Upscaling DVD player with HDMI

[Wij]

Anyone know any good ones ?

I think somebody linked one the other day but I can't find it. Any other recommendations too thx

 

[nath]

I run a Sony NS76H which upscales to whatever you like over HDMI. Upscaling is very overrated imo, but I have to say DVD's do look pretty damn good through it. It's only about 80 quid and the quality is about as good as you could ask for from DVD's. I'm running it through my 720p projector at 106" and still looks mighty decent.

 

[Yaka]

if you have a xbox lying about or are willing to buy a 2nd hand one for nowt. then install xbmc it upscales to 720p and 1080i just fine but its over component

 

[WPKenny]

I just got a Philips DVP5960. Around 43 quid from Amazon if you get a refurbished one. 50 ish otherwise. Quite a few people over on the avforums rate it well which is why I got it. I have to say I'm very pleased with it. I bought a Goodman's one from Dixons/Currys but took it back mostly because the remote signal clashed with my setup, but the picture is better on the philips than the Goodmans (I'd bloody hope so too).

Star Wars Ep IV looks funky in 1080i via HDMI.

 

[smurkin]

I have an Oppo981HD - HDMI (no component or scart) hdmi 1080p...£180...for the price, it is without doubt the utter dogs - fantastic upscaling (faroudja chipset):

http://www.avforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=440737

only problem is...you cant buy them in the uk for love or money...mail order mostly or direct from US...or crtprojectors.co.uk

If you dont have a 1080p set, you might be better off with a lesser or older model, though.

 

[Yaka]

get xbmc

you get more than either of those 2

looks sexeh dont it

 

[soze]

i considered this i saw it for about £150 on eBay it upscales plays most formats and browses network shares over wifi it seems to be good with the latest firmware too.

 

[Ch3tan]

Denon 1930, also uses the faroudja chipset. About the same price as the one smurkin linked, really stunning quality.

 

[evzy]

Whoa this stuff looks cool...must admit I have not been looking at new gadgets for awhile as don't plan on going HD for some time after shelling out for a Sony Wega TV a couple years ago - built a PC to use as a media centre for it.

Looking at that link for Linksys these things sound groovy but..

Someone explain it to meh in simple terms - does it increase quality on what you view etc? would you need a HD TV or equivalent etc? What exactly does this stuff do - benefit wise...

Tell meh cause I want one but I dont know why yet!!

 

[smurkin]

Someone explain it to meh in simple terms - does it increase quality on what you view etc? would you need a HD TV or equivalent etc? What exactly does this stuff do - benefit wise...

Tell meh cause I want one but I dont know why yet!!

Yes, a good upscaler will improve quality - but its complicated. Its all about having a big screen, resolution and viewing distance. The thing is, all HD tvs will upscale (not necesarily true for crts) - DVDs need need to upscaled as they dont have enough lines to fill a big HD screen. So the upscaler is extrapolating - inventing lines to fill in the gaps. The other thing is that mostly TVs dont upscale that well - hence you can buy separate upscalers, or DVD players with upscaling that will do a better job.

So to benefit from a good upscaling DVD player, a good starting position - a 40 inch plasma or LCD screen - a viewing distance of less than about 9 feet and >768 lines

I would say that this is an enthusiast area - but with some good kit, and a decent title - you can get result close to HD. You'll never get a full HD picture because the information needed is not there in the normal DVD format.

 

[TdC]

but surely that is going to look rank? I mean, if you take a picture off the interweb and scale it to 2x or more past it's original pixel size it looks poo. or am I talking out of my arse?

 

[smurkin]

Not really. I mean, the rankness depends on the equipment...these upscalers have custom built processors to upscale and deinterlace...I went from a 5 year old player, upscaled by my (not inexpensive) tv...with lots of pixelated fine detail - to a recent Oppo that gives smooth edges & crisp pictures - I had to uprade, anyway and I was very happy with the improvement...dont get me wrong the earth didnt move but it was worthwhile.

 

[TdC]

I see what you mean. Media / HiFi certainly isn't my strong suit. I've got an Onkyo dv-s555 DVD player with the 595 dolby receiver by the same mark hooked into a panasonic 4:3 telly and they're all um (iirc) 7 now and I got them because a mate at the hifi shop told me to. I'd never even heard of Oppo until I read this thread

 

[Ch3tan]

I have an Oppo981HD - HDMI (no component or scart) hdmi 1080p...£180...

Thanks for this smurkin, was very close to buying the denon, but after reading the reviews of this player I have changed my mind. Just got to wait for pay day now

 

[Jarakin]

All I can recommend is stay away from the Toshiba SD360E, its a load of crap. Image Quality is fine, it just has really crap firmware, pauses for a few secs on some dvds and is generally buggy. It plays divxs, but I find that it makes the motion in them incredibly jerky. I think i'll be building a decent HTPC instead tbh, its clearly the way forward!

 

[Shike]

really depends on how much you want to pay, denon 1930 as someone else suggested is a good machine, option to it is Marantz 6600, those two are good entryplayers for a reasonable price and offer good picture vs cost. Denon 2930 according to many is a superb machine but thats outta range pricewise for me atm, my advice atm is:

invest in a good player like the 6600 or 1930 and wait for the market to adjust more to HD-DVD and blueray so those machines mature and come down in price, they should be at a reasonable level in around a year or so and the most common problems new to these techniques should be solved aswell. New gadgets is cool'n'all but I want things to work like clocks or I simply dont buy them. Malfunctioning electronics is one of those things that make me go ballistic in 5s flat