Let's face it. On the eve of the HD-DVD vs. Blu-ray deathmatch—surely the bloodiest format war since the VHS-vs.-Betamax debacle—any self-respecting technophile is going to watch and wait. A costly, obsolete paperweight is the last thing any of us wants to get stuck with. While you're waiting, I have a few things for you to ponder. Because you're reading Connected Home Express, as opposed to, say, Home & Garden, you probably have an HDTV—likely a big one—and have sunk thousands of dollars into an expansive DVD collection. (Remember when bookshelves were used for books?) Sure, you'll catch the odd first-run movie at the theater, but as you're being bumped and annoyed by strangers in the dark, you're probably thinking about how much better the movie will be on DVD, with you nestled comfortably in your home theater.

The joys of the home theater are multifaceted. A home theater should assault the senses with glorious sights and sounds. But if you still have a formerly cutting-edge progressive-scan DVD player, the sights might not be quite as glorious as the sounds anymore. Thankfully, there's a great way to squeeze every last pixel of fidelity out of those hundreds of DVDs lining your shelves. An upconverting DVD player, for the uninitiated, is like a supercharger for home theaters. The player takes the DVD's meager 720x480 (480i) resolution and jacks it up to 720p or 1080i. This jump doesn't rival the one you experienced when you upgraded from VHS to DVD, but on a big HD display, the results can be stunning.

The reasons to buy an upconverting DVD player are compelling. Consider cost and performance. Are you really in a hurry to start a new HD-DVD or Blu-ray library at $30 to $40 a pop? Also, remember that you're facing a minimum $500 price tag for Toshiba’s entry-level player and a Blu-ray price of twice that amount. You can buy excellent upconverting players for $200 and breathe new life into your existing DVDs. The most crucial factor in the upconverting player’s favor is proven performance. HD players will have backward compatibility with standard DVDs, but who knows how well they’ll upscale? The best upconverting players have been fine-tuned and fulfill their specific role exceptionally well. But are all upconverting players created equal? What are the essential features you need to look for when you're deciding on one of the dozens of players on the market? Read on—we’ve got you covered.

Deinterlacing: Transforming Interlaced to Progressive Scan
Mom used to say, “It’s what’s on the inside that counts.” Upscalers are no exception. The single most crucial component (i.e., the “brain” of the player) is the video-processing chip. The task of ensuring that what you see on the HDTV screen accurately depicts the source material of what’s on the DVD is incredibly complex. Lesser chips need not apply.

The two main duties of the video chip are deinterlacing and scaling. But first, how about a crash refresher course in video resolution? Video on DVD is in 480i resolution, in which 30 still frames are displayed on a TV in two fields of 240 horizontal lines, every second. The “i” stands for “interlaced,” which means the entire frame of video is composed of the two passes of alternating horizontal lines of resolution interlaced together. A resolution of 480i was sufficient on smaller TVs, but the flaws in the interlaced, lower-resolution video become more apparent on larger displays. Increased space between the alternating scan lines can produce a flicker, and details suffer.

Connected Home's Choice: OPPO OPDV971H ($199) The cost-to-performance ratio of the OPPO upconverting player is excellent. The Faroudja/Genesis FLI2310 video processor is exceptionally well implemented, allowing user control over Cross Color Suppression and TrueLife features. Through the DVI connection, the player offers 480p, 720p, and 1080i upconversion with stunning performance, particularly at 720p. This author’s old standby reference discs have never looked better. The Underworld Superbit DVD, with its shadow-drenched scenes, demonstrated the player’s potent black levels, and The Incredibles DVD's vibrant colors were reproduced with richness and precision. This mighty player even offers PAL-to-NTSC conversion and supports nearly every media format known to man (including DivX and DVD-Audio). Firmware is updated regularly on the company’s site. (Note that players include both a free DVI-to-HDMI cable and a DVI-to-DVI cable.)

HDTVs can display higher-resolution video such as 480p, 720p, 1080i, and 1080p. Once again, the numbers stand for the horizontal lines of resolution and the “i” and “p” refer to the method by which the scan lines are displayed. Progressive scanning (signified by the "p") displays every horizontal line of video in one pass instead of interlacing alternating lines in two passes. A progressive-scan picture is a huge jump in video fidelity, flicker-free with enhanced clarity and stability.

Deinterlacing is necessary any time interlaced video—the humble DVD, for example—is displayed as progressive-scan video. In theory, the task of repeating scan lines to form the progressive-scan image is simple enough. But, in practice, there are variables that can seriously mess with video quality.

Consider the source of the video stored on the DVD: The material was created on either film or video. Films are typically shot at 24 frames per second (fps). To store and output the material on a DVD, at about 60fps, a repeat pattern, or cadence, for the film frames (called 3-2 pulldown) is used. The PAL format uses 2-2 pulldown.) To further complicate matters, material shot on video is already at 60fps. And film and video sources often appear together in one movie—for example, filmed scenes with digital-video special effects.

A video processor must be able to automatically detect the correct source for a DVD (with film or video mode), correct the cadence when it’s interrupted by a bad edit made during the DVD production, and deinterlace moving and still onscreen objects differently. Telltale signs of substandard deinterlacing are jagged diagonal edges (“jaggies”), softened details, and juddering during slow camera pans.

Scaling: Low-res to Hi-res
Unless you have a CRT—or picture tube—HDTV, that LCD, plasma, or DLP rear-projection beauty that sits at the center of your home theater is a fixed-pixel display. It has a native resolution, be it 1024x768, 1366x768, 1920x1080, or a variation thereof. This pixel-per-scan-line by horizontal-scan-line count is what every moving image appearing on the TV is displayed at. Unfortunately, video signals come in all shapes and sizes, from the DVD’s 720x480 to 1080i HDTV’s 1980x1080 pixels.

The myriad video signals all have to be converted or scaled to fit the native resolution of an HDTV display. Thus, the upconverting DVD player’s video processor goes to work adding pixels to the DVD’s native resolution to fill up the HDTV's screen. To do so, algorithms copy parts of the surrounding pixels and interpolate what the DVD’s video should look like at a higher resolution.

The process of converting a DVD’s 480i signal to 480p, 720p, or 1080i is incredibly complex and, if done poorly, can wreak havoc on picture quality. Factors such as fast on-screen motion, rapid scene transitions, and video noise from the source material can produce the aforementioned jaggies, visible pixilation (i.e., the “screen door effect”), and color shifting. A powerful, well-integrated video processor will eliminate, or at least minimize, these eyesores.

The Educated Buyer vs. the Electronic Superstore Know-It-All
Deinterlacing and scaling are all well and good, but what are you looking for when it comes time to lay down some hard-earned cash for an upconverting DVD player? First and foremost, just in case I haven't made this abundantly clear, the DVD player must have a well-integrated, quality video processor. A good rule of thumb is that the more deinterlacing and scaling the upconverting DVD player handles, the better the picture will be. HDTVs all have some sort of built-in video processor, but these processors usually pale in comparison with the performance of the chip in a good upconverting player. Let the DVD player do what it does best—optimizing the video—and leave the displaying of the video to the HDTV set.

Several companies make stellar video-processing chipsets with proprietary features above and beyond deinterlacing and scaling.

Faroudja is the maker of the best known and most revered chipset among videophiles. The venerable Genesis FLI2310 chip, found in many high-end, expensive players and a few affordable players such as the OPPO OPDV971H, has a battery of video-enhancement technologies. Faroudja pioneered 3-2 pulldown (or film mode) detection. Cross Color Suppression compensates for artifacts caused by composite video mastering and smoothes out the edges of saturated color fields. TrueLife Enhancement bumps up details in things like skin texture and hair. Directional Correlational De-interlacing (DCDi) tackles the jaggies with impressive results.

Silicon Image chipsets are often mentioned in the same breath as those of Faroudja, and either one has exceptional deinterlacing, scaling, and image-enhancement performance. Its SiI504 chip has a sublime, motion-adaptive deinterlacer in video mode and features a buffer that predicts upcoming breaks in cadence to avoid hits to the resolution that occur while switching from film to video mode. Unfortunately, the buffer sometimes contributes to audio synch troubles.

DVDO’s iScan and the Silicon Optix Realta with Hollywood Quality Video are two other leading video-processing chipsets. Most consumer electronics companies worth their salt offer receivers, upconverting DVD players, HDTVs, and projectors with top-quality video processors. Said companies include Denon, JVC, NEC, OPPO, Runco, Sony, Syntax Olevia, Toshiba, and Westinghouse Digital.

Before you scoop up the first upconverting DVD player with “DCDi by Faroudja” on the box, be advised that the implementation of any chip in a product is at least as important as the chip itself. The aforementioned Genesis FLI2310, for example, has about 2000 registers that control its functions. Changing one register to solve a known issue might affect another register, and house-of-cards-style chaos can ensue. Engineers need to know the chip they program inside and out to maximize its performance. Needless to say, that's not always the case.

Companies don’t exactly advertise the ways they fall short in implementing a chipset. So, how do you know whether an upconverting DVD player with a solid video processor is the one for you? It might sound obvious, but try watching some DVDs on it. If the Best Buy clerk rolls his eyes when you bring in a stack of DVDs, go somewhere else. Superbit editions of action-packed films (Black Hawk Down, The Fifth Element, and Underworld are all fine choices) will separate the pretenders from the real thing. Fast on-screen action is some of the most difficult material to render without errors. Likewise, animation—with its super-saturated color palettes—pushes a DVD player to its limits. Whatever DVDs you choose, pick several that you know intimately; flaws and unintended artifacts in the video are much easier to spot that way.

Try to find a store that has the upconverting DVD player you want, along with either your HDTV or a similar model. Be sure to switch from 480p to 720p and 1080i. Only a consumer with nerves of steel, or money to burn, should buy an unauditioned upconverting player. You can always go back to the Web site with those amazing details after you see the machine in action.

Media Compatibility, Connections, and Firmware Updates
You’ve almost made up your mind. Maybe you've narrowed your choice down to two or three perfectly fine players. The good news is that the hardest part is over. Now, you can look at the details. When it comes to media compatibility, more is definitely better. Even if you don’t currently need support for DivX, multiregion playback, SACD and DVD-Audio, and the multitude of recordable DVD formats, you might want some or all of them in the future.

Because upconverting DVD players are all recent products, just about any model will have either a DVI or the newer HDMI output. Both connections facilitate a pure, digital-video signal from the player to the receiver (if equipped with DVI/HDMI input/output) or HDTV. HDMI gives you a digital video and digital multi-channel audio connection through a single cable. Unless you have a costly receiver with HDMI switching, you’re going to be running the video signal directly to the TV and the audio to the receiver. In this case, either a DVI or HDMI output on the DVD player will suffice. If your HDTV has only an HDMI input—and most of the latest models do—a DVI-to-HDMI converter cable is available.

Keeping the video signal in the digital domain during its trip from the DVD player to the HDTV will produce the highest-quality images. If you forgo DVI or HDMI in favor of even a good quality analog connection via component cables, the video signal goes through conversions from digital (DVD) to analog (component) and back to digital again (HDTV). Such conversions can produce signal noise and image degradation.

Another feature to keep an eye out for is DIY firmware updates. Firmware is the software that instructs the processing chip and determines the functionality of the DVD player. Companies such as OPPO and Philips offer online firmware updates for their products; some other companies offer updates at their service centers or just pretend their products are perfect. Updating the firmware yourself is a simple matter of downloading the file from a Web site onto a recordable DVD and running the program on the DVD player. It sure beats having to buy a new player every year.

A Few Words about Video Fine-Tuning
After you get that shiny new DVD player home, there’s one thing left to do to fully enjoy your DVDs in all their upscaled beauty. If you haven’t had your HDTV professionally calibrated (and at $300, who could blame you?), it’s well worth the time and money to run a test disc yourself. The test batteries go from the quick and dirty THX Optimizer (free on some THX-certified DVDs) to more thorough calibration tools such as the Avia Guide to Home Theater and Digital Video Essentials DVDs. Be forewarned that the Avia and DVE discs are in-depth and time-consuming. A faster, more user-friendly experience can be had with the HDTV Calibration Wizard, developed by the Imaging Science Foundation. Now, sit back and start rediscovering your favorite DVDs.

Article Information

Email this Article Printer-Friendly

Reader Comments
No, no, no, NO! I don't think there is any "compelling" reason to get an up-converting DVD player. Progressive scan? Definitely. Up-Converting? Why? Up-converting involves scaling and interpolating. If you have an HDTV, it already has built-in scaling and interpolating to convert ANY signal received into the native resolution of the display. Why would anyone think a couple hundred dollar DVD player is going to do a better job of scaling than their muti-thousand dollar TV is going to do? All you will end up doing is having your DVD player scale it to a high-def resolution, and then your TV will re-scale it to fit the display. You are talking about taking averages of averages - NOT A GOOD IDEA. It will, at best, have no effect, and, at worst, degrade the picture quality. BTW - Your info on deinterlacing and scaling is the best of any so-called information I have seen posted on the web. Good job there. Just don't go encouraging people to buy into this bogus hd-conversion technology. Dave Everett -April 26, 2006 You just wanted to endorse the selection of the Oppo player, picture quality is superb and when you combine that with region free support and PAL-NTSC conversion you can't go wrong. BTW, OPPO is also notable for actually responding to tech support email, better yet the responses are actually helpful! Nik -April 26, 2006 Actually I have tesed quite a few upscaling DVD players. Watch out for upscaling DVD players and trying to use the scaling feature through component cables. Most will not or need hack or firmware update to scale through component. It because dvi and hdmi have the correct security features to allow scaling so it can't be copied. For component scaling, I bought LG China model with Faroudja chip because A firmware was available to allow scaling through component. I had older TV that deoesn't have dvi or hdmi. But recently i have bought lcd TV for bedroom and tested a few hdmi upscaling players. Oppo is outdated in my opinion. I compared new Samsung players and the new Sony 75h model from best buy. The sony displayed much better picture, it so noticable. Alot of those wierd branded players have quirks, but you may be able to get the right combo of otions to work for you. To be fair even teh branded ones have flaws too. I have not noticed any flaws in the new sony player. Also don't rely on TV scaling features, doesnt compare. If a TV takes or displays 1080i and your sending upscaled 1080i digital signal to TV, the tv scaler isnt going to modify the dvd scaled picture! Get a new player while you can, Who knows how well the HD players will scale on old DVD's! Tony -April 26, 2006 Tony, that would seem correct if you have a 1080i HDTV, but what if you have an LCD with a native display of 1366x768? The DVD player will scale the picture to 720P and then the TV will inturn scale it to it's native resolution. I don't know how this will affect the picture, but it would seem that one scaling is better than two. Anyone know the answer to this? Kevin -April 26, 2006 Who he heck would buy a DVD in the 1st place? Movies are as disposable as the format they come on these days. I wouldn't even bother purchasing another boat anchor since streaming on-demand HD is coming anyway. Spend your cash on upgrading your pipe (FIOS) and go straight to IPTV. Kingbuzzo -April 26, 2006 Well, upscaling DVD players can do 720p or 1080i, as long as you match you your TV spec, the TV scaler doesnt have to do anything because it's already in compatible format. So set dvd player 720p, then it sent digitaly to your TV that is digital 720p thorough hdmi cable. The internal TV scaler only comes into play if your source is lower resolution than you TV specification. For instance if you watch a non High-def cable channel which is 480i, your 720p TV will upscale it to 720p. Thats why it look crappy, it made lower resolution channel into 720p, further showing TV scalers are crap. tony -April 26, 2006 Yes, but isn't 720P (1280x720) a lower resolution that the 1366x768 native resolution of some LCD tvs? If it sends it out at 720P it sends 1280x720 which the tv would have to upscale to display it at the tv's 1366x768 native resolution. It seems it would get scaled once only if your tv has a native resolution of 720P (1280x720) or 1080i (1920x1080). I'm not trying to argue, just trying to understand. My HDTV is a Sharp Aquos LCD that has a 1366x768 native resolution. :) Kevin -April 26, 2006 The main reason to buy an upconverting DVD player in this day and age, is not for the people who bought the multi-thousand dollar DLP or plasma, but for the people who bought the $800 LCD from Costco they saw on sale. Most lower-cost HDTVs skimp on the upconverter to save costs. Sure, it'll display native HDTV content well, but analog cable? DVDs? No, these will suffer at the hands of a mediocre video processor. Buying a player like the OPPO will actually be an upgrade as far as the chip is concerned. Moving from component to DVI/HDMI is another improvement. Again, the cheap sets have ****-poor DACs. Like any major purchase, buy from a reputable dealer who will support an honest return. If you don't see an improvement on your set worth the investment, don't buy it. Andrew -April 26, 2006 Does anyone have any comments on how one of these players compares to DVD playback on an Xbox 360? My 360 plays DVDs and sends a 1080i signal to my HTDV so it's clearly upconverting; I can see a difference between the Xbox 360 and my progressive-scan DVD player, but it's not significant enough to spend much $$ on. So I'm wondering if the performace of one of these upconverting players is significantly better than the 360's upconversion. JB -April 26, 2006 Hi All, First of all, If you have an LCD or Plasma, with a native resolution of 1366 x 768 and you purchase a good upconverting DVD player like the Pioneer Elite series, you will be amazed at the clarity and detail when viewing a truly digital DVD through the HDMI/DVI throughput (i.e. Star Wars III, remember...all DVD's are not truly digital and you can't see a big difference when all your doing is upconverting a crappy picture). The only difference between DVI and HDMI is that DVI is not capable of transmitting audio through the same cable. The end result is this....many people will ague that an upconverting DVD player is this or that, but remember, the eye knows best. When someone starts to say it would not make a difference to purchase an upconverting DVD player, tell them to check it out and with a THQ or other truly digital format and switch between companent and HDMI/DVI to truly see the difference. I own a Pioneer Elite 61" plasma, and let me tell ya, I tried 4 different players before I settled for my Pioneer Elite DVD player. Good luck all and have fun, thats what it is all about:) Tony D. -April 27, 2006 Keven I see what your saying. In your case look at manual to see if your TV supports 1080i or 720P and then just go try a samsung or sony upscaler from Best Buy or Circuit City and test it out. I bet you will see a difference than if you let your current dvd (progressive scan 48op) player and tv to the scaling. Plus who knows how the quality and logic works on TVs. I have LCD 1080i TV, and I noticed big difference when i hooked up the sony upscaler. With samsung being 99.00 and ony 129.00, it worth checking out especially if you can take it back in 30 days. I recommend buying from local retailer so you can easily return the player if your not impressed. tony -April 27, 2006 I have a very simple question, if I upgrade my standard 'ol Toshiba DVD player to one of these ONNO's... will the DVD output utilize the entire screen on my new Dell 42" HD Plasma (Native 1024x768 res)? My current player is connected via component and it doesn't matter if I put a "standard" or "widescreen" dvd in, the display will not utilize the entire screen. There are large areas at the top and bottom of the screen that are grey boxed. Sure, I can use the "zoom" feature on the TV, but the sides are cut off and image quality suffers. I have an available DVI port on the TV. I just want to utilize the whole screen with the best image possible. Will the ONNO or any other give it to me? Thanks in advance. JT -April 27, 2006 You need to make sure your TV and dvd player are set to widescreen. You also need to look up dvd aspect ratios on the internet because it gets complicated.I hate not getting full picture on widesceen tv, I'm getting to the point where i just watch regular 4:3 dvd's just cause i know the screen will be filled, i dont care about missing some of the picture as long as it fills th screen and doesn't look stretched. Only good dvd for full picture on widescreen tv are ones with aspect ratio of 1.78 (16x9) or 1.85. tony -April 27, 2006 JT, Many of the popular action DVD's (Lord of the Rings, The Matrix, Star Wars, etc) use the 2.35:1 aspect ratio. This produces black bars on the top and bottom of a 16:9 display, and really large wide bars on a 4:3 display. The producers like to use this format since it allows them to get the widest shot possible for scenes that have a lot of background action going on. The networks circumvent the 2.35 problem by "panning and scanning" the movie before they broadcast it. They basically convert it from 2.35:1 to 1.78:1 so that the entire screen is filled. If you've ever matched the Matrix on TNT you probably didn't see any bars and that's why. The good news is that HDTV is natively 16:9 or 1.78:1. As HD-DVD and or BluRay become popular, movies will once again fill your screen completely. Chris -April 27, 2006 dvd player Name (required): -April 28, 2006 JT - in your setup for your current DVD player you should be able to specify the type of display that you have - either 4:3 or 16:9. If it's set to 4:3 and you're connected to a 16:9 display it's very possible that the DVD player will attempt to letterbox the playback even though it's not required. Timothy -April 28, 2006 Tony, I'm interested in what nodel TV you own. I was under the impression that 1080i can only truly be displayed on a CRT television since it is interlaced. Aren't all lcd and plasma displays fixed pixel displays and only capable of displaying in progressive scan? I don't doubt that your tv accepts a 1080i signal, but it probably downconverts it to 720p or your tv's native resolution (i.e. 1024x768 or 1366x768). In that case, your dvd player is upconverting the signal to 1080i, only to downconvert it to lesser resolution through your tv's scaler. Please forgive me if I am wrong, this is just my understanding. Kevin -April 28, 2006 Simply compare the scaling chip in the dvd player to the one in your display device, use whichever is better. Same for deinterlacer. If your display has a built in faroudja deinterlacer and an excellent scaler, you are probably better off outputting a 480i signal though a digital output on your $100 dvd player. For most people, however, the oppo 971 or Panasonic S77/97 will do a better job deinterlacing and scaling than their display. PS Some upscaling DVD players like the Momitsu V880 can do custom upscaling resolutions for non standard displays(ie.1366x768) gwlaw99 -May 2, 2006 I have a denon1910 and a panny900 projected on a 10 foot screen, and have just relied on component. After reading about upconversion, went and got a dvi-hdmi cable and WOW what a difference, at 720p the picture is alot crisper. A very easy upgrade i should have bought the cable ages ago. Johnny -May 13, 2006 Wondering if any of you can help me. I just bought a JVC rear projection, 52 inch, 720p, HD-ILA television. The specs I can see relating to Upscaling and converting are: 5th Generation D.I.S.T. 720p(Digital Image Scaling Technology) + GENESSA Picture Processing. Here is a link to this model on JVCs website: http://www.jvc.com/product.jsp?modelId=MODL027717&pathId=114&page=2. My question: Should I buy an upscaling DVD player, or let the television handle it? Thanks, Kenny -May 14, 2006 After reading several threads from this website and others I feel that alot of clarification need to be made about the quality you will notice about upconverting DVD players. To start with here is my current configuration: TV: Sony 55" HDTV (KDF-E55A20) Old DVD: Samsung Progressive Scan DVD Player (DVD-P230) {Up to 480p} New DVD: Sony Upconvering DVD Player (DVP-NS75H) {Up to 720p or 1080i} After reading multiple reviews and forum posts, I was excited to setup my new Sony Upconvering DVD Player (DVP-NS75H). These two units are connected via a HDVI cable for the max resolution output from the DVD player. The default resolution for these two devices after being connected was set to 1080i, which if you know anything about resolution isn't as good as 720p. So I changed the resolution settings on the Sony DVD Player (DVP-NS75H) to display at 720p. I then also left my Samsung Progressive Scan DVD Player (DVD-P230) setup to the TV via component cables. With several interested friends, we all watched 5-6 movie clips from different movies and had an interesting time comparing the noticeable quality of 480p to a upconverted 720p. We were all amazed on how little noticeable difference there really was. You really had to pay attention to the detail in each movie clip to see a difference. After this experience, I started to ask myself is $129.95 Sony Upconvering DVD Player (DVP-NS75H) worth a minute difference in viewing quality? Granted $129.95 isn't alot of money, but I still may take back the Sony Upconvering DVD Player (DVP-NS75H). To summarize if you currently have any 480p DVD player, in my option don't waste your time and money on getting a upconverting DVD player. The noticeable difference between 480p and a upconverted 720p isn't worth anything but the bragging rights to your friends. All other people in this forum must have made the switch from 480i to 720p which their purchase of a upconverting DVD player. Drew -May 18, 2006 Here is one to answer for me!! I dont have a lcd nor a plasma. I have a tube with 760 lines. I saw a toshiba upconverting dvd player with hdmi for $60.00 on sale. Will I see any changes in the picture?? I do plan on an lcd this yr. some time. luke -May 20, 2006 As the article correctly pointed out, not all up-converting players are created equal. There are good ones and bad ones. I personally bought both the OPPO and the $60 Costco player (was $79 when I bought it), and there was a huge difference in picture quality. The OPPO is so much better. Jason -May 22, 2006 I have an OPPO, but I use it with an LCD TV (which has 1366x768 resolution). There are two upscaling I know... but: Would be the PQ MUCH BETTER if I had an LCD TV with 1280x720p or 1920x1080i resolution? Eman -May 26, 2006 I have an Acer 32inch LCD and with interlace it smears and looks crap, but when sent an upconverted signal it looks great. Stephen -May 29, 2006 i need visualizations so i can watch movies! hope this works. Logan Amstutz -June 2, 2006 Your Comments (required): Name (required): -June 2, 2006 I bought a Viewsonic display that's HDTV ready ($800.), it's been in the box since January. Can't set it up until I finish the kitchen renovation- its new home. So I needed to buy an HD tuner and got a Samsung SIR-T451 ($250.) and I bought an Onkyo 5.1 audio system ($700.) all still in original boxes. Now I am looking for an upconverting DVD player. The market is flooded with them, and I asked myself, "Why is there such a dramatic price difference in just a DVD player? From $79.00 or less to over $1000.00." Then I came across "this article". Every single one of the manufacturers' boast of the excellent picture quality in their description of each model. One has to wonder, "Am I shopping to satisfy MY movie enjoyment or am I shopping so that no one who may see my set-up might would say I'm cheap, or that I don't know what "quality" is, or even worse, be labeled as "behind the times"? Take the advise of someone who is a half of a century old- Buy something you like and can afford and don't look back. If you do, you'll turn into someone who chases technology the rest of your life. Seems as though the majority of the readers who commented are there already, and some who are wondering if they should look back regretfully, and finally there are those who commented that are just trying to make a good choice. Don't get caught up in all this "chip" talk. Just go buy something that you like and can afford AND DON'T LOOK BACK, you'll be chasing technology the rest of your life! Richard Hollingsworth -June 3, 2006 I have spent close to 8 months assembling my home theater system...An upscaling dvd player only works on LCD TVs...Don not attempt to use a plasma. They just do not upscale...I have a sony 42 lcd tv with a Marantz sr9600 dvd player, a yamaha rx4600 receiver all through hdmi audioquest hdmi 3 cables and a richard gray 600s with his upgraded high tension wire 20 amp to wall outlet..After many months of confusion and frustration it finally works. However you need to change power cord to PS audio statement sc for dvd player and change ac receptacle in the house..Sound expensive yes but never have to go to the movies again. Lance Lance Harriss -June 8, 2006 I am wondering if a DVD upconverting player will make a difference on my RCA 56" HDTV rear projection set. It is not the DLP projection. It is a regular projection tv with HDTV. I currently use a regular 480p DVD player hooked up through Monster brand component cables.. On movies that are not digitally remastered there is a noticable degrade in picture quality. I have read in some ofrums that upconverting players only really work on LCD sets. Is this true? Will a upconverting player make a difference on projection HDTV sets? Also, does anyone know which players support a HDMI (DVD player) to DVI (TV) connection? Thanks, Ted. Ted -June 20, 2006 I'm not sure if everyone is talking about the same thing here.... as far as i know"upscaling" and "up converting" are two very different things. Scaling will change the resolution, while converting only converts analogue to digital. John -June 20, 2006 I have a Sony 42" plasma TV... 1024 by 1024, but it is a widescreen. Should I get an upscaling DVD player or just a progressive scan? nono -June 21, 2006 Lance Harriss, are you serious? You really think an "upgraded high tension wire 20 amp" is something that will have any effect whatever on your video? First of all, 120 volts is NOT high tension. High tension is 15,000 volts and above, by the way. By your reasoning, if I put a fire hydrant at the end of a 1/8" piece of copper tubing, I will be able to put out a 6-alarm conflagration! Wires and cables are not magic. Short of the flimsiest OEM cables included in low end components, there is no relationship whatever to what you pay for an insulated piece of copper wire and the quality of your video experience. There is no technical reason that upscaling on a plasma tv will work any differenty than on an LCD. It all depends on what the native resolution of the display device is, and what resolution you are upscaling to. Many older plasma sets are NOT HD! They are 480p native resolution. Upscaling 480p to 720p or 1080i will make the picture worse, not better. If you have a true HD plasma set, upconverting 480p will normally make a noticable difference in this case. JFrykman -June 22, 2006 This article is/was more prescient than could be expected. See LA TIMES RESEARCH articles on HD-DVD/BLU-RAY by David Colker(latimes.com, scroll to columnists, and Colker). A first- class upconversion of a high-quality standard DVD is essentially indistinguishable from a 'native' high-def optical disk. Problem is most likely not the hi-def formats or the players, but so far the relatively low transfer rates, such as the 12 to 15mbps purportedly common on the current HD-DVD releases. As to BLU-RAY, view H/D of 'The Fifth Element; then immediately use the same player and display to upconvert the standard DVD(SuperBit) of the same title. If you can tell much difference, your 20/20 eyesight must be a helluva lot better than mine, or that of LA TIMES RESEARCH. Maybe we'll need soomething like SuperBit HD-DVD or SuperBit BLU-RAY to really see a substantial difference. As of this writing, upconversion is by far the better choice. Milt R Smith -July 16, 2006 Drew you said< I quote "After reading multiple reviews and forum posts, I was excited to setup my new Sony Upconvering DVD Player (DVP-NS75H). These two units are connected via a HDVI cable for the max resolution output from the DVD player. The default resolution for these two devices after being connected was set to 1080i, which if you know anything about resolution isn't as good as 720p. So I changed the resolution settings on the Sony DVD Player (DVP-NS75H) to display at 720p" This simply isnt true at all, if you have a 1080i crt or plasma (hitachi) or projector, than 1080i can indeed be better, if yours is 720p than 720 can be better. even though 1080i is interlaced it still has more resolution , it is just done in two passes 1920x540+1920x540=1920x1080i all 1080 lines are distinct, this is why a 1080p set can put the 1080i image from hddvd back to 1080p. Much like all dvds are 480i and the dvd player puts the interlaced lines to 480p progressive. most brodcaster choice 1080i because of the resolution advantage. PBS INHD 1-INHD2 HDNET-HDMV UNIVHD-TNTHD HBOHD-SHOWHD 720P Fox-Abc-ESPN-ETC Both look great! This channels look as good or better than the lower resoltion720P channels in most cases, even on 720P sets, of course there are many varibles from the master to the delivery system to your tv. I recently read that many "HD" 720P and 1080I are transmitted at much lower resoltion. 1440x1080i(Sony XBR960 and most 1080i HDcamcorders)-1280x1080i or lower and 1280x540p and lower, so we rarely get the full resoltion of either except with blu-ray and hd-dvd and d-vhs. Also many older fixed 720p displays actually downcoveted to 540p and than upconveted to 720P making 1080i look not so good. No both formats look great on almost all hdtvs, although standard def 480i which is still 99% of all programming looks best on non native displays capable of showing interlaced signals. Peace. dave -July 31, 2006 I just bought the OPPO 971 player and did some comparisons vs. my older Denon 900. Is there a difference? Most noticeably yes, when using the DVI output vs. component. Since my "older" Toshiba 55" rear projection takes 1080i natively, it was a snap to get the OPPO in sync and not have multiple processes messing with the signal. However, the biggest difference comes from having your tv calibrated right (I used the Avia Disc). One great feature of this player is the ability to zoom in on the picture, in small increments, in order to lessen or totally remove the black bars. All in all, I like it and for $160 it was a "no pain" purchase. Be warned though. This player ONLY upconverts on the digital output (DVI) not on component. Brian -August 19, 2006 Brian: Where did you buy OPPO 971 for $160. I couldn't find it cheaper than $199 anywhere? Thanks TJ -August 27, 2006 The OPPO 971 refurbished is available for $160 plus shipping ($8 in CA, $15, US mainland). Here's the link:https://www.oppodigital.com/proddetail.asp?prod=ZOPDV971H JB -August 29, 2006 Your Comments (required): Name (required): -September 1, 2006 Is there any way to convert a 2.35:1 ratio DVD to 1.78:1 either through a dvd player or other options? I know tv networks do it, just wondering if the technology is available, and not that expensive for us users! AM -October 9, 2006 I am just getting into this video resolution world. I've had an HD ready 55" Mitsubishi tv with a standard progressive scan dvd player. Putting the components in the right spot I converted from 480i to 480p not a big step a little improvement. But my tv says it will scale to 1080i. So now Im reading about upconverting dvd players which may not play a huge role in dazzling your plasma, lcd, dlp or hdtv display. Yet a tv that doesn't have the def built in all ready Im real anxious to get maybe the OPPO player with a dvi/hdmi cable.See the difference and get the best out of my big screen matthew -October 30, 2006 Hi folks, I am building my very first system with the following components - panasonic pt-ae900 projector (native resolution 1280x720) - onkyo receiver tx-sr674 or onkyo tx-sr604 - onkyo dvd sp404, upconverting dvd player I decided to get the onkyo dvd sp404 instead of the oppo 971 because I didn't see any difference to justify the higher cost. Questions: 1) Should I let DVD player do the upconversion to 720p or should the receiver do it ? 2) The difference I see between tx-sr604 and tx-sr674 is that 674 supports upconversion of analog signals to HDMI, whereas 604 doesn't. Is that important ? I am going to use HDMI connection from DVD player to receiver to projector. 3) What is the best way to connect my Dish Network box to the receiver. These are possibly newbie questions, but I am a newbie. Any help is appreciated. Thanks. npv -October 30, 2006 In need of Much help please, I recently purchased a jvc 56 in hdila tv. I have the bose123 system to sound my theather but it is a progessive scan dvd player. I am wanting to purchase the sony upconverting dvd player to get the 720 or 1080i res. I was recently watching Madagascar on hbohd and decided to throw it in my dvd player to compare. The picture was much better on hbohd 1080i. My question is will buying the uncoverting dvd player make my dvds look like it did on hbohd? Danny -November 15, 2006 I have the new Sony 40xbr2 Bravia 2 that is 1920 x 1080p (full 1080p). Since my native resolution is @ 1080p, as my internal scaler scales up wonderfully from 480i & 720i from the source input being direct TV to the direct TV's boundary of 1080i. Question being. Do I need an upcoverting DVD player to scale 480p to the capability of my HDTV being 1080p? Or would my internal scalers do the trick? please note I have not hooked up a DVD player yet. I just installed the tv yersterday. Also can someone be kind enough to tell me what is the difference between upscaling and upconverting. I beleive I understand 'upscaling', but unsure of 'upconverting'. Someone mentioned on this message board that upconverting is from analog to digital. True? Thanks... Taryn Taryn Christine -November 25, 2006 I have a 1080p samsung DLP. I am not interested in purchasing a blu-ray or hd dvd player because zac -November 26, 2006 Whoa! Now I'm really confused. First, how does one find out what chip is in ones particular TV? That would be the first step in determining whether or not to upconvert/upscale (they are different?). Also, there seems to be a cloud as to what type of technology the up-ing will work on, DLP, PLasma, LCD, CRT. I have a Sony vvega 27" CRT, (hey, at least it's HD ready), small living room. I've seen multiple threads elsewhere that up-ing won't work on a CRT because it only converts back to analog to display anyway. I guess the only way is to use the stores return policy, and give a test at home. So much for researching on the internet. Bob S. -November 27, 2006 Just had installer set up sony bravia 46kbr2 with OPPO OPDV971H dvd player and component cables. The image is very pixelated but installer said it's a faulty DVD player. I then saw that oppo is really designed for digital (hdmi) hook up. The bad pixelation may be a seperate issue, but I still need a dvd player that works best through component. Went to electronics store and was told that 480p is as good as I can do with component because the upscaling dvd players will only go to 720i on component (which they said wasn't as good as 480p), so they reccommended a 480p dvd player. Somehow, I feel a bit slighted sticking a 480p player into a 1080p set. I'd rewire house but it would mean ripping through walls in new construction. ron -December 27, 2006 Hey Ron, I just picked up the LG LDA-731 upconverting player. This player upconverts via component up to 1080i. I actually was planning to use HDMI but my cable was too short so I went back to component and it still looks great. For those who need upconverting from component - check this one out. Mike -December 28, 2006 Does anyone make a dvd player that will upconvert using a hdmi to dvi cable? My Sony tv only has a dvi connection and I was told by Sony the DVP NS75H wont upconvert to dvi. Bill -December 30, 2006 I have an upconverting DVD player and, although the picture is much improved over 480P when scaled up to to 720p and 1080i, its not completly filling the screen. Its full to the bottom but leaves one inch black from the top. Is this normal? Kyle -December 30, 2006 great article...but...it still doesn't resolve the issue: Can an upscaling DVD player outperform the TV chip? Gary Vanniere -January 3, 2007 Ron, The Helios 4000 upconverts through component video to 720p 1080i or 1080p. Its from neodigits Sometimes you can find them on ebay. In fact I have one that will be listed there within a day or so. (I have since gone hdmi and no longer need component video upconvert). Or email directly and you can beat the bidding hassle. Brian -January 8, 2007 email address is racedogg at sbcglobal.net if interested. Brian -January 8, 2007 I highly recommend an upscaling DVD player. I had a progressive scan 480P DVD player with componet cables but when I went to a 1080i HDMI cable the difference was huge. The reasons I believe are: Well most DVD these days are down sampled HD captures provide a excellent source that seems to be somehow oversampled using multiple progressive frames. HDMI is digital all the way. Until the LCD pixel gets switch on or off the signal is purely digital avoiding a DA - AD step. What was amazing was how much better the colors look by avoiding that additional step. How can a DVD look better than some broadcast ATSC signals. Several DVD out perform some poorly lit broadcast HD shows. A 720P set with a screen smaller than 37" is going to find it difficult to do justice to a HD-DVD picture or Blue-ray since they are 1080P sources. I would stick with a good upscaling DVD if you have a smaller set than 37". Kariato -January 9, 2007 The main reason for buying an upscaling DVD player is for the HMDI output. The scaling is secondary to the HDMI interface. HDMI looks much better than component interface. Bob -January 19, 2007 BTW: You can get a nice $10 HDMI cable online at places suvh as "BuyXtra.com" or Ämazon.com" that work fine. Don't buy an expensive one at the big stores. Bob -January 19, 2007 Hello. I Just got a Panasonic TH-42PX60U. I have an older Panasonic DVD-S35 DVD player (progressive scan). I'm about to go out and buy component cables (not S-video cable which is the only other plug in the back of the dvd player). Should I buy the component cables or just go buy a new upscaling DVD player? Thanks from a true newbie. Gene -January 21, 2007 hi i bought a hd tv with dvi input and a upscaling dvd player with hdmi. I also bought a hdmi to dvi cable convertor but for some reson my dvd player will not upscale past 480i. is this due to the cable change from hdmi to dvi. please caan some one help? lee lee -January 22, 2007 Gene, If you can get the upconverting player,go for it. It would be best if your TV has an HDMI or DVI connection though,as well as the upconverting player of course.And be sure both are set for 720p or 1080i. Folks, upconverting players are our way of sticking it to the companies who want us to spend $500-$1000 and up for an HD or Blu-Ray player,$2000 and up for a decent size 1080p TV and $35 each for the movies we already have. I say nuts to that and upconvert baby!! Pete -January 23, 2007 jrsyjytsrrs6r4j6tj6tyjykjmj6rs rt6sjh ryj jhyrsjyr -January 28, 2007 Can anyone say how would be the best way for me to send audio to my receiver if I have only an hdmi input on my hdtv? I have an older sherwood receiver with 2 digital inputs currently both occupied and no digital audio out on my olevia hdtv> Any advice is appreciated. Name (required): -January 31, 2007 Thanks to the readers and editors for all this debate. I recently invested in a Sharp Aquos 42" 1080p panel, but due to living room renos haven't been able to hook it up yet. Can anyone tell me what Sharp uses in their Aquos for the the scaling and converting chipset? Has anyone compared a garden consumer variety (Toshiba S42 player, for example) playing through an Aquos vs a good upconverting player also through an Aquos? Mike -February 11, 2007 Well, I know it seems like the stone age, I have a Panasonic 32 inch CRT HD ready TV and recently got HD cable, so I am working with better quality these days. I only have a standard Sony DVD player, not even progressive scan. The TV only has component hookups as the best quality. So, to see my DVD's look better I need to do something, does it make sense for me to to jump to the upconverting DVD player right away, assuming I can find one that works with component cables? It seems like a yes from all of you, but I gather only because I don't have progessive scan. Thanks Mike Mike -February 11, 2007 Mike, You don't really 'need' to get an upconverting dvd player and since you only have component inputs,it probably wouldn't make too much a difference anyway. I'd really suggest getting a dvd player with progressive scan,pronto. You'll see a big difference in picture(ie.smoother picture,better detail).It will only be playing in 480p but it's a huge step up from basic 480i. Progressive scan is a basic function in almost any player these days and you can get one with component connections for $30-$40 at Walmart or Best Buy. When your ready to upgrade your HDTV to one that has HDMI or DVI then consider the upconverting players. Pete -February 11, 2007 HDTV's have a HD colour matrix and a SD colour matrix, DVD's are SD. When you upconvert a DVD to 720p or 1080i the HDTV thinks it's receiving a HD signal and incorrectly applies the HD colour signal and cannot be changed. You may get a cleaner looking picture but as a result you destroy your colours. Therefore i'd only recommend an upconverting player if your HDTV has the capability of manually switching between the HD and SD colour matrix's, which by the way is a rare capability. However, that said, an upconverting player may well be worth it for the HDMI connection alone and running at 480p. You will still get an improvement in PQ due to the lack of a digital to analog conversion. HDMI will send the video signal digitally to the display. As a result the display gets whats on the disc. James -February 12, 2007 James: Although not what I was really looking for, WOW apprecaite your comments - you in one stroke, totally improved my cable experience. I will tell you why - as I said above was looking for better DVD players, but - as part of getting my HD cable box with HD stations Comcast also gave me one of the Digital Plus packages. Well, it's nice, but the movies look terrible, bad colors and muddy. Guess what, this afternoon continuing to mess with TV functions this Panasonic CRT CT32 inch family of sets has an HD/SD color map just like you talk about. I had also mentioned I don't have HDMI, so the TV instructions state I have to use the component hookup from the cable box to get HD - which I do. All I can figure is becuase I have a HD signal, even the digital feed is affected by how the TV accepts that signal, digital or HD. So the end of the story is as soon as I changed the color map to HD for everything, the digital movies look just great on all the channels. Thanks Mike Mike -February 13, 2007 upconvert ****... ya baby...1080i boobs...mmmm....boobs convert this -February 18, 2007 I have to agree with Dave Everett in the very first post. I bought a Panasonic DVD-S52S upconverter and hooked it up (HDMI) to my 50" panasonic plasma and seen absolutely no differnace (in 720p or 1080p) over my panasonic progressive scan DVR when playing older DVDs. I took it back... Craig -February 21, 2007 I just bought a Panasonic 42" plasma HDTV, TH42PX600U. Now I'm thinking about getting an upconverting DVD player. After reading all the postings above, maybe I need it and maybe not. However, I do want a DVD player with HDMI output to the HDTV. Can anyone help me with the selection. I'm leaning toward either OPPO or Sony. Don -February 23, 2007 As soon as it's available I will be buying the new Sharp Acquos 65" 1080p LCD TV. This TV has 3 HDMI inputs. I need to buy a receiver and possibly an upconverting DVD but wonder if that is an unnecessary expense. Since the TV has enough HDMI inputs to directly connect a DVD player and two other video components to it it doesn't seem that I gain anything by spending extra money to get an upconverting receiver and DVD other than the ability to send all video inputs to the TV with just one HDMI cable from the receiver. Am I missing something here or do I have it right? Ron M -March 6, 2007 The value and quality of an upconverting player verse just using the TV's built-in is highly dependent on your TV (quality & contrast ratio) and proper calibration. Personal preference as is a factor. If you like a softer image for example you may prefer the Sony. I have tried the latest Sony and Samsung and Oppo models on my HDTV in my home. A model on the showroom floor is not the same. I feel Oppo is the best for accuracy. Is it worth an extra $100 for a DVD player? Well the TV was $2000 so I feel the extra cost in a DVD player is worth it. I can see the improvement. techie -March 14, 2007 Here is something strange. I've seen some DVD players that if you set them to Widescreen mode, and you play a 1.85 to 1 movie, the movie fills the entire 16X9 screen. BUT it should not fill the entire screen, because 16X9 TV's are actually 1.78 to 1. Now MY Philips Upconverting DVD player shows the 1.85 to 1 movie for what it really is, and there is a very thin black bar only on the bottom of the picture. But I least I know I'm seeing a perfect picture. Mike -March 16, 2007 I have never seen a DVD say 1.78 to 1, it is either 1.85 to 1, or 2.35 to 1, or rarely it is 2.40 to 1. The point is, NO DVD EVER SHOULD TAKE UP YOUR ENTIRE SCREEN, not even on a 16X9 TV. Mike -March 16, 2007 RON, if you have a 65' 1080P LCD, with 3 HDMI inputs, you will likely purchase either a Blue Ray Player, or a HD-DVD Player, or both, or the LG that plays both Blue Ray and HD-DVD. If you buy any of these, the unit will also act as a DVD Upconverter. So you won't need to purchase one. It is important to keep in mind that the HD-DVD or Blue Ray player will also be an Upconverting DVD player worth 150 bucks, so actually they aren't as bad of a deal as they seem. Mike -March 20, 2007 At this point I really have no faith in HD-DVD or Blu Ray. I really believe a sit, watch, wait and see approach is best.Even last year proved that most TV's sold were not HDTV's even in the 720p to 1080i catagory. Most people don't even know what 720p is,and now the industry is pushing 1080p when most haven't caught up to standard HD yet. It's good for the lower prices of standard Hi Def TV's we're seeing,but seeing as Hi Def hasn't penetrated most homes yet,and 1080p is fine and all,it's too expensive and way too soon. Besides, the difference between true 1080i and 1080p on a nice HDTV is not like the difference between VHS and DVD,you really have to look for the difference,it's not that big a deal. Upconversion players are a nice solution for those seeking the most out of their HDTV's without buying everything all over again. Even a basic player with progressive scan in 480p on a nice set looks real nice. We don't need to gamble with our hard earned cash by giving into hype for formats that may not succeed at all and which may be destined to end up next to your laserdiscs and betamax tapes. Personally, I wish HD-DVD and Blu Ray would just go away,my dvd's look just fine. Pete -March 23, 2007 As everybody else, I am also thinking about purchasing a Samsung (DVD-R135) prgressive scan DVD recorder with upconversion. Price ($150.00) Actually I am looking at it right now in my living room. This DVD is for a Samsung LN-S3296D 32" High Definition LCD Television with 2 HDMI inputs. What do you all think. Will it make a difference in watching digital DVD formats? Thanks in Advance, Anthony anthony -March 24, 2007 As everybody else, I am also thinking about purchasing a Samsung (DVD-R135) prgressive scan DVD recorder with upconversion. Price ($150.00) Actually I am looking at it right now in my living room. This DVD is for a Samsung LN-S3296D 32" High Definition LCD Television with 2 HDMI inputs. What do you all think. Will it make a difference in watching digital DVD formats? Thanks in Advance, Anthony anthony -March 24, 2007 Sorry for the double post earlier, Just wanted to say that I found this on CNET: Upconversion by a DVD player isn't necessary since every HDTV can do it on its own, but the supposed benefit is that the video processing of the DVD player might outclass that of the TV. anthony -March 24, 2007 If your TV has an HDMI input then buy a DVD player that outputs HDMI,the difference between component and HDMI@480p is noticable.I have a Oppo 970 hooked up to a 42" plasma and the picture is amazing.If you have a tv >50" get the 981. The Dude -March 25, 2007 can someone tell me if a phillips hdmi is just the same as a monster hdmi? alvin west palm beach -March 28, 2007 How would I know what kind of chips they have inside these upconverting dvd players. BADUDERTZ -March 28, 2007 Alvin, if you're talking about cables, all HDMI cables are the same (at least in lengths <10 feet). They either work or they don't work. Don't waste your money on monster HDMI cables. Michael -April 3, 2007 good article but i have a problem i put my dvd player on progressive scan the other day because i have some uk dvd's and i lost the menu and the screen went blue and now i can't set it right again because i can't see the menu so what do i do if u can help me thanks a million T trampas -April 9, 2007 I own a Toshiba 62” MX195 DLP hdtv. And I’m interested in purchasing OPDV971H or the DV 981HD. I noticed that the article stated either one of these units would be ideal for a T.V that size but it also stated that in order to use either unit with a DLP T.V there must be some type of calibration involved. What exactly is that calibration and how will I be able to perform that function? Thanks Marcus marcus -April 21, 2007 I just bought a Sony 34 inch widescreen HDTV. Circuit City was selling this TV (KD34XBR960) for $599 3 weeks ago, and I had a 10% off coupon. These were selling for $1500 a year ago! This TV has one of the best pictures I have ever seen, especially for an HD TV when you are NOT watching HD on it. It weights 190 lbs, but does it look great! Most of the LCD and plasmas I've seen suck when it comes to watching regular SD programs, no matter what the medium. My question is: I have an older model DVD player. It doesn't have progressive scan. It is so old that it has all of the theather parameter set up functions built into it like all receivers currently have. I have always bypassed this because that is what my receiver does. So: Should I buy a progressive scan DVD player? I was looking at the Oppo units. Should I buy an unconverting player, or is the converter in my TV good enough? Thanks for any help ya'll can offer. Nick -May 21, 2007 Nick,I definitely think you should get new dvd player with progressive scan. You'll love the difference it makes when you watch your movies on it.The picture is much smoother and nicer to watch.You can find one anywhere for real cheap.One thing to note though if you have or are planning to have 5.1 surround sound,make sure the DVD player says "dolby digital" and "DTS" on it as sound options.New dvd's are really using these as sound options and it's good to know you can hear your dvd's as they're meant to be heard if you want to.I would'nt worry about the oppo player yet.I think you'll love the progressive scan enough that you won't care about upconversion yet.Besides,it sounds like you have a CRT (tube) TV and upconversion players work better with and are more necessary for lcd's and plasmas.If you do get the upconverting player,oppo is a great brand and my favorite choice.But make sure your TV has an HDMI or a DVI input as the oppo or any upconverting player will practically require it to work properly.Oh,and if you do get a standard progressive scan dvd player,consider paying a bit more for one with an HDMI connection,that is if your new TV has one,otherwise component cables(red,blue,green) will give you a nice picture that is almost as good.Hope this helps. Pete -May 30, 2007 I have to essentially agree with the initial poster. If you have a new TV it already has a fancy upscaling chip built into it ... as the manufacturer knows most of the signals you will be viewing will not be native to the display. Why buy an external scaler ? There is a difference between scalers/deinterlacers for sure .. but not as much as some may make out. I have an old CRT projector made in 1997 and find the cheap chinese player I attach to it (as it has VGA) does a much better job at deinterlacing than the onboard chip .. why ? ... well although the CRT in 1997 cost $15,000, the inevitable march of technology has endowed the $50 player with a better deinterlacer. I don't think this would be the case with a 2007 flat panel TV vs a 2007 dvd player ! Infact, why pay $1000's for a TV and expect a $100 DVD player to do a better job ? It's like having a DVD player with AC3/DTC decoders onboard and having them duplicated on your reciever ... one goes to waste. Another point to remember is that most panels sold today are not 1920x1080i and for some crazy reason, manufactures have chosen old computer based resolutions for their panels like 1366 x 768 which is WideXGA in instead of video resolutions like 1280 x 720. That means when you upscale to 1280 x 720 the panel then has to upscale again to 1366 x 768 or downscale from 1920 x 1080 is you feed it that signal. 2 scaling operations occur , surely NOT a good thing. You can see the effect of sending the wrong signal to a fixed pixel display right now ! Most of you are reading this via an LCD monitor. It has a native display ... now go to display properties and change it to something else , lower or higher ... then see what happens to the picture ... everything looks soft !!!! The scaler in a DVD player is better of course but you get the idea. If you are about to buy a new set ... get 1920 x 1080. Then get an LG blu ray/HD combo or wait for the Samsung unit out soon. You really can't go wrong with that combination. By the way, the new Samsung M8 panels have "movie plus" which is similar to Philips' Natural Motion. If you feed either a 480i signal, the motion of all moving objects is incredibly smooth. No other manufacturer can emulate this as far as I know. A samsung M8 panel would be my recommendation as it's also FullHD (1920x1080) and relatively cheap. Sanjay -May 30, 2007 Thanks for your help guys. I tested a progressive scan player on it last week, and WOW! What a difference. I am saving up for the Oppo DV-970 right now. Heres another tricky question: My set has ONE HDMI input. I just purchased digital HD cable with a DVR, and would like to use the HDMI output on it, as well as the HDMI output with the DVD player. Will it make a big difference using the componenet over the HDMI on one of the connections? I watch a lot more TV than movies. There are two component connections on the set rated for 480p/720p/1080i. OR: Is it worth buying a $90 A/B box for the HDMI connection so I can use it for both the DVD player and the digital cable? Name (required): -May 30, 2007 Thanks for your help guys. I tested a progressive scan player on it last week, and WOW! What a difference. I am saving up for the Oppo DV-970 right now. Heres another tricky question: My set has ONE HDMI input. I just purchased digital HD cable with a DVR, and would like to use the HDMI output on it, as well as the HDMI output with the DVD player. Will it make a big difference using the componenet over the HDMI on one of the connections? I watch a lot more TV than movies. There are two component connections on the set rated for 480p/720p/1080i. OR: Is it worth buying a $90 A/B box for the HDMI connection so I can use it for both the DVD player and the digital cable? Nick -May 30, 2007 Nick,I make sure to get new TV's with as many HDMI inputs for just that reason. Keeping in mind that HDMI is your best available signal, I guess you might have to prioritize which picture you want to look the best when your watching it. Component cables are still good and aren't as drastic a change as you just experienced switching to progressive scan,so either way you won't be hurting choosing one or the other. It's just that HDMI is purely digital and convienient to have audio and video in one cable,while component is analog and your signal goes through the conversion from digital to analog to digital,losing a little in transition. I've had both digital cable and satellite TV on 2 different TV's and have noticed that the picture on most channels never looks as good as you'd like. Channels displaying standard definition shows seem to look worse than they did on an old tube TV. Basically because the TV is trying to show the picture in a way it was never meant to be shown. The HD channels are pretty much compressed images which makes them look much better but some problems still exist sometimes. Even using HDMI, most channels don't look all that great. I hope total HD availabililty for all channels comes sooner rather than later. I like my DVD to get the best connection, as it's natural digital connection seems to make the most of it, and the pictures quality is then soley the responsibility of the disc instead of the signal or the electronics. Before you spend the $90 for the A/B box, you may want to experiment and hook each up to the HDMI and then to the component cables. Find a movie and show, then scenes your really familiar with to play using both cables to see if you see a significant difference one way or the other. Pete -June 2, 2007 I'm ordering the new Samsung HP-T5604 50" plasma (after much comparing of prices and reviews/stats on cnet). If I understand all the posts correctly, and the cnet reviews, my new tv will probably do a great job of upscaling/upconverting. However, the output connection on my 2004 Toshiba DVR could be an issue. To get the most out of my picture I need a DVD player with an HDMI output? My current DVR only has component video and s-video outputs. C Eric -June 7, 2007 One more thing: can you set an upscaling DVD player, like the Oppo 981 to send an unaltered signal to the tv? The reason I ask is that even if I only buy a new DVD player to get a HDMI output, the Oppo still seems like a great player (compared to reviews of others) for the money -- even without using the upconverting capacity. C Eric -June 7, 2007 C Eric, I know some people argue that a TV's own upscaling abilities are sufficient and that there's no benefit to an upconverting player as the TV should provide a better picture on it's own, but I have yet to see it. In my experience, the TV works best when it's being told what to do by the signal that's being sent to it. Example: Why do standard stations and shows look so bad on an HDTV? Because the show is still being sent to your TV in 480i. Even though your TV is set to 720p or 1080i, that doesn't mean your watching The A-Team or Gilligan's Island in 720p/1080i. I'd like them to explain why there are HD versions of existing channels if the TV is capable of upconverting the standard signal itself? I'd also like these people to explain why my upconverting player is displaying the best picture I've ever seen on the same TV,considering I've had 2 other standard players using the same connections) connected to it. If the TV's own capabilities were enough, why is there such a big difference? This is the exact purpose of the upconverting player, to increase the resolution of your DVD's and tell your TV to display the picture at said resolutions. Now, it's not true HD but it looks great, it's relatively cheap and saves you from getting into an experimental(expensive) format war that requires you to replace your whole DVD library, as well as buying a new player and TV. I don't know about you, but I have 250+ DVD's and have no desire or money to replace them when I'm happy watching them as they are. As for the DVD player with an HDMI output, yes, it will give you the best possible picture as it's a purely digital connection with no conversions like component and other like cables. Upconverting players such as the Oppo and others offer the option of upconverting in the settings but will work as a standard 480i/480p player as well. No one can blame you for going for the Oppo though, it's always good to support smaller companies that provide quality products and excellent customer service and support. Pete -June 7, 2007 Thanks for the input Pete, that helps. C Eric -June 10, 2007 You guys are awesome. Thanks for all of the help. Nick -June 12, 2007 Many HDTV's have a native resolution which differs from any of the common resolutions. There is no such thing as a 1080i native resolution. 720p would be 1280x720. My TV, for example, has a native resolution of 1024x780. Deinterlacing 480i to 480p component or HDMI makes sense, but scaling to 1280x720 doesn't make sense unless that's your displays exact native resolution. It's like copying a key. A copy of a copy is never as good, neither would you want to scale an image multiple times. Name (required): -June 22, 2007 I have an older model DVD player (non progressive). Do I even need to buy a progressive scan DVD player with a new Samsung Plasma HDTV? I know 480P is better than 480i, but my understanding is that the TV will take 480i to 720P so what is the purpose of getting a progressive or upconverting DVD player? THe $2000 HDTV does all the conversions. I own another progressive scan DVD player on another HDTV I own and I switched the player from progressive to non-progressive and I can't tell the difference. I beleive the reason is the the TV is already taking the non progressive 480i feed and making it 720P. I think many people get tricked into thinking the newer DVD players are better. I mean it is like buying a mixer before you put your ingredients into a blender. Dave -June 24, 2007 Here's an article I think adresses the whole 480i vs 480p (and in theory 720p upconverting) about DVD players. Is 480p better than 480i? Evan Powell, April 24, 2003 ProjectorCentral.com There is a lot of understandable confusion over component video, and whether progressive scan 480p output from a DVD player is better than interlaced output, 480i. One reader writes: If I have a DVD player that is 480i (non-progressive) and I used it with a projector that has a line doubler to display it in 480p, will I get the same result as if I would feed the projector direct 480p? Good question. First, let's clarify one item--all digital projectors have deinterlacers (line doublers) on board. LCD panels, DLP chips, and LCOS chips are all exclusively progressive scan devices. They cannot operate any other way. So when a projector receives an interlaced signal either through the composite, S-video, or component ports, it must deinterlace it internally prior to sending it to the display device. Now, if you have a DVD player that outputs both interlaced 480i and progressive scan 480p, do you end up with the same result either way? The answer is...it depends. Frequently, as you've probably heard, the 480p signal from the DVD player is better. Why? A DVD is encoded in digital component interlaced format. Frames must be assembled into sequential progressive scan format within the DVD player for it to output a 480p signal. This deinterlacing happens in the digital domain before the information is converted to analog for transmission. So in theory a good deinterlacer in the DVD player has the best chance of assembling the cleanest signal. Meanwhile, if you switch your DVD player to interlaced 480i output, the DVD player foregoes the deinterlacing step. It simply converts the signal to analog for transmission to the projector (unless it has DVI output, which almost none of them have at the moment). The projector then converts the incoming analog signal back to digital and does the deinterlacing internally. In theory the two D/A conversions can compromise the signal, leaving the projector with less precise data with which to accomplish the deinterlacing. However, these days D/A conversions are much cleaner than they used to be. Furthermore, it is quite possible that the projector has more comprehensive deinterlacing and video processing logic on board than does the DVD player. By using 480i, you take advantage of the projector's deinterlacing capability. On the other hand, using 480p bypasses it. So when the projector's internal video processing electronics are more powerful than those in the DVD player it is possible to get a better picture using 480i than 480p. Bottom line...ignore all conventional wisdom. Set it up both ways, and trust your eyes. Depending on the DVD player and projector that you have, you may or may not see a difference between 480p and 480i. (Keep in mind that if you have two different input ports for 480i and 480p the projector may be calibrated differently on those two ports--don't confuse differences in calibration with differences attributable to 480i vs. 480p.) If you do an A/B test with the same calibration settings and you see a difference in picture quality, go with the one you like best. Don't go with 480p just because it is supposed to be the best. In may not be. Given the vast improvements we've seen in the deinterlacing capabilities on projectors, there are no absolute right answers anymore. Dave -June 24, 2007 I have a Sony KDL 40V2500, which is a full 1080p TV. I also have a progressive dvd player. Do you suggest I get an upconverting player, as I have seen a lot of them for 99 bucks that upconvert to 1080p. Or would this be redundant? Sal -June 25, 2007 Sal, You don't need or have to get an upconverting player. If you are happy with the way your movies look on your TV then that's the most important thing. In the end, that's what all this HD and upconversion is all about. But if you have a little extra cash and are interested in testing the upconversion waters then go for it. The Oppo link near the top of this page will take you to their website and give you lots of great info about their players. Especially the reviews they've recieved. If you don't want to order online and want something more near the $99 range you mentioned, then the Sony DVP-NS75H player is also a nice choice. It's about $110 at Best Buy or Costco. It has HDMI and upconverts to 720p/1080i. It does a great job doing it too. A 1080p upconversion player is likely to costt a bit more, and that's where the Oppo comes in again. I know there are other 1080p upconversion players out there, but beware, not all upconverting players are created equal. It depends on the type of chip set and processor they use. Plus they really work best with an HDMI or DVI port. Sure, you can buy them, then return them to the store (if the store has such a return policy) if you don't like them, or you can research these players and see how they're reviewed by the people who get paid to dissect and test them thoroughly. Find the models at your local store that your most interested in, write them down, then look them up on your computer to see what kind of reviews they've recieved. It pays to know what to look for. Pete -June 28, 2007 The real question is this (real because its what I'm doing LOL): I'm purchasing a VIZIO brand LCD from walmart, I'm not rich so this is in my budget, just bought a house and need something nice but not uber expensive, the model is linked below. http://www.vizio.com/products/detail.aspx?pid=27 There alot of technical jargon in the detail ssection but seriously I don't know how to interpert it. I'm gonna be interested in getting an upconverting DVD player for my massive collection of DVDs if it will makes my picure better and sharper, especially for fast moving images, since most of my movies are sci-fi lol. Do you guys think it is worth getting an upconverting DVD player? I mean its only a 42" anyway but Im very picky and can easily spot poor resolution, in fact it will constantly irritate me if its not almost perfect, but like I said its only a 42". Also I wont be using the TV for sound, I'll be using my yamaha surround sound reciver and it dosent have any better imput then optical I think. Any info or suggestions would be awesome. Richard -July 17, 2007 I recommend buying a PS3, You get a blu-ray player, an upconverting dvd player and a great gaming machine. There are pleny of blu-ray dvd's on blockbuster online to rent and the upconvert looks great. All for $499. Well worth it if you are running a 1080p display. Brian -July 28, 2007 Today I purchased a Panasonic 50 inch 1080p plasma. A "web special" gave me FREE an upconverting DVD player by Samsung. I put in the Lion King Special DVD (It's been sitting around for a year and I've never watched it) and LOW and BEHOLD it played in 1080p!! AWESOME picture!! Why pay hundreds more for BlueRay or HDDVD when with a cheap upconverting DVD player, I can watch my DVDs in 1080p?? Bob -August 7, 2007 Hey Bob do you have a dark movie like the matrix or something with lots of detail and check it out? id really like to know the model number of your upconvet dvd player if it looks good so I can get myself a good one too since im on a budget heh, ill prob end up selling my xbox, extra vcr, 27in tv and 19in with dvd built in tube to pay for it lol. Richard -August 8, 2007 I'm using a new Panny up-converting DVD player (S53K) into the DVI input of a five-year old Sony KV-34XBR800 34" tube type HDTV (input at 1080i) and after some adjustment of menus, the results are far better than the 480p image on the component input. Not a big screen to be sure, but if I move up closer than normal the improvement is very dramatic. Well worth the investment (and my old player had just failed, so I needed a new one anyway). Phil Phil Wheeler -August 18, 2007 Bob: HD is a true 1080p source, not signal. An old DVD is just a 480p source cleanly fit inside a 1080p signal while minimize distortion in the conversion process. This is the difference between HDTV and EDTV, which is easily noticeable. Scott -August 21, 2007 help. to add to the bag of worms, i am looking for an upconvert dvd player that has remote control of its audio signal volume output, not the tv volume control. clive -September 3, 2007 To add my 2 cents - I bought a Vizio GV42L six months ago, and was dismayed at how poor my DVD's looked on it. Granted, my old DVD player only sent 480i over an S-Video cable. I was determined to do better. Yesterday I received the Oppo DV-970HD ($150, free shipping, Amazon) and can't say enough how happy I am. The increase in clarity at 720p or 1080i is astonishing. I realize my previous player was a poor configuration. An upconverting DVD player was the perfect choice in my situation and I'm thrilled with the results. My question - has anyone conclusively determined which is the better picture: 720p or 1080i? I can't really see a difference between them. Does it matter? Kev -September 19, 2007 I've read all the posts to try to educate myself, but I'd still like some comments. I have a Mitsubishi 65" Rear Projection TV with HD 1080i component inputs. My HD Cable and my DVD are routed through my A/V Receiver to the 1080i inputs of the TV. I'm planning to buy a new DVD player and was considering a Blu-Ray, somewhat to get the built in 'upconvert' for the benefit of existing DVDs in the library. After reading these posts, I'm back to wondering if maybe a good progressive scan player is all I need. YOUR comments please and also your comments on my 'hook-up' would be appreciated. Am I getting the most out of any DVD player by running it through the 1080i inputs? *Thanks* Mike -September 19, 2007 Your Comments (required):I have an Insignia NS-30htv which is a 30" wide 1080i flat-panel tube hdtv, which I like very much. My tv does not have a hdmi imput. I use component cables. What should I look for in an upconverting dvd player? Name : Jon -September 21, 2007 Why do my dvds look so much better when I watch them on my computer laptop? Also, they look better when I watch them on my old Sony 32 inch trinitron tube set, then my new (old) Mitsubishi 72 inch HDTV projection. Tube sets just seems so much brighter and clearer. Personally I like the older 4:3 format much better, it just seems bigger. Why do they have to make things so complicated. I why does my TV have a 1394 firewire port in the back? I just got it used from someone, but watching blade or matrix looks like crap compared to my laptop and Sony tube... Steve -September 25, 2007 Best info I've seen on upconverting DVD players. Still a little confused but appreciate the site. Robert Mercer -September 29, 2007 Hi. Lots of great info here, thx! I have a Samsung HLT5087S 50" Slim LED Engine 1080p DLP HDTV on the way (my first HDTV) and my current DVD player is the Panasonic SA-HT820V Progressive. Would the OPPO DV-980H 1080p provide a significantly better picture w/standard DVDs than the Panasonic? Thx again... Tom McClimans -October 8, 2007 Which is better for upconverting, the Philips HTS3555 Home Theater System or the Philips HTS6500/37 DVD Home Theater System with SonoWave? (I'm not committed to a full 5.1 speaker setup). As much as I like the idea of the OPPO I wouldn't be able to use my current speakers w/o a lot of jury-rigging of the wires so am looking for a decent upconverting setup w/speakers that I can afford. Thx!... Tom McClimans -October 8, 2007 Too long to read. One pzragraph would have done the job Jiwan Mukta -October 13, 2007 Your Comments (required): Jiwan Mukta Khalsa -October 13, 2007 Too long! Very poorly written. Cut it down to one sentence and a list jms -October 13, 2007 After reading the article, and reading some responses, Id just like to say that I was forced to buy an Oppo brand player because my HDtv (an Olevia brand) had no internal de-intellacer. My entire dvd collection (200+ movie 200+ animated) had terrible scan lines and jagged edges on them in almost every scene (I owned a Phillips w/ HDMI output because it was able to be regioned free'd for a great price). The Oppo was my top choice of a replacement player because it had a great de-intellacer and played all of my animation dvds superbly. Comparing the two videos of a standard dvd player and the Oppo upconverting was literally night and day for me with an Olevia HDtv. With HDDvd and Blu Ray here, you might as well spend the money for what will probably be your last standard dvd player that will give you the greatest picture you can squeeze out of the standard dvd format JakeG -October 14, 2007 Good article - I am a bit confused as I am just now entering the "HD" age. Just bought an HD LCD TV. My question about the upconverting DVD player is does it play HD DVD's? WE get most of our movies from Netflix and can order some in HD - so that is why I am curious - thanks for the info - I do have LOTS of DVD's in regular format. Cheers Katie Katie -November 18, 2007 I have a question. I don't have a big screen tv, just a 21" Sony and I'm not into a lot high tech. What type of dvd player should I get? What features should I look for? I just want to be able to rent and watch movies and view dvds of tv shows (that I currently watch on my computer). Thanks, Susan Susan -November 21, 2007 I have a question. I don't have a big screen tv, just a 21" Sony and I'm not into a lot high tech. What type of dvd player should I get? What features should I look for? I just want to be able to rent and watch movies and view dvds of tv shows (that I currently watch on my computer). Thanks, Susan Susan -November 21, 2007 I want to use the Pioneer dv-400 dvd upconverter with my computer lcd monitor, an Acer 22inch My question is, first, will my 1680x1050 monitor be able to handle the full 1080p upscaling? conventional wisdom tells me no, since it would need 30 more lines to get there. Since neither the horizontal nor vertical aspects of the monitor are the same as the dvd upscaling will be, is there likely to be a problem with scaling? Also, does anyone have any first-hand experience with this type of setup and if so would you recommend it/what are some things to keep in mind? thanks Dave -November 22, 2007 Katie, upconverting dvd players will not play HD DVDs Upconverting DVD players still use a red laser, and HD ones use a blue They simply convert the resolution of the standard DVD into a higher resolution close to that of an HD DVD Tayler -November 26, 2007 Ok, I am completley ignorant when it comes to HDTV and resolution, etc. I recently purchased a Optoma DV11 DLP projector. It can project 720p and 1080i, however, does not have hdmi, only vga and component. Would a DVD upconvert actually provide a better picture here, or even work in my case? Thanks! Gilly -November 26, 2007 So I finally bought a HDTV, I got an RCA 46" LCD from walmart for 1k! Wow its sweet, now that I have it I can see whats good bad and in between, I have a upconverting machine and the difference between that and HD is pretty significant, I notive some DVDs are better then others but the upconverting still i snowhere near as sharp or smooth as a HD signal no competition at all, the upconvertign does a ok job of stretcing it and if you make yourself not notice it you will just enjoy the movie but if you are looking at artifacts and such then it really is noticible, unless of course I have a crappy upconverter which I do not think I do but you never know, and I am using HDMI. Name (required): -November 27, 2007 I've been contemplating an upconvert DVD player to go with my 36" Sony Wega CRT. My buddy swears on the quality (he has a CRT as well). However, the DVD picture on my CRT is gorgeous simply with the component video and the progressive scan feature. I wonder if what he is seeing as "an enhanced picture" is simply the case that he was experiencing interference with his component video cables (the analogue was being created at the DVD player) versus what he now uses: an upconvert DVD player and HDMI cables (the analogue is created by his TV). Bottom line: maybe the difference is simply less interference for those with CRTs choosing upconvert DVD players. In that case, be careful how you run your cables or buy better shielded cables. I think I will stick with my progressive scan DVD player. It seems to me that it makes sense to let the TV scale and interpolate the signal itself. If you scale it once and then let the TV scale it again, how can that be better? (see the very first post on this thread) Dylan -November 27, 2007 I have a 42" 1080P sharp with 10,000 to 1 contrast ratio. What are your comments about the Denon upscaling DVD players? I also have a Denon 2803 AVR which I can run the HDMI from the DVD to the AVR and HDMI to the LCD HDTV. Please comment Mike R -November 28, 2007 I have a 42" 1080P sharp with 10,000 to 1 contrast ratio. What are your comments about the Denon upscaling DVD players? I also have a Denon 2803 AVR which I can run the HDMI from the DVD to the AVR and HDMI to the LCD HDTV. Please comment Mike R -November 28, 2007 I have a 42" 1080P sharp with 10,000 to 1 contrast ratio. What are your comments about the Denon upscaling DVD players? I also have a Denon 2803 AVR which I can run the HDMI from the DVD to the AVR and HDMI to the LCD HDTV. Please comment Mike R -November 28, 2007 Sorry I made a mistake my AVR is a Denon 2807 Mike R -November 29, 2007 Sorry I made a mistake my AVR is a Denon 2807 Mike R -November 29, 2007 Sorry I made a mistake my AVR is a Denon 2807 Mike R -November 29, 2007 I bought a Samsung DVD-HD870 last night for the upconverting. I have an RCA 52" rear-projection HDTV. I hooked up the video with an HDMI-DVI cable. I can't see ANY difference, and I'm not usually the type to say things like that. I had to move my HD cable box over to my component inputs, and the funny thing is, IT now looks better than when I was using the HDMI-DVI for it. I know my TV isn't exactly high-end; but it does look great with the HD cable box. The DVD player is probably going to get returned though. If I'm not going to see any difference, I might as well wait for HD-DVD or Blu-Ray and get my useless upconverting there. Dan -December 22, 2007 And yes, I messed with all the settings and made sure I was getting 1080i. When I switch between 480p and 1080i, I don't see a damn bit of difference. Dan -December 22, 2007 I agree with Dan. I just bought a Zenith upconverting dvd player and I cant notice ANY difference than my progressive scan dvd player. I made sure I switched to 1080 also...I have a Samsung lcd tv..10,000-1 ratio, so I dont know if my tv is good or my progessive scan dvd is just as good as the upconverting one, but Im taking it back to circuit city tomorrow. Jennifer -December 28, 2007 DVD upconverting David Jackson -December 31, 2007 i have a 32 inch sharp aquos 1080p The two above me have said that they dont see a difference with the up conversion, but how is the picture with the progressive scan? johnson -January 3, 2008 Your Comments (required): Name (required): -January 6, 2008 If a HDTV has a built in conversion,why doesnt the signal my cable company send to me through my cable box then on to my HDTV have a picture like a HD TV program? I read that the HDTV changes all the signals coming in to (1080i or HD), but then I hear it only shows the signal it recieves (which make sence) I read that a upconversion changes the normal DVD to a higher resolution, then sends it of to the HDTV, then the TV reads it and rechecks it and then off to the screen.. If this is corect, then why doesnt my digital cable box signal that is sent to my HDTV, change the signal,then and off to the screen in HD? Im guessing, that if the DVD player upscales the video to HD or 1080i, then off to the HDTV, it will show up in that format...excellent picture. Someone please tell me where my thinking is out on this matter? Also, are RCA cables the same or equvilant to vidoe component cables, just not color coded the same? Are they made of some better matterial for sorting picture waves? Also, is the DVI the best way to send "video signal" from your DVD player to your HDTV Thanks for any info you leave...or if I have confused anyone in any way, please let me know. CHEERS...2008 Steve Steve -January 8, 2008 I purchased a 42" LG 1080p 10,000 to 1 contrast ratio TV today and am currently watching a DVD using a regular DVD player. With the Best Buy promotion I received a free Samsung DVD 1080p7 Up Conversion player. I am impressed with the quality of the TV as is and am looking forward to hooking the DVD player up (I need to purchase an HDMI cable). I'm hoping that this will have an impact. Everyone above seems to mention converting to 1080i, but I haven't seen much discussion regarding 1080p. Does anyone have experience with this and have you noticed any differences? I will be sure to add some more when hook up the other. Robert -January 17, 2008 Answer to a previous question: Cables do make a difference. Length, wire gauge, how many strands and wire type all come into play. Also, good wire will only pass the frequencies needed for its purpose. Another thing people don't think about is the connections. Cheap connectors will oxidize over time causing an increase in resistance at the connection which in-turn reduces current. Sometimes completely. Same goes for Battery connections on your car. Point is.... Get the good stuff and keep it all clean. Gene -January 22, 2008 good articles but my simple question is ...................... I have a plasma and an upconvert DVD player, do i order my netflix movies in HD or standard format? jdemestihas -February 3, 2008 I Have a 51" HD rear projection Toshiba with 1080i HD cable and it looks awesome.The TV is 1080i. All the upconversion DVD players that I see are 1080p. Will these still work? TJ -February 6, 2008 I just got my Mitsubishi 73" DLP delivered this weekend. I also bought a Sony 1080P upconverting DVD player to match this tv. After setting it all up, the picture is horrible!! The signal from the cablebox which is HD is superb!! But when I play DVDs (non-blueray/HD) the picture is not sharp at all... :( Do I need to find another DVD player or is my screen size too large for a clean picture out of regular DVDs? I'm also considering returning the 73" for a 65" to improve picture quality of regular DVDs... Like I said, HDTV is amazing on the 73"...(upconverted) DVDs suck!! Help!! Gerald -February 11, 2008 Has anyone had success with a DVD player by upconverting thru the Component cables? Some say yes some say no. I don't have a HDMI input on my Mitsubishi 81" Big Screen TV. SUGGESTIONS??????? Steve -February 17, 2008 to jdemestihas : I'm fairly certain that your "upconvert DVD player" will NOT play an HD DVD disc or a Blue Ray DVD disc. Only standard dvd's. I'm wondering the same as Steve - Has anyone had success with a DVD player by upconverting thru the Component cables? Will a Blue Ray player do it through the component cables ? How about HDMI to DVI ? My Westinghouse LCD TV has no HDMI port. thinng -February 24, 2008 Your Comments (required): Name (required): -February 26, 2008 Is there a way to upconvert FTA TV signal using a HDMI supported receiver and a Sony PS3? I would like to upconvert my non-HD TV signal as well as 720p DVD movies. Ray -March 13, 2008 Does any company make a dvd player with divx format and has a usb connection so you can connect a portable 500GB hard drive to it? This could hold 600-700 divx movies dvd player -March 21, 2008 I keep reading all the same articles and comments. Have anyone of you stopped to go ask questions to the people who truly eat, breath, and live in the world of high quality TV/Audio performance?!! I am sorry to inform you all tha 99% of the people working at Circuit City or Best Buy or any other place of the sort are not very knowlegable. Try goin into a high end Audio/Video store and ask them questions. I know from personal experience that they will not try to sell you just anything. They work on reputations for having and selling nothing but the best equipment. You want answers to the questions on upconverting vs. HD or BLue ray? Ask them they will be more than happy to ask and show you the difference. I too spentr many hours going through all the articles and read reviews only to find that most are way off the mark. I looked into many differnt companies and brands of TVs and DVD platyers. When I finally decided to check out the higher end store I couldn't belive I had wasted so much time and energy on other crap. The 50" Marantz plasma I bought at 720 still out performs or looks as good as any 1080 these other stores are selling! So why not buy a top quality upconverting DVD player? Decided to go with Matantz since I have had fantasic quality form the TV and reciever I have that are both Marantz. Low and behold the picture from the new DVD player to my old Pioneer progressive scan DVD player on the same TV is amazing. The picture is much crisper and cleaner, colors are fantastic, looks as close to "real HD" as you'll get with out having "real HD" components. In some cases even better than some I have seen. So if you truly like your movies and your home theatre why not spend you hard earned money wisely and visit you local Audio/Vidio store! Besides the prices may not be as bad as you think and your'll be supporting your local business too!!! My whole set up cost roughly $2800!!! And it is worth every penny!! love it -April 5, 2008 I need to replace a DVD player and would like to buy the OPPO DV-980H, but I'm afraid it might be a waste of money if all dvd's go to blu ray in the near future. Does anyone have an idea of how far out that may be? I get my dvd's from the library, so don't typically have a choice as to format. If I invest $170 in an upconverting unit now, how long might I have before all the new releases are in blu ray and thus not playable on a non-blu ray component? suju -April 15, 2008 Do blueray or PS3 upconvert? Andrew -April 28, 2008 Yes blueray and PS3 upconvert. Jesus -May 24, 2008 Oh for the good old days when all you had to worry about was getting the cat whisker on the right spot of the galena. (Most of you may not know what I am talking about!!!) TOMBOY -May 25, 2008 I just bought a Toshiba 37" LCD with 1366 * 768 res in Australia. Works great with HD TV but was crap with my old dvd player. I read this thread and looked around and bought a Pioneer dvd upscaler with HDMI 1080p for $150. I have to say its the best money i've spent. It plays dvd just about at the same quality as HD. It made my day after the initial disapointment of seeing the poor quality produced by my old dvd player. Worth the money for sure! Nick -June 7, 2008 "If the Best Buy clerk rolls his eyes when you bring in a stack of DVDs..." What an *******! ( for bringing in a stack of DVDs )And Don't be sooooooo cheap, $300 is very affordable to have a TV calibrated. Clearly you don't know what you're talking about. Those discs do't do anything special, a true calibration accesses the service menu and changes things that the "oh so magical" disc cannot, but if you don't know what you're talking about I guess you're eyes aren't much better. Earl Of TV -June 17, 2008 There is one sure fire reason to up convert. One absolute no doubt about reason you should do it at all cost (Okay, 79.95 is about right). There is one reason you have to do it if you care about the 500 regular DVD movies you have sitting on your shelf like many of us have now. It makes regular DVD so much clearer and nice. It is not a problem to spend this 79.95 for a new unit when you see it for the first time. No, it is not as good as Blu-Ray disk. (It is about 2/3 of the way there) It is also true you really do have to have a high-scan 1080p (1920x1080) resolution TV. Very few TVs actually hold these marks and have progressive scan resolutions. Sony Bravia TVs have this and I bought a Bravia 40 inch 1080p. So do some Toshiba models and Sharp models. There are others I cannot name off the top of my head that also have it. These are the conditions in which upgrading is worth it. 500 DVDs that I want to improve on by upconverting. The picture quality is SO awesome since I bought my Sony upconverter! Ramjet64 -June 22, 2008 question: If I have hdmi up convert receiver do you see reason to buy unconverted DVD player? Name (required): -July 16, 2008 sorry for repost. question: If I have hdmi up convert receiver do you see reason to buy unconverted DVD player? yan -July 16, 2008 Directed to Steve. I have the 73 inch Mitsubishi rear projection CRT HDTV. I do not have HDMI either on my HDTV. Just component, and RGBHV. Unless the TV has HDMI input, a DVD player will not upconvert. Cannot get it to upconvert through the component input. Dave. Dave Wilson -August 4, 2008 Interesting comments, but I got a headache trying to determine if my situation requires a dvd upconverter. In a couple days, my Sharp Aquos 52 inch 1080p LCD will arrive, LC52D64U, will the display do the upconverting for me? Joe -August 15, 2008 HI there. It is great comments! Also if someone know this problem? : I have a projector, with component being the highest quality input. I go around to buy the DVD but unfortunately, almost all DVD have high resoluion via HDMI only !. What sould I do now? Thank you for advice. maika -September 4, 2008 Pick up a HDFURY - DVI TO VGA(RGB) CONVERTER *BLUE EDITION* from monoprice for $79.50. It will run DVI into your VGA imput on the projector. They also have all the cables you need to go from HDMI to DVI. Derek -September 8, 2008 Hey, I just picked up a 42" LG plasma...I have digital cable, unfortunatley I don't have an HD set top box, as of yet. However I do have a HD upconverting DVD. Although I will be picking up an HD settop box in the comming weeks, I'd like to get the best picture possible in the meantime, I had thought it possible to run the the cable signal through the upconverting DVD, connect it to the 42" via a HDMI cable. I'm hoping that I can get better picture quality. Any thoughts...? Plasma_guy -September 22, 2008 I'm a know it all BEST BUY CLERK. I think you are absolutely right you should try it before you buy it. Most BBY employees would love to take the time to show you the right product the first time "BECAUSE WE DON'T WORK ON COMMISSION!!!!" I should add that if your really want service try Circuit City there service is fantastic (they will be out of business soon anyways}... HA HA HA HA HA HA... Sorry couldn't type that without laughing... Anyways; don't bash something you don't understand you ******* idiots. BBY employees are trained better that most of the stupid *** customers that we have to deal with (even the so called "engineers" and ******* electrical savants that I loath talking to) What I mean is; people that read a GOD DAMN web site AND TAKE IT AS GOSPEL can't realize a ******* opinion for themselves (truly sad); and, is the reason why you should be reading an electronics mathematics book instead of some losers opinion that took 30 days to birth this stupid *** article... BBY employees get hands on demonstrations on nearly all new products that we offer, directly from the manufacture's, 3rd party and employee training. It's the so called "intelligent" consumers like you that stifle our ability to actually find the right product that you are looking for. GSBBY -September 24, 2008 if i connect my old pal nes,snes,n64 to my hd ready 107cm samsung tv or that from sony or philips,the images looks artificial pixelated,even if i recorded some games from it on dvd and use the 1080p scaler dvdplayer to a fullhd lcd screen, the results still the same,will the gamecube,tv programmes just looks perfect,why? the true anser is, THERE,s no TRUE DEINTERLACER and upscaler in the dvdplayer/hdtv,cuzz the signal has been allready upsampled and deinterlaced by the tv stations itself,but it,s coded in a way to fit on the limmited bandwidch,so the only thing a hdtv/dvd player needs to do is just simply resize the picture.(trough the signal is still compatible with the older tv,s) most dvd,s including my craig david dvd contains the sampled signal, moderm pal,ntsc signals contains the sampled signal for hd lcd/plasma screens. so were,re actualy confues by all companny,s so i connected my nes,snes via a dvd rec (wich change the pal into another one) to the cheap vga box wich convert it into progressive and then connected it to the pc to tv adapter,to convert it back to video,in order to up & donwscale the signal,now the images looks perfect, nor duo conversions manny color tints are lost. johney -September 28, 2008 ...or if your tv is good you can have it not do the scaling and just the dvd player do the scaling which ends up looking a LOT better than using the tv's built in scaler I plugged both a regular dvd player in and a Sony upscaling dvd player in to my tv...put the same movie in both (borrow a friends copy) and put both at the same scene, when you flip between the two inputs there is simply no competition the upscaler beat the regular dvd player (when using the regular dvd player I used the tv's built in scaler to get it to full te screen...even if you have the normal dvd player zoomed at the lowest scale...the upscaling dvd player still shows more detail. this bull about 'just use the tv's built in scaler' is simply stupid, hook 2 dvd players up and see for yourself the upscaler beats it hands down bob -October 27, 2008 Dave - "Directed to Steve. I have the 73 inch Mitsubishi rear projection CRT HDTV. I do not have HDMI either on my HDTV. Just component, and RGBHV. Unless the TV has HDMI input, a DVD player will not upconvert. Cannot get it to upconvert through the component input. Dave." That would be false...a good dvd player can upconvert using component since that is a digital signal as well...some players can upconvert on analog signals as well..though I wouldn't suggest bothering with analog video signals (there are options to do this on many players (such as Sony players)) me -October 27, 2008 the hd camcorder has the defect of not pausing while you are recording. when you pause it it is stoped and save it on memory. Jacky -November 19, 2008 RE:GSBBY -September 24, 2008 What a useless arrogant jerk--Talked a lot and said nothing. Hope he loves himself because in his small world himself is all he has. pat -November 30, 2008 I have 2 standard Progressive Scan DVD players (Sony and Toshiba) and an Pioneer 1080p Upconvert hooked up to my HDTV. I can tell you right now there is most certainly a BIG difference between the 2. I tested Lord of the Rings and several other movies and hands down, the upconvert won every time. It was very noticable. As far as price, try eBay - $60.00 for the Pioneer Upconvert. Phantasm -December 2, 2008 to PHANTASM: WHat Pioneer player do you have? I just bought a Memorex MVD2050 from Radio Shack then checked the web for reviews (not good). Still I want to try an upconverter and don't want to drop $200 on it. Walmart (ugh!) has one DV-400V-K - but wanted your insight. To Everyone Else: I will be converting Component video to RGA also (using an adaptor cord) - will that take advantage of the upconversion (I have an older Optoma projector that only has RGA, S-Video and Composite) or is it just a waste of time/money considering I can't take advantage of HDMI/DVI? JR Bob Dobbs -December 8, 2008 JR Bob Dobbs- RGB wont give you the results of a HDMI cable. That's assuming your projector can handle 1080p. If it doesn't, then the cable is a non-issue. To everyone else- There's one theme that is really important. Every TV is different. If you wonder why there are $3000 50 inchers and $1000 50 inchers, then you're onto something. Some TVs have slick processors inside that will upconvert automatically. Not sure? Ask. Additionally, check that you can deselect the upconverter in the TV, so you can have a premium appliance do it. Yes, OPPO is the real deal. It's also region-free ... But you may not need it if you paid out the nose for a top-end TV. Yes, PS3s and Blu Ray players upconvert SD DVDs automatically. Have heard Xbox 360 upconversion is not nearly as good. There are a couple of upconvert models that will play DivX off of a USB flash device. You can either look at the player in person in the store, or read the physical specs on a product's webpage. It'll list if a USB port exists and the video formats supported by the unit. Just got the Pioneer DV-410V-K from Best Buy, after much deliberation (had considered an Oppo). Would love to be in position to get Blu Ray, but my family doesn't need it yet. We're going to live comfortably in the world of 720p with a Wii, OA HDTV that is free, and an upconvert DVD player. You do know that HDTV is free, don't you? Check if your local stations are in UHF or VHF and get some rabbit ears and maybe a signal amplifier. And it'll be in 720P. HDTV programming isn't outputted any higher than that. Eric -December 16, 2008 Oppo Upconverters- Forgot to mention that Oppo's can also change the ratio of letterboxing automatically depending on what you are watching. Some TV's do it, but that could mean anything from just a cheap-o zoom-in to actually doing it correctly. If Oppo product was sold in BBY or Target, they would surely have MSRP from over $250 and up. While I do not own one, the people who demand performance really can't go wrong with one of the Oppo's. Eric -December 16, 2008 Very informative, but a bit confusing. It is now 2009, nearly three years after the first posting. Brand-name upconverting DVD players are available for 50 - 70 dollars or so. From what I can gather they all would make my DVD's look better on my LCD tv, so are the differences between the individual players now minimal, or is there still a good reason to be spending more? Marinus -January 16, 2009 I have a SAMSUNG 46" 1080p flat panel (N46A500). I know everyone is very bias in this forum, I have read every post. I want to get the maximum picture quality out of my dvd player, which is an older Sony. Would buying an upconverter or a blu-ray player improve the quality of my old dvd's plus my dvd copies? If so, what do you recommend? Chuck -March 17, 2009 Chuck, Just received mine (Samsung LCD LN46A650), put away Sony progressive scan connecting via component cable dvd player & replace by new Upconvert Sony 1080p connecting via HDMI (free with dvd player in Malaysia). The result? Superb!! Can't tell the different between SD & HD anymore!! Razz -April 28, 2009 i have a question. i am thinking about getting an up converting dvd player for my digital tv. my question is weather the up converting dvd player really upgrade my dvds into near HD quality on my t.v. now my t.v is not HD its just a simple flat screen digital t.v, but it has an HDMI input for an HD device. so will it be worth buying the up converting dvd player? peter -May 18, 2009 Can someone help me...I have a 1080p HDTV by Phillips. Bought a 1080p upconvert DVD player, direct HDMI from DVD to HDTV and I get a "cartoon picture" Went through all the settings of the DVD and HDTV and cannot figure out hwta's wrong. If I connect plain old av cords, picture and sound ae normal? What am I missing?? Pat -May 20, 2009 Pat and other: Come back everybody! I have a new Panasonic Plasma, NICE. I quickly bought a Phillips Upconverting DVD player (cheapo) before I even got the TV home. Pat, I notice a little cartoon effect too. Looks like an LCD (YUCK) when using the upconverter DVD player. It sends 1080p to TV: upconverts 480i to 1080p. Among the first posts a person wrote that the color Matrix may be adjusted. DVDs are SD Matrix 1080p will be HD matrix...change (if you can) the TV setting to SD matrix. I plan to try this!! I saw the option on my TV if it will not be grayed out, I will try this. Thanks everyone. QUESTION: Will a better upconverting DVD player be a good idea?? Mark -September 10, 2009 Ok, I didnt understand very much of what you guys were talking about, but I have a question, If I connect my satellite receiver to the upconverting dvd player and then out to my TV will it convert the satellite signal? Just curious. I am looking for a way to improve my hd tv picture quality without having to upgrade my satellite to HD or buy a expensive avc. Im kinda new to this whole upconverting crap. Thanks for any info. MikeW -September 18, 2009 I got a great deal on a mit 653131.On Hi res a move like transformer,crank and especaily SPEED RACER ITS EATHER THE PCM or disk speed should doubled or stacked THE SA 8300 cant keep up or it flow issue.It seems like there tring to offer more and more channels,with the same core and speed.I knom the comcast no by hart.I just it the verizon v schip.cod .My rabbits love the hole must be the ozone.My 1997 mit went out, do I need a digtal pirate or would one of ny old analog would work.(kidding) I guess now they know how little I watch the handjob box office channel(.HERE IS THE ?) WILL BLUE RAY OR ANY CHANNEL DECREASE PIXALATION IF MORE INFO ID PUMPED IN.fOR YOU FOLKS THAT HAVE BLURR ,CHECK YOUR CONVERGENCE,IF YOU CANT MOVE THE RED OR THE BLUE ,YOY HAVE A $15 PART AND A WHOLE LOT OF WORK.iF YOU HAVE A GLASS OVER YOUR SCREEN BE CAREFUL ONCE YOU SCRATCH YOUR MAIN SCEEN ,YOU WILL NEVER GET IT OUT.ALWAYS KEEP THE STERTCH MODE ON THE ASY SOME bs THAT YOUR SCREEN GETTS STRONGER THEN THE AGEING RESTOF THE UNIT ,(hE IS THE f ING UNIT.THE MIRROR IS MADE OUT OF S PLASTIC FOAM AND TIN FOIL.SO IF YOU HEAT UNEVENLY YOUR MIRROR WILL LOOK LIGHT A PEICE OF BOLONIE IN A FRYING PAN.iF YOU HAVE A DIMER LITE MOSTLIKELY BLOUE THERE MAY BE MOLD ,THE PROJECTORS MAGNIFIE WITH A CYLIDER OF WATER.jUST GET A OLD SODA BOT AND FIL IT FULL OF WATER IT ACTS LIKE A LENS.cONVERGE ,CONVERGE AGAIN IN 9-72 LINES ADJUST THE THREE SCREWS NEAR THE LENS ENTERANCE 1 IS FOR BACK GROUND COLOR,ONE IS FOR ADJUSTING COLOR CLREARNESS THEN THEIR IS ONE FOR b/w LENES ADJUSTMENT.LAST BUT NOT LEAST IS THE MIRRIOR,IF IT LOOKS CLEAN DONT SCREW WITH IT ,FOAM AND FOIL COULD SET YOU BACK GRAND.tRY TO BUT YOUR A/C VENTS FACING YOUR UNIT ,HEAT IS NOT OR FREIND. CRAIG WINCHELL -September 28, 2009 I have 1995 RCA 32" TV. Will a dvd player with upconverting work ok . alex -October 15, 2009 have 1995 RCA 32" TV. Will a dvd player with upconverting work ok Name (required): -October 15, 2009 Please take this in the best way possible: what if y'all are wasting your lives spouting opinions? the world does not need another opinion – it needs solutions. offer solutions, not selfish, heavily-biased and mainly worthless opinions. have a nice day. dead is coming. Fred -November 4, 2009 I sincerely hope that I do not insult anyones's intelligence here... (smiles...) I'd venture to say I know just about nothing about this entire blog/forum BUT... I do have a question about this "upconverting" dvd player. Will it convert the new digital signal to allow me to veiw local TV on my old anolog tv? Situation is this, "my hubby-to-be works on local tugboat/in local river, which before the digital signal change over, he was able to pick-up local TV stations (AKA football games) on an analog TV... there (of course) is no cable, or dish service on the boat. We missed out on the converter coupon, but, still buying one would be simplest solution, except... He also uses a dvd player when in an area out of singal/reception... So, carrying a converter, dvd player, and TV... is quite a lot of (intricate and/or fragil, not to mention heavy) equipement on and off the boat. I found this "Sony DVD olayer w/ 1080p upconversion energy star" pretty cheap..Does "upconversion" mean it converts the ditigital signal for the analog TV, if the unit is connected and powered on, while veiwing any local TV stations? Like I said... I KNOW ABSOLUTELY NOTHING ABOUT THIS... would sincerely appreciate any feed back on best/most inexpensive way for him to catch the "football" games... :) Thanks so much a "loving wife-to-be..." Stephanie Stephanie -November 21, 2009 Just got a new Panasonic DVD recorder with upconversion to replace a four year old model that started to breakdown. Owning a Sony KDR34XBR960 (34 inch CRT), I wasn't sure if upconversion via HDMI would be an improvement over 480p with the Sony taking care of the upscaling. It was. 480p upscaled by the 960 still looks great but the upconverted picture was overall sharper, with more detail, riche color and better black and contrast levels. The difference was more apparant compared to my upconverting player via component but the advantage of 1080i upconversion through the Panasonic's HDMI ouput was easily apparent as well. So even if your monitor has excellent upscaling, just having the advantage of an HDMI output would even make a difference. Joe D. -November 29, 2009 CORRECTION TO ABOVE: "The difference was more apparent compared to my upconverting player via component but the advantage of 1080i upconversion through the Panasonic's HDMI ouput was easily apparent as well." Meant to say: "the advantage of just 480i through the Panasonic's HDMI output was easily apparent as well" Joe D. -November 29, 2009 Stephanie -- All of these players have a regular analog video output (the small round connector with one round hole in the middle, yellow plastic around that, and metal on the outside). That will work with an old-style TV. So yes, they will play any DVD to an older analog TV. There are three connectors of a similar style -- yellow for video, and red and white for the two channels of stereo sound. Rick Mott -December 7, 2009 I have a JVC DR MV80B DVD upconvert recorder connected to a LG 37h40 LCD had the issue I am having is when I preview or record from my HD 4250 Cable box the recorder is displaying and recording in letterbox format. The dvd recorder is connect directly to the cable box via the red, white and yellow connecting and from the recorder to the TV via HDMI as per the manual. I was on the phone with JVC support and they can figure out whats causing the issue. My next step is maybe call LG support I can change the display on my TV, but this is just a band aid for viewing full screen from the DVD recorder and does nor affect the recording process. I need to set the tv to ZOOM to view the recorded from kive tv in full screen. Does anyone is there something I am missing, Please E-mail me back at sadelstein@yahoo.com if you have any idea. Thanks Again to all - Scott Scott -December 24, 2009 I have a JVC DR MV80B DVD upconvert recorder connected to a LG 37h40 LCD had the issue I am having is when I preview or record from my HD 4250 Cable box the recorder is displaying and recording in letterbox format. The dvd recorder is connect directly to the cable box via the red, white and yellow connecting and from the recorder to the TV via HDMI as per the manual. I was on the phone with JVC support and they can figure out whats causing the issue. My next step is maybe call LG support I can change the display on my TV, but this is just a band aid for viewing full screen from the DVD recorder and does nor affect the recording process. I need to set the tv to ZOOM to view the recorded from kive tv in full screen. Does anyone is there something I am missing, Please E-mail me back at sadelstein@yahoo.com if you have any idea. Thanks Again to all - Scott Scott -December 24, 2009 i am buying a 47 in LG hdtv with hdmi inputs. i want to buy a dvd player. do i have to buy a upconversion dvd player. or would a regular progressive scan be ok also do i have to buy hdmi cables or would the normal cables work when i hook up my digital cable box j -December 29, 2009 your article is very helpful j -December 29, 2009 Great Article on buying/putting together a Home Theater System! Would Like to see an Update to this artical, since Digitial TV has also been finally released in the USA! just browsing since digtial Conversion -January 14, 2010 Is the Oppo series of dvd upconvert players still the best (see http://www.upconvert-dvd.com), or does the newest generation of Blu-Ray players make them obsolete? Wil -February 2, 2010 READER COMMENTS: We want to hear what you have to say about this article!     Acceptable Use Policy Your Comments (required): Your email is only used if our editors need to contact you. It is not used or stored for any other purpose, nor posted with your comments. Enter the text from the image below Please refresh the page if you have trouble reading this text.