I bought a Sony DVPNS75H Up Converting DVD player a couple of years ago. It seems to work well enough but it does take quite a while to load a DVD. I'm sure I paid less than $100Cdn for it.

Now I see that Futureshop and Best Buy have Up Converting DVD Players that are around $120. The Panasonic DVDS54K is in the $120 range and then there is the Yamaha DVS6160B and Denon DVD-558 come in around $200. I have a 720p projector that will probably not get replaced for another year or so.

I guess my question is simply whether upgrading to one of these newer upconverting DVD players will make any noticeable difference or should I just sit tight until I upgrade to a 1080p projector and the BluRay players come down to a reasonable price?

Is there really that much difference between the OPPO and more common Sony, Panasonic, etc players?

Addendum: I just noticed that there is a Sony DVPNS78H on sale for $99 down from $130. Are there any Sony experts that can comment on what if any improvement this player might have over the DVPNS75H?

Was this a dumb question? :o

Maybe I worded it wrong?

Basically I have three choices. Sit tight with my 2 year old Sony DVPNS75H Upconverting DVD player. Buy a more recent upconverting DVD player (possibly an OPPO). OR Wait a few months or so and buy a BluRay Player when they come down to something in the <$300 range.

Display devices is an Optoma HD72 (720p, 115" Screen).

I should say that I did try a Sony Blu Ray player a few months back. We could see some improvement when comparing a SD DVD and Blu Ray DVD of the same movie but nothing worth spending $500 for. What we could not do easily was compare the SD DVD on the Upconverting player vs the SD DVD on the Blu Ray player. Is it safe to assume the Upconverting is similar in the two types of Sony players?

BluRay players are generally weak at upconverting. With a 115" screen, I would defenitely look into a nice upconverting player. Oppo's are highly regarded for the price. Oppodigital.com They have a 30 day return. Try one out, if you don't like it, ship it back and get a return. :)

the 75h would have about the same as the oppo 980. They both use the meditek chip, oppo should look slightly better due to their custom programming but you really can't make miracle out of SD. I've never seen the new 983 but 400dollars for a SD player isn't justifiable, least for me. I'd keep the sony and get a ps3, it upscales fantastic and has blu ray also. No amount of upscaling is gonna make SD look hd, infact I'm so used to blu ray now that its hard to watch sd dvds.

... I've never seen the new 983 ... infact I'm so used to blu ray now that its hard to watch sd dvds.

Some would argue that your difficulty in watching SD is precisely because you've never seen SD through the 983. :)