Hd dvd players?

Question

im looking to buy an hd dvd player but i dont know where to start. i dont want something thats going to cost a huge amount of money, but obviously i realise that im going to need to spend a decent amount in order to get something good.

if anything, id prefer it if i could have an hd dvd player that has the upgrading feature (i think its called this?) to make current dvds better quality?

what im basically asking is what is the best hd dvd player to get for my money, ie what is the cheapest one i can get that has all the features and is still reliable and good quality?

thanks, oli

Answer 1

First of all, stick with Bluray. It won the format war.

Make sure you get a player that outputs 1080p. They are still rather expensive and the cheaper (china) brands aren't up to speed yet. Get Sony as a first choice. Also, consider the Play Station 3. It's a Bluray player and a nice game machine rolled into one.

Every Bluray player I've seen upscales regular DVDs to 1080, but don't expect a big improvement because the material on the disk is still only 480p.

Answer 2

Consider first whether you can benefit from HD disks, and if you can whether the price premium for the disks ($5-$8 on new releases and often more on older films) is worthwhile.

To benefit you must have an HDTV --- 40" or larger 1080p model for full benefit, but at least a 37"+ 720p for some benefit.

Depending on your specific situation you may wish to 1) wait for hardware to mature and prices to come down, 2) buy a Blu-ray player now, or 3) buy an upconverting DVD player.

Re option 3 -- i.e. you have an HDTV which would provide marginal benefit from HD disks -- if you have a lot of DVDs and not a lot of money to spend you could consider a low end (HD-A3) HD DVD player (See link: currently $140 with 5 free HD DVD disks).... it makes a good DVD upconverting player for less money than a good DVD only upconverter. HOWEVER, be aware this option is probably a dead end option since at some point there may not be new HD DVD movies available. But if bought as primarily a DVD player it's a less expensive choice than a Blu-ray player (which will do the same upconversion).

I'd strongly suggest you audition a HD disk player on a TV similar to whatever you have and compare HD and SD versions of the same movie (play on the same player) to see what improvement you will get.

That all said Blu-ray is the safest choice and has the broadest range of movies available.

Answer 3

Even though blu-ray is winning I would still suggest to get at least a dual format player like the one from LG.

I bought one a while back mostly because both formats have movies that I enjoy.

It might be more expensive, but in the long run do you want to buy an HD DVD player only to have to buy a Blu-Ray player later on when they stop releasing new movies on HD DVD?

If you're going to buy now then dual format is your safest bet.....not the cheapest....but safest.