I just bought a 61" Samsung 1080 DLP tv. I haven't taken delivery yet. I have a 3 year old Sony progressive scan dvd player. Should I consider an upconverting dvd player? I've read some old threads and it seems that some tvs do as good a job upscaling as DVD players so I was wondering if one of the upconverting dvd players would improve the picture quality. A coworker swears I need one but I guess I'm not sold. I don't plan on buying an HD or Blue Ray player anytime soon so I just want the best picture out of regular DVDs I can get. Thanks.

An upscaling player should improve PQ for you, but the differences are subtle and not dramatic, and only you can decide whether the extra cost is worth it for you. Search in the DVD Player Forum for the Oppo 970, which is an excellent player for your display. Despite your statement above, you may want to consider the Toshiba HD-DVD A2 player. For <$400 (or an additional $150 over the Oppo), you get not only an upscaling player as good as the Oppo, but it also plays true high def movies (HD-DVDs), which are better than any upscaled SD DVDs. The PS3 is the cheapest BD option, but for even more money than the Tosh. IMO, both formats will be around for many years, so waiting for the format war to settle out could be a long wait.

I just bought a 61" Samsung 1080 DLP tv. I haven't taken delivery yet. I have a 3 year old Sony progressive scan dvd player. Should I consider an upconverting dvd player? I've read some old threads and it seems that some tvs do as good a job upscaling as DVD players so I was wondering if one of the upconverting dvd players would improve the picture quality. A coworker swears I need one but I guess I'm not sold. I don't plan on buying an HD or Blue Ray player anytime soon so I just want the best picture out of regular DVDs I can get. Thanks.


I second BillP. Just try your 3yr old player first and see, don't rush into getting a new player. You certainly don't NEED it. I have a 7 year old NON-progressive Sony DVD and it looks pretty darn good on the 6187. The prices on HDDVD keep coming down and they are working out kinks, so the way I see it there is no reason to be forced into a buy today or tomorrow.

See how your current equipment looks and then you can decide how imperative it is to spend more $$$.

Read this:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=477740

That's a great link, and interesting article. My take is: plug in your current DVD player and see if you like the picture. If it looks good for you, save the cash. The newer, upconverting players (like the oppo one) do a very good job, but if you're happy with your current DVD picture, then why spend the extra money when you could put it else where?