Is a progressive scan dvd player good enough?

Question

I bought an Envision LCD HDTV L32W761 32" with 1080i. I just bought a Philips Progressive Scan DVD player online for $39. I just saw an upconvering Philips DVD player for $6 more. Should I go through the trouble of returning the progressive scan player and getting the upconverter model? I've read that there may not be that much difference if your HDTV already converts...how do I know if mine does? I've also heard that upconverting may give you a worse picture. I used to be up on electronics but now my head is spinning!

Answer 1

Tough call ... too many variables to accurately predict.

That said, at 32" I think I'm pretty safe saying it won't make a lot of difference one way or another.

Look at it this way. HDTVs all upscale whatever input they get to the native resolution of the display.

How well they do it depends on the video processor in the TV. Some do a better job than others. The reason upconverting DVD player are popular is because many -- even relatively inexpensive ones -- do a better job than most HDTVs. And better upscaling DVD players almost always do a better job than internal HDTV processors.

Which does a better job -- the HDTV or an upscaling DVD Player? It's difficult to predict ... you have to try it.

But, as I said at the outset, at 32" the differences are probably not going to be significant, maybe not even noticeable. I suspect a $45 upconverting player isn't going to be great ... but if you found a better upconverter for not much more it might be worth it.

I point out the following for information. The current bargain is the Toshiba HD-A3 HD DVD player ... some places are selling them for $70 or so. The HD-A3 is a much better than average DVD upconverter ... so if you found one for a cheap price it would be a good option. (I use an HD-A2 -- previous model -- as an upconverter for DVDs on my 110" screen and 720p projector ... almost as good an image as true HD disks).

At least you would know you had the best picture possible for anywhere near the price.

Answer 2

Philips is a good brand, but its wierd that it would only be $39. we have an HDTV too, and at first our cheap old dvd player was on it (it had progressive scan too) and it looked ok, i wanted it to look better so i got gold composite cables for it, little to no improvement. then we got a new dvd recorder thing. playing the same movies looks WAY better and we aren't even using the gold composite cables, just 1 cheap s-video cable. so i think it's something to do with the quality of the dvd decoders in the dvd player.