OPPO DV-981 with SDI out Is it worth it?

[scottyb]

Here is a link to an ebay listing for an oppo with an sdi out.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Pre-modified-Oppo-DV-981-DVD-Player-SDI-Out-for-DVDO_W0QQitemZ280109826324QQihZ018QQcategoryZ15077QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD1VQQcmdZViewItem

Is this really worth doing? I would think I would be better off to wait till the fall until new HD or BR players come out than buy something like this. I have read that this SDI modification can be used on HD player, but why would you need it. I was also reading about upscalers, but I can't seem to figure out their purpose. Would you recommend an upscaler with a hd player? Would it make that much of a difference?

I have an old Yamaha - DSP 3090, Sony DVD NS-775v hooked up to a SONY KDF-50E2000 and Atlantec Technology 250 series speakers. I am ready to start to upgrade, but I am waiting on the sidelines for the HDMI 1.3.

Can anyone make any recommendations? I am not going to go expensive like I did with the Yamaha at 2600.00 when I purchased it, the electronics depreciate too fast.

I have had my sony for about 7 months and to me the sony's blacks don't show as much detail as my old rear projection crt pioneer did. I personally feel the pioneer picture quality was better than the new sony or am I missing something.

 

[MDS]

No, it is not worth doing. SDI is just a different connection type.

An HDTV is going to scale any signal it receives to the its native resolution, so scaling in general is only going to be of benefit in a dvd player if it does a better job than the TV. Some implementations do and others don't. It's a crapshoot.

 

[j_garcia]

Hmmmmm....the 970 already does 480i via HDMI specifically for use with outboard scalers, so I 'm not sure I see the point at all.

 

[jvm051]

SDI is only going to be useable if you have a scaler with a SDI connection. If not, you cannot use it. Like the previous poster said, if it can do 480I through HDMI, that should be fine, as long as the scaler in your display is better than the one in the DVD player.