I am looking for suggestions from owners regarding the purchase of an up-converting DVD player.

I don’t want to replace my SD DVD library with BluRay.

I do want to get the most from my new Sony KDL-46XBR4.

This XBR4 has much better PQ than my old XBR CRT sourcing SD/TV and SD/DVD.  I was actually surprised that it looked better considering it has two times the viewing area of the 36” XBR CRT in 16:9 presentation of DVD’s.

Hi Jack,

I have a PS3, and can play blu-ray (duh)....but I found myself thinking...hmmm...maybe I should save some wear and tear on my PS3, and get an upconverter for regular DVDs (The PS3 does this just fine though).

Here is what I decided. Given what a good upconverting DVD player costs, I picked up a Toshiba HDDVD player from Circuit City for 99 bucks, and it came with 300 and Bourne Identity as well. Considering the free movies, the player comes to about 69 bucks (oh boy...rationalizing...). Seeing as I wanted 300 anyway, to me it was a bargain. Tops out at 1080i, but I only have 1080i anyway. And no, I am not trying to start a conversation on 1080P vs. 1080i :)

Even though the format is dead, it is a good upconverting player, and HDDVDs are cheap (well, relative to blu). I am finding that most are about 13 bucks.

Let me know what you think!

Fellow 805 owner,

Scott

I went the waiting route since the current Blu-Ray player landscape is going to radically change over the next two years.  A good up-converting DVD player not significant money is the Oppo 980 / 981HD line (~170ish, I did the 980 which was the generally recommended route for my plasma at any rate).  There newer one which isn't quite out yet (supposedly around 225) has a new, arguably better chipset as well; however, Oppo is known for solid quality upconversion and I'm quite happy with mine.

That said decent blu-ray players are starting to appear now and in the not too distant future (Denon/Marantz/Pioneer/Panasonic) over the next couple of months (or the PS3 now, which I opted against personally as I don't play games and it's a little cumbersome otherwise); there shouldn't be much problem with any of them playing SD DVD's too, and then simply migrate to Blu-Ray with any new movie purchases where evailable.  I was just impatient for my DVD player :).

XBR4 is a very nice TV too, definitely worthwhile with a good upconverting player, but from what I've heard Blu-Ray is simply stunning on it.

Geoff
 

Hey Scottimon,

How well does up-conversion work with your Toshiba playing SD DVD’s?

I have watched 15 of my old DVD’s on the new Sony XBR4 and the THX mastered seem to be the best but not as good PQ as 720P Cable channels I found on my standard Cable One.

If an up-converting player can come close to true 720P on a 1080p TV I would want to get one. I am impressed with SD/DVD playback on this new Sony along with the improvement in SDTV but I always want more.

Oh, did I mention that I really like the Sony KDL-46XBR4?

Thanks for all opinions Scottimon and Geoff and others.

I have read a lot of good reviews about Oppo and I am considering the 981 but I do appreciate the thoughts of all others.

Jack Gates:

Hey Scottimon,

How well does up-conversion work with your Toshiba playing SD DVD’s?

Jack

I am farily pleased with the performance. I am sure there are others that do a better job (Oppo's reputation is spectacular), but for 100 bucks, 2 free movies, and I get HDDVD as well, for me the choice was easy. I also have a 9 year old daughter, and there are still some HDDVD exclusive titles that appeal to her.

Nice thing about buying from a Circuit City type...take it home, hook it up and try it. Keep all the packing and box intact. If you don't like it, just return it. No risk there. Plus, you will love HD DVDs, whether it be HDDVD or Blu.

Just last weekend, my wife, who could not care less about this type of stuff, told me the picture quality was stunning on a Blu disk we were watching. Keep in mind that Blu and HDDVD are fairly equal in picture quality (fanboys need not apply). Again, I made this purchase because I wanted to keep "miles" off my PS3. I did a side by side, and the Toshiba does just as good of a job as my PS3 at upconverting. I was not unhappy with the PS3 for upconversion.

Many people say that upconverting DVD will give you the same quality as a HD source. My answer to them is the same....if you cannot tell the difference, you have configuration problems. No matter how good the upconversion is, it still is not true HD. Assuming of course, that the transfer is good. I find the performance to be almost as good as a true 720P source. Emphasize...almost. Man, I hope I am not starting a flame war!

Some time Jack, I would love to swap 805 stories. I love mine!

I have a Sony standard def. DVD player that's connected to a Yamaha RX-V1800 that upconverts. The Yamaha is connected to a Sharp Aquos LCD HDTV (1080p) that also upconverts. 

I popped Amadeaus in the DVD player the other day and, while it looked good, there was a lip sync problem.  I haven't watched this DVD since changing out the DVD player, the AVR and the TV. It didn't have the problem when the old DVD player was connected to a Pioneer Elite receiver and a SD television.

Is all that upconverting causing the problem?  It would seem to me that both the Yamaha and the Sharp TV are filtering the video and maybe causing the sync problem. But, I have no idea what I'm talking about.

The Yamaha will let me adjust the sync but that seems like a pain if I have to do it every time I watch something and then set it back when I want to watch television, which doesn't have the problem).

Any ideas?

I have an Oppo 971H upconverting player, about 3 years old now.  Run it through my receiver to the TV.  In my case I have made a 20 millesecond delay adjustment on the Oppo and that has eliminated any lip sync issue.  Got to this setting through experimentation to resolve.  I also have an Onkyo 704 multidisk upconverting DVD and CD player.  Use it mostly for music.  Play a movie occasionally in it.  It requires no lip sync adjustment.  If you can make the adjustment on your Sony, do it there. If not, you can get a good upconverting player for less than $100.00.

On a separate note, I agree that an upconverting DVD player can provide a very good picture but it is not the same quality as an HD DVD or Blu-Ray. The upconverted Oppo picture is very good (as is the Onkyo 704), but its not High definition.  For now its been "good enough" for me. 

Haven't gone Blu yet but my plan is to buy an HTPC at some point with a Blu-Ray drive.  I would use the PC to play movies and as a lossless music server as well.  Still checking these out but the HP Slimline can be configured to meet these requirements and, given its smaller size, will fit in my cabinet as well. The Slimline would be somewhere around $1,000.00 properly configured, has a TV tuner card (could be used as a DVR), Blu-Ray play, HDMI out with the right video card selection. It will operate on my home computer network with internet access.  The Slimline S3330F plays both HD DVD and Blu-Ray discs.  With a remote control and wireless keyboard and mouse, would be a fun to play with.

Not quite time yet, I don't believe, as I want to let the technology mature a bit more but will probably make a move in the next 6 to 12 months in that direction.  If you consider that its a Blu-Ray player, music server and PC with the TV serving as the monitor, I think it represents a very good value and a great toy. 

Remember, the only difference between a man and a boy is the price of his toys!

Almost forgot, I have a Pioneer DV 400 upconverting player in my bedroom set-up that provides an excellent picture.  You can find it now for $70.00 or so. I've had it for about 6 months and like it very much, too.

joetag:

I have a Sony standard def. DVD player that's connected to a Yamaha RX-V1800 that upconverts. The Yamaha is connected to a Sharp Aquos LCD HDTV (1080p) that also upconverts. 

I popped Amadeaus in the DVD player the other day and, while it looked good, there was a lip sync problem.  I haven't watched this DVD since changing out the DVD player, the AVR and the TV. It didn't have the problem when the old DVD player was connected to a Pioneer Elite receiver and a SD television.

Is all that upconverting causing the problem?  It would seem to me that both the Yamaha and the Sharp TV are filtering the video and maybe causing the sync problem. But, I have no idea what I'm talking about.

The Yamaha will let me adjust the sync but that seems like a pain if I have to do it every time I watch something and then set it back when I want to watch television, which doesn't have the problem).

Any ideas?

joetag, I hooked up my Sony DVD player from another room to my Yamaha AVR to see if I could reproduce the problem.  I did not notice any lip sync issues.  Have you tried hooking the Sony directly to the TV while playing Amadeaus?

Good idea JoeZ, I will try that.  Not today - today is Aperion Delivery Day (where's that FedEx truck??).

I'll let you know!

Hi Joetag,

I have a Sony SD DVD player connected to my Onkyo 805 through component in and then to my new HDTV, the Sony KDL-46XBR4. The PQ is definitely better than with my old Sony XBR CRT. It may be that I am already getting the best picture.

Aha!  While waiting for FedEx (where are they???) I messed around with the DVD/AVR. I was going to put an HDMI cable from the DVD directly to the TV and see if the lip sync problem went away.  I looked behind the Yamaha AVR and remembered that I had a digital audio out cable connected even though it wasn't connected to anything on the other end. 

When I first set the DVD up I didn't have a HDMI cable so I used a component video cable along with the digital autio cable temporarily. I guess when I hooked up the HDMI I unplugged the component video cables but didn't unplug the audio cable.

Just for the heck of it, I unplugged the audio cable from the Yamaha and put Amadeaus in again - lip sync problem gone.

Is it possible that the Yamaha got confused because there was an audio cable plugged into the DVD input and there was a HDMI cable plugged in?  It would seem that one would override the other.  At any rate, thanks for your help but it seems like that problem is behind me.

Now...if FedEx would only show up.

Hi Jack!

 I have only heard good things about this Oppo player. I will probably be buying one for myself at some point. I'd keep your eye on pricing though, I've seen it in the ~$120 before, currently Amazon.com is selling i for $170.

http://www.amazon.com/OPPO-DV-980H-Up-Converting-Universal-Player/dp/B000UIA6YM/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1208662259&sr=8-1

Definitely go for a full 1080p upconverting player though, for my eyes anyway on SD DVDs there is large different between 720P and 1080p in PQ. Right now I run SD DVDs through an Onkyo DV-CP704 outputting 1080i, which gets downconverted to 720p through my receiver (TX-SR705). There is quite an improvement in PQ running the movies on my PS3 at full 1080p, that is for sure. Oh, and this is on a Sony KDS-55A3000 TV, which is a great TV BTW.

 
Just my two cents.

 
Cheers!

-Mark


 

Hi Mark,

I just checked Amazon and they had a 980H for $140 and the 981H for $170 but they were used.  I would probably go with new and get the warranty.

Including my 10 Aperion speakers and my Sony KDL-46XBR4 TV I have about $4600 invested. I was going to get an HDTV two years ago but my Sony XBR CRT still looked good; so I thought. It started showing a green tint in the background so I new it was time to buy. I am glad I waited because this XBR looks great.

I was watching SD DVD’s last night without upconversion through my 805 and some of the movies actually looked good. Romancing the Stone was the best. Before I get a new DVD player I will find how good the 720p upconversion is from my 805 through HDMI, but I have to wait for my cable from Monoprice.

Thanks all for your thoughts,

Jack,

Are you sure the 805 upscales? It was my understanding that the HDMI was a passthrough. I do know that my other sources "upconvert" to HDMI, but only upscales to 480P (or in the case of my HD cable box via component, 720P is the max, and the 480i will still be in 480i and will downscale 1080i to 720P). In my research, this was the big difference between the 805 and 875. I cannot test the HDMI part, as both of my DVD players upscale. And a big ^5 to you for going Monoprice!

Scott

Hey there Scotti,

I will not know for a fact that the 805 does truly up convert to 720p until I get my HDMI cable. From what I have researched, this will only occur with HDMI output to the TV via input sources from component, composite or S-video with the 805.

My Sony DVD is connected to the 805 via component in with component out to the TV and when played back the KDL 46XBR4 displays 480i. I just watched 3:10 to Yuma tonight and it looked good but the XBR showed it to be only 480i. There is quite a bit of difference in SD DVD regarding PQ from DVD to DVD.

I believe the XBR4 does upscale a bit, but I think it only displays the input source.

I am hoping to get the HDMI cable on Monday or maybe Tuesday. I will post again here when I find the outcome. Thank you for your inquisitive an informative posts. I value your input.