[renegade]

Anybody around here have one of these? What are your thoughts? Are there any in particular that you would recommend?

I finally upgraded to HDTV and am a member of Netflix so I figure this would be a no brainer or should I just ride out with my standard dvd player and HDTV and wait until blu-ray players and discs hit reasonable prices?

[rlb]

Check out www.avsforum.com. More info than you'll ever want to know.
The best standard def upconverters are the Oppo and the Panasonic S97. You can get a Toshiba A-3(D-3 at Costco) HD-DVD player that is as good if not better than the Oppo and Panasonic for less money and it can play HD-DVD's as well. The A-3 is $130 at Costco and Amazon. The Oppo and Pana are $200+. I have both the Panasonic S97 and the Toshiba A-3.

[renegade]

Thanks rlb

[scooby9]

I had a Sony upconverting DVD player but on my HD television, I didn't really notice any improvement. I think the future is all in HD DVD or Blu Ray so it might be worth it to just buy an XBOX 360 or PS3 instead.

[NaTuReB0Y]

I won't be able to use my Hi-Fi VHS and DVD player if I upgrade to HDTV?

[TurboFan]

Originally Posted by renegade

Anybody around here have one of these? What are your thoughts? Are there any in particular that you would recommend?

I finally upgraded to HDTV and am a member of Netflix so I figure this would be a no brainer or should I just ride out with my standard dvd player and HDTV and wait until blu-ray players and discs hit reasonable prices?

The best upconverting players right now are actually bluray players. Samsung has the BD-P1200 and BD-P1400 out. Secrets of Home Theater Hi-Fi reviewed he BD-P1200 as the best DVD player, and upconverting DVD player they'd EVER tested. It also plays BluRay, and costs under $400. Considering that the best DVD players are still well over $400, this is a great deal if you're looking for the best DVD playback available.

The 1400 is the newer version of the 1200, and should offer as good, if not better, DVD playback as the 1200.

[TurboFan]

Originally Posted by NaTuReB0Y

I won't be able to use my Hi-Fi VHS and DVD player if I upgrade to HDTV?

You can. Just make sure you have the right inputs on the TV (most HD-TV's have plenty).

Just curious, why wouldn't you upgrade your feed formats if you move to HDTV? BluRay has pretty much cemented it's lead.

[TurboFan]

Originally Posted by scooby9

I had a Sony upconverting DVD player but on my HD television, I didn't really notice any improvement. I think the future is all in HD DVD or Blu Ray so it might be worth it to just buy an XBOX 360 or PS3 instead.

It's all about the re-scaler. Your TV has one, and the upconverting DVD player has one. You need to determine which one is better, and use that to upscale your device.

Every tv has a native resolution. It can only display a picture in this resolution, so it must convert everything that is not native. If you have a TV with a native res of 1080p, and you feed it a 720p signal (say, NBC-HD signals), it will convert it to a 1080i or 1080p picture via interpolation. If you have a low end HDTV, you probalbly have a low end upscaler, so you'll want to use the upscaler (upconverter) in the playback device, assuming you have a mid- to high-end device.

Experiment. See what looks better.

[NaTuReB0Y]

Originally Posted by TurboFan

You can. Just make sure you have the right inputs on the TV (most HD-TV's have plenty).

Just curious, why wouldn't you upgrade your feed formats if you move to HDTV? BluRay has pretty much cemented it's lead.

I don't even have HDTV.....and I have no idea what HD-DVD or Blu-Ray looks like.

Maybe in a couple of years.....I'll upgrade.....technology is always changing.....

My TVs are only 9 years old......60" Hitachi Big Screen and 36" Sony Flatscreen (top of the line at the time)

**I was one of the first people to purchase a DVD player......$700 Sony(now it's sitting in the garage...outdated)

[renegade]

Thanks for the info as well Turbofan, scooby9 - I really wish I was still into game systems so I could just cop a ps3 but I stopped circa sega genesis/super nintendo - lol... I'll give the samsung a good look