice results (using FFDShow). The more you spend, the better things get. But I would highly recommend the Denon DVD players if you want a stand-alone box. The 1920, 2910 etc.. are superb!

movingtables · 17 Aug 2006 at 18:15

thanks for the reply raider.

I'm swaying towards waiting for a HD player instead maybe.
For now using Xbox360 via component cables is pretty good quality.
After Xmas (jan/feb 2007) I suppose we may see some "decent" deals on HD DVD players and they upscale standard DVD films also.
hmmmmm.

Oops Dead Again · 17 Aug 2006 at 18:36

I've got the Denon 1920 and it is a quality player, but it is being phased out for the 1930. The range gets better the more you spend. Denon have the knack for getting more and more out of dvd's hence why it is one of the reasons they are not building any hd-dvd or bru-ray players at the moment.

Voy06 · 17 Aug 2006 at 20:32

I would say wait and save your money for a HD-DVD player when there readily available. I bought a Samsung HD850 a few months back, hooked it up too my Sammy 26" via HDMI and weren't impressed. I actually thought that my old Philip's progressive scan gave a better picture via component.

Suffice too say I sold the HD850 and am watching dvd's through the Xbox 360 or Philips dvd player.

FrankJH · 17 Aug 2006 at 21:18

Voy06 said:
I would say wait and save your money for a HD-DVD player when there readily available. I bought a Samsung HD850 a few months back, hooked it up too my Sammy 26" via HDMI and weren't impressed. I actually thought that my old Philip's progressive scan gave a better picture via component.

Suffice too say I sold the HD850 and am watching dvd's through the Xbox 360 or Philips dvd player.

Thats incredibly strange, as I am using effectively the same equipment - an Hd850 connected to Sammy 32" set and its a decent showing for £80, richer in colour etc than My Sony hdd/ dvd recorder which also upscales (via componant)

I really wish I still had My Sony D725 dvd player, it was a multi region one that was seriously good kit - think I paid around £500 for it but I was burgled and that went with a lot of other things and the insurance company offered me something they called a replacement which was a cheap copy (even though still in the Sony range) was completely gutted I couldnt get one for love nor money from anywhere at the time

movingtables · 17 Aug 2006 at 22:01

FrankJH said:
Thats incredibly strange, as I am using effectively the same equipment - an Hd850 connected to Sammy 32" set and its a decent showing for £80, richer in colour etc than My Sony hdd/ dvd recorder which also upscales (via componant)

I really wish I still had My Sony D725 dvd player, it was a multi region one that was seriously good kit - think I paid around £500 for it but I was burgled and that went with a lot of other things and the insurance company offered me something they called a replacement which was a cheap copy (even though still in the Sony range) was completely gutted I couldnt get one for love nor money from anywhere at the time

i know a handset hack to make your player region free but im not sure if its allowed to published on here.

Raider · 17 Aug 2006 at 22:29

FrankJH said:
Thats incredibly strange, as I am using effectively the same equipment - an Hd850 connected to Sammy 32" set and its a decent showing for £80, richer in colour etc than My Sony hdd/ dvd recorder which also upscales (via componant)

I really wish I still had My Sony D725 dvd player, it was a multi region one that was seriously good kit - think I paid around £500 for it but I was burgled and that went with a lot of other things and the insurance company offered me something they called a replacement which was a cheap copy (even though still in the Sony range) was completely gutted I couldnt get one for love nor money from anywhere at the time

Yeah the Sony is a kick-ass player. The only players that could probably beat it these days still cost over £500. Considering it's 6 years old and still beating most sub-£500 players, that's what I call value for money!

It's a shame that the initial HD-DVD / Blu-Ray players aren't exhibiting the same level of Hi-Fi excellence.

Oops Dead Again · 17 Aug 2006 at 22:41

Raider said:
It's a shame that the initial HD-DVD / Blu-Ray players aren't exhibiting the same level of Hi-Fi excellence.

Give it time, by the time thay are released over here, a lot of the bugs will have been sorted out not to mention a decent dedicated player instead of a disguised pc

Euro_Hunter · 17 Aug 2006 at 22:55

Voy06 said:
I bought a Samsung HD850 a few months back, hooked it up too my Sammy 26" via HDMI and weren't impressed. I actually thought that my old Philip's progressive scan gave a better picture via component.

Suffice too say I sold the HD850 and am watching dvd's through the Xbox 360 or Philips dvd player.

I wouldn't of thought upscaling would be any benefit on such a small screen anyway.

The OPPO OPDV971H is a very highly rated Up-Conversion DVD player and well worth a look at.

YooEntSinMeROYT · 18 Aug 2006 at 05:31

Very impressed with my Pioneer DV-868-AVi-S player through my JVC LT-32DS6BJ 32" LCD panel. Although it was a far outlay of money. You pays yer money........you makes yer choice.

griffy · 18 Aug 2006 at 21:25

I have a Harmon Kardon dvd 47 and its awesome!

The upscaling is very nice, DVD's are fantastic and its also very good at playing cd's too!

It can handle most of the different media formats and can also play SACD and DVD-A

Oops Dead Again · 18 Aug 2006 at 22:09

griffy said:
I have a Harmon Kardon dvd 47 and its awesome!

The upscaling is very nice, DVD's are fantastic and its also very good at playing cd's too!

It can handle most of the different media formats and can also play SACD and DVD-A

I was going to wait for the Harmon but I got impatient and went for the Denon

griffy · 18 Aug 2006 at 22:20

I've seen the Denon 1920 in action, and althought it wasn't a side by side comparison, I think the HK is better for DVD's and blows the Denon away on Music

Oops Dead Again · 18 Aug 2006 at 22:24

I had about a two month wait when I was in the market for a new dvd player and impulse buying and being an impatient person got the better of me so I brought a denon

griffy · 18 Aug 2006 at 22:29

I was looking for the Denon 1920, and I went into a shop that had just sold out of them...they were selling them for £200!

I then walked into another shop and bought the HK 47, with a QED HDMI cable...got it home and it rocks..looks pretty stylish too, I'm very happy with it.

It has however had a problem just this week playing a DVD. Syriana locks up either in the menu, or very early into the film, not sure why, as the DVd is brand new, and plays fine on a 'cheap and nasty' dvd player upstairs :eek:

McBain · 19 Aug 2006 at 14:14

I've got a Samsung HD860 wired up to a Hyundai A321 via HDMI and am impressed, I would say for £80ish it's well worth it.

Only thing I will say is very rarely ( say one in ten DVDs ), it locks up for 3/4 seconds, then carries on, not a massive problem, just a bit :confused: