Whats a decent low cost upscaling DVD player?

[Zeta]

Can anyone recommend a good low cost upscaling DVD player that will play burned DVD's? I am running a 40" Samsung 720P LCD.

I am not looking for anything high end I just don't have the $$ after the holidays to spend much.

Thanks in advance for your suggestions.

[betterdan]

I have the Sony Sony DVP-NS75H. It's a damn good upconverting player and it's on sale now at Circuit City for $119.99.

[evilchris]

Oppo or Toshiba A2. You need to define low cost. People have different opinions. I consider a $2000 TV low cost.

[FastRedPonyCar]

My dad has one of these. Pretty nice.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=7678694&st=samsung+dvd&type=product&id=1134702980301

[agentkay]

Sorry for the thread hijack, but does an upscaling DVD player improve the picture quality of regular DVDs on a regular HDTV (720p/1080i)? My current DVD player has only a 578i output (component) and I wonder if I would see a better quality of my regular DVDs with an upscaling DVD player like the ones mentioned in this thread.

Sorry again for the thread hijack.

[Zeta]

Around a $100 would be fine. Thanks for the suggestions so far.

[betterdan]

Sorry for the thread hijack, but does an upscaling DVD player improve the picture quality of regular DVDs on a regular HDTV (720p/1080i)? My current DVD player has only a 578i output (component) and I wonder if I would see a better quality of my regular DVDs with an upscaling DVD player like the ones mentioned in this thread.

Sorry again for the thread hijack.
Well I bought our new Mitsubishi HDTV and had the previously mentioned Sony dvd player hooked up via component and it looked pretty damn good. I then went and got an HDMI cable and hooked it up with that and I noticed a definate difference. It just looked a lot sharper.
Now the bs people talk about upconverting players looking as good as HD is just that, BS, but if you want regular dvds to look better on an HDTV then upconverting is worthwhile in my opinion.

[agentkay]

^ Thanks for the info! :thumbsup:

[FastRedPonyCar]

Sorry for the thread hijack, but does an upscaling DVD player improve the picture quality of regular DVDs on a regular HDTV (720p/1080i)? My current DVD player has only a 578i output (component) and I wonder if I would see a better quality of my regular DVDs with an upscaling DVD player like the ones mentioned in this thread.

Sorry again for the thread hijack.

Yeah I'll also echo what betterdan said. When I swaped my dad's old sony component video dvd player with the samsung one with the HDMI cable, the picture was noticably sharper and crisper. I'm not sure exactly how they work but it appeared to me like it sent the dvd signal to the TV at a higher resolution.

We did A/B comparisons with several movies (finding nemo, cars, episode 3) and looking closely at the screen, we noticed an increase in the clarity and sharpness of the images on screen.

Very much worth the upgrade..even though the HDMI cable he bought cost more than the dvd player :p

[|JuiceZ|]

Good info thanks guys :thumbsup:

[Ancient]

There's a reason that up-converting DVDs look better over HDMI than component. It's because, legally, DVD players cannot up-convert CSS encrypted DVDs (which is just about any retail DVD you buy) over component. It's only allowed over DVI/HDMI. The only way you'll see up-conversion over component is if the DVD is made from a home movie or contains other non-CSS content.

Basically, if your TV doesn't have DVI or HDMI inputs, don't waste your money on an up-converting DVD player.

[Zeta]

The Sony is on sale right now at BB for $116 so I will just pick up this one. It looks like it has everything I wanted. Thanks again for the suggestion!

So I need to get an HDMI cable for it for the best picture?? It will not upconvert on a componet hookup? I though you could do 720P over componet. Do I have this wrong?

[betterdan]

There's a reason that up-converting DVDs look better over HDMI than component. It's because, legally, DVD players cannot up-convert CSS encrypted DVDs (which is just about any retail DVD you buy) over component. It's only allowed over DVI/HDMI. The only way you'll see up-conversion over component is if the DVD is made from a home movie or contains other non-CSS content.

Basically, if your TV doesn't have DVI or HDMI inputs, don't waste your money on an up-converting DVD player.
While what you are saying is correct I don't think that was the original posters question. I believe most people understand that upconversion cannot be done over component (except for a very few dvd players that were put out but I think this has been corrected). I believe the question is whether the upconversion looks any better than watching the non converted video coming from the component hookup.
There is also another thing to consider, if your tv upscales all formats to a native format, then is your tv internal scaler better than the dvd player scaler? If so then you would get better video not using the upconversion feature of a dvd player.

[betterdan]

The Sony is on sale right now at BB for $116 so I will just pick up this one. It looks like it has everything I wanted. Thanks again for the suggestion!

So I need to get an HDMI cable for it for the best picture?? It will not upconvert on a componet hookup? I though you could do 720P over componet. Do I have this wrong?
Yes you will need the HDMI cable to upconvert the dvd video.
HD is capable of going across component normally but if you want to upconvert a regular dvd signal they make you use the HDMI cable. This is true of virtually every upconverting dvd player.

By the way here is a thread at AVS forum discussing the Sony DVP-NS75H and most give it high marks as do I.
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=639621
I use to have a Denon 1600 dvd player with the Faroudja chip in it (until it died) and I loved the picture. I had never seen another player with such a great picture. This Sony player is on par with that Denon in the picture quality department and it is faster on the layer switch also. I love it.

[rudedog]

And you can pick up a decent HDMI cable for about $34 bucks at home depot or better yet order one online for about 1/2 that if you can wait for the shipment to arrive (couple days).

don't let them sucker you into buying a $100+ HDMI Monster cable.

[superklye]

Why does Home Depot sell HDMI cables?

[rudedog]

They also sell a lot of cat 5e,componant, composite cabling as well as other home wiring/gear. You should see what they sell on their web site for PC gear, you would never imagine or think to look there in the first place.

After trying all the local discount shops, I stopped by Home Depot and hit paydirt, they had a good supply.

[superklye]

Weird...and their prices weren't terrible, either...

[Ancient]

While what you are saying is correct I don't think that was the original posters question. I believe most people understand that upconversion cannot be done over component (except for a very few dvd players that were put out but I think this has been corrected). I believe the question is whether the upconversion looks any better than watching the non converted video coming from the component hookup.
There is also another thing to consider, if your tv upscales all formats to a native format, then is your tv internal scaler better than the dvd player scaler? If so then you would get better video not using the upconversion feature of a dvd player.
I was just clarifying about up-converting since I didn't see anyone mention the point previously.

Good point about the TV as well.