To Upscale Or Not To Upscale?

[amentz]

Hello to all!
Here's my dillema. Just recently bought a 42" philips cineos lcd full hd at 1080 bla bla bla. Excellent choice btw for those that are looking. My dvd player was non other than a sony NS340 if i can remeber correctly. My current selection of dvd's play absulutely beautifully for their standard resolution.
Now, still waiting for the war to end, but not ready to give up my dvd selection, i have my eyes set on a denon dvd player (actually 2)
The dvd 1930 and the 1730. From what i can tell they both upscale, the former to 1080p the latter to 1080i. If I opt for the 1730 model with 1080i, will it look crappy with my LCD?? Can anyone tell me pro's and cons? And if there is a denon dvd player thats damn good that doesnt upscale?
many thanks
andreas

 

[Johnd]

Hello to all!
Here's my dillema. Just recently bought a 42" philips cineos lcd full hd at 1080 bla bla bla. Excellent choice btw for those that are looking. My dvd player was non other than a sony NS340 if i can remeber correctly. My current selection of dvd's play absulutely beautifully for their standard resolution.
Now, still waiting for the war to end, but not ready to give up my dvd selection, i have my eyes set on a denon dvd player (actually 2)
The dvd 1930 and the 1730. From what i can tell they both upscale, the former to 1080p the latter to 1080i. If I opt for the 1730 model with 1080i, will it look crappy with my LCD?? Can anyone tell me pro's and cons? And if there is a denon dvd player thats damn good that doesnt upscale?
many thanks
andreas

Hi amentz.

The Denon 5900 and the Denon 2900 are both phenomenal non upconverting players. Unfortunately, both are out of production. There is also the 5910 (perhaps the best SD player by far) but that upconverts.

Why wait til the war is over? HD plays SD perfectly well, and as the prices of HD movies are just pennies from SD movies, I'm buying only those now. You can pick up a good upconverting HD player for $100 (with 5 free movies), or a phenomenal one (XA2 or A35) (again, with 5 free movies) for $200-300. Seems logical, doesn't it? Cheers.

 

[allargon]

The dvd 1930 and the 1730. From what i can tell they both upscale, the former to 1080p the latter to 1080i. If I opt for the 1730 model with 1080i, will it look crappy with my LCD?? Can anyone tell me pro's and cons? And if there is a denon dvd player thats damn good that doesnt upscale?
many thanks

1080i=1080p for most displays.

Your display will de-interlace (not upconvert) 1080i to 1080p. 1080p vs. 1080i output is pure marketing hype. Now, your TV will upscale 480i/480p/720p content to 1080p no matter what. Upscaling DVD players tend to do a better job. However, some displays are equal or better to many DVD players. I can't speak for your display, however my buddy's 720p Philips does an excellent job with SD content.

All that said. Since you have a Philips, your display actually might not de-interlace properly. I'm not ripping on your display. I'm actually basing this based on results in Home Theater Magazine.

http://www.hometheatermag.com/hookmeup/1107hook2/

The previous poster makes a good point, are you stuck on Denon?

I would suggest HD DVD and/or Blu-Ray (actually both) players instead.

A Toshiba HD-XA2 or an Onkyo (if you just don't like Toshiba) HD805 would play HD DVD content and upconvert better than most upconverters (some say better than the Oppo).

A Sony Playstation3 would upconvert okay and play Blu-Ray, DIVX, WMV HD and (depending on the model) play SACD's. Denon is introducing two Blu-Ray players in the spring. However, they are profile 1.1 players. Personally, I would avoid these two. If you insist on Denon, this is the best way to go.

If you need a Universal player... err.. umm... the Oppo DV-981HD upconverts well with LCD's, plays DVD's, DIVX, SACD's and DVD-A's. It doesn't play Blu-Ray or HD DVD discs.

 

[amentz]

Not really stuck on denon!! Just read that they make some good stuff.
But point taken, maybe I'll look into ps3; do you know if it plays back dual layer dvds??
many thanks

 

[ParkerAudio]

You might want to check out this article to see how the PS3 stacks up to some of it's competitors.

http://www.soundandvisionmag.com/hd-dvd-bluray/1927/shootout-3-blu-ray-disc-players.html

 

[obscbyclouds]

I have a PS3 and an Oppo 981 and I don't even use the Oppo with SD DVD's, the PS3 does a fine job of upscaling (every bit as good as the Oppo DV-981 IMO). And you'll have a player for the soon-to-win Blu-ray format.

However, that previously linked article says:

"it can also be used to route Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio bitstreams to an outboard receiver or processor equipped with Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio decoding, when those products become availableit can also be used to route Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio bitstreams to an outboard receiver or processor equipped with Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio decoding, when those products become available. "

It will decode Dolby TrueHD but not DTS-HD-MA, which it currently doesn't support. It will NOT bitstream either TrueHD or DTS-HD MA. If these matter to you, that might make a difference. If not, you can ignore this whole paragraph. In fairness to the article it is a full year old.

 

[ParkerAudio]

Sorry about the article I thought it was this January.

 

[mtrycrafts]

do you know if it plays back dual layer dvds??
many thanks

What do you mean by this? Almost all DVDs are dual layers.

 

[amentz]

Exactly! but i got a bit confused when reading specs for a pioneer player, and mentioned plays "DVD video" ??

 

[Johnd]

Exactly! but i got a bit confused when reading specs for a pioneer player, and mentioned plays "DVD video" ??

What's confusing about that? If there is ever any confusion, this site is full of experienced members to steer you right. You think that's confusing? I'm come across some choice phrases in manuals that make no sense, in any language!