Is an upconvert dvd player a good quick fix until the hd / blue ray players come down in price?

Question

Is an upconvert dvd player a good quick fix until the hd / blue ray players come down in price?

Answer 1

The answer to your question is yes.

Most of us typically have sizable collections of SD DVD's that are not going to just get set aside and forgotten about. You can buy excellent upconverting players and continue to enjoy your existing DVDs until the format war is over.

Consider cost and performance. HD-DVD or Blu-ray discs cost $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 PS3 price of ~$600. Who cares if they come with a few freebees? If that format goes away in 6 months what then?

The standard DVD resolution is 720x480 pixels, or 345,600 pixels in each frame. The 720p HD resolution is 1280x720, and the 1080i HD resolution is 1920x1080. Thus, in order to produce an HD video signal to be displayed on an HDTV with the higher resolution and best picture quality, an upconverting DVD player must scale up the video frames.

Scaling involves creating new pixels by copying pieces of the surrounding pixels using various mathematical techniques to "guess" what the video signal would look like at a different resolution. The best upconverting DVD players scales the DVD video using fast processing electronics and intelligent algorithms. It can detect and compensate for motion, scene transitions, foreground and background objects, and noise from video in real time with little or no visible artifacts introduced by the upconversion process.That said, not all upconverting DVD players on the market do the job well. Viewers may notice artifacts such as visible pixelation, color shifting, jagged lines, etc.

The best upconverting players use the Faroudja chip set. The Oppo brand is one of the most highly recommended and it also includes HDMI cable. I've included the link below.

Answer 2

If you want to try HD and need an upconverting DVD player, the Toshiba HD-A3 is an excellent choice.

Here are the facts.

- Prices for HD DVD players (particularly the HD-A3:  $125) are lower than the best upscaling DVD-only players ($180-$230), give almost as good results, and play HD DVDs too.

- Blu-ray players are incomplete (Some are not V1.1 (no PinP, secondary audio, on-board storage), and most are not yet Version 2.0 -- no internet connectivity) as well as more expensive ($300+).

- HD DVD players come with at least 5 "free" HD DVDs (Mail-in offer, $10 handling charge) -- a minimum $80 value.

Note there is a risk there may be limited numbers of HD DVD disks in future -- but there are over 400 movies available and irrespective of what happens in the Blu-ray/HD DVD "war" an HD DVD player will still be able to play existing HD DVD disks in future ... and can always be used to play DVDs. So, as long as you consider it to be an upconverting DVD player and can use one in future it's a safe purchase.

Answer 3

New HDTVs have upconverters and scalers that surpass what the el cheapo upconverting players can do. NO need to buy something the TV can do for free. Save your money for an HD player