Is it worth the money to buy an uploading DVD player. The Blu-Ray and HD section is too limited.?

Question

Are they that much better than just an ordinary DVD player.

Answer 1

A good upconverting DVD player has better video processing (deinterlacer/scaler) than most HDTVs, as a result the picture will be somewhat better than if you feed a normal DVD player direct to the HDTV. Of course, there is no point in an upconverting player if you don't have an HDTV. See the article at the link for discussion.

Note that the degree of improvement is less than switching to HD DVD or Blu-ray disks (and despite what others will claim there is NO measurable difference in picture or audio quality between Blu-ray and HD DVD ... all experts agree the two are virtually identical despite differences in disk technology). You can't put in detail on a DVD that isn't there to start with. Whether the improvement is worth the price is really a value judgement and you would have to decide for yourself.

HOWEVER, a good upconverting player (e.g. Oppo 971 or 981) costs about $200, and at that price you might as well buy an HD DVD player (e.g. Toshiba HD-A3). It is not quite as good an upconverting DVD player as the Oppo, but it costs about the same and plays HD DVDs as well as DVDs. And the up to 10 "free" HD disks that are available (e.g. amazon.com) with an HD DVD (or Blu-ray) player certainly help make the price acceptable.

You could also buy a Blu-ray player, but they cost more than HD DVD and unless there are more films you like in Blu-ray format than HD DVD format you might as well go with HD DVD.

I use an HD-A2 as an upconverting DVD player for my 720p projector. I also have an Oppo 971, but it's inconvenient to connect both, so I accept the (very) slightly less capable upconversion in return for being able to play the occasional HD DVD (e.g. Planet Earth). But to be honest I mainly play DVDs since in my opinion the picture is so good that I don't feel much pressure to play HD DVD disks given the much higher price.

In my view upconverting DVD players will slowly fall into disfavour and be replaced with HD DVD or Blu-ray (or combo) players ... but for many people they will continue to use them primarily as DVD players for quite some time to come (given the relative sparsity of HD disks).

Hope that helps.

Answer 2

Skip to the bottom if you don't have an HD-TV.

If you do have an HD TV (which I assume you do) then there will be a noticeable difference. However, you will get better results if you upgrade to an HD format (HD-DVD or Blu-Ray).

In my personal opinion, Blu-Ray will win the format war. It is outselling HD roughly 2:1, and rightly so. If you ever walk into a TV display touting the Blu-Ray, you'll see why. They do a side by side comparison of the two formats. Blu-Ray has a much tighter, cleaner picture. "Haze" around out of focus objects disappears completely.

And upscaling DVD player will likely give you a picture about 50% as good as an HD DVD. That same upscaling DVD will look about 10% as good a Blu-Ray, from a technical standard.

I would recommend for you, if you're tentative about upgrading to a new format, to go with a Sony PS3. It will play standard DVD's and has built in upscalling technology. It will also play Blu-Ray's. It's not the best Blu-Ray player out there, but it's very solid for the price. It would be good for you because you will get your DVD's looking the best they ever will as DVD's, the front-running Blu-Ray player without having to hook up additional systems.

SKIP HERE IF YOU DON'T HAVE AN HD-TV

If you don't have an HD-TV, get one. Quality is obviously not your priority yet. This where you start.

Answer 3

You mean an upscalling dvd player? in my opinion it is because youre not sure which is going to take off, HD or Blu ray, even though it seems like HD will. They have combination units that do this as well. I would wait a while more though.

Answer 4

It is not worth purchasing an upconverting DVD player, if you already have a standard DVD player.  You will get marginally better quality, but not as great as upgrading to BluRay or HD-DVD.  The reason why the quality is marginal is because there are low quality upscaling chips in these upconverting DVD players.

I agree that the HD section is very limited.  I would wait patiently until the library builds and possibly the format war is over with.

If you are eager to take advantage of your HDTV features, then buy an LG or Samsung BluRay and HD-DVD combo player.  It costs about $800-$1000.  The cheaper solution is to build a HTPC because a BluRay/HD-DVD combo drive only costs $250.  A little loophole in the system.