I just picked up a HD Samsung 42" Plasma TV (HP-S4233). I currently have a progressive scan Samsung DVD player that is a couple years old with no hdmi or dvi, just s-video & component outputs.

Anyway, does this TV upconvert my progressive DVD player or will I need a new upconverting dvd player? Also, as for cables, if I keep the dvd player I have, will component be much better than s-video?

Thanks!

Check in a couple of the threads at the top of the forum. One is on upconverting players. And the other lists members displays, players and comments. Component is better than s-video most of the time.

larry

I just picked up a HD Samsung 42" Plasma TV (HP-S4233). I currently have a progressive scan Samsung DVD player that is a couple years old with no hdmi or dvi, just s-video & component outputs.

Anyway, does this TV upconvert my progressive DVD player or will I need a new upconverting dvd player? Also, as for cables, if I keep the dvd player I have, will component be much better than s-video?

Thanks!

On what I have seen personally, having an up-converting player is mandatory for fixed pixel displays if you want the best picture quality. If you have a 720p plazma, you'll want to up-convert to 720p. If you have a 1080p set, you'll want to up-convert to 1080p. Fixed pixel displays look soft and muddy out of their native resolutions.

Until you get a better DVD player, use the component outs, not the s-video. Granted, the plazma will de-interlace what is sent to it, but usually the DVD player can do it better and cleaner. Progressive scan is not available out of a s-video output.

I'm totally sold on a good up-converting DVD player because of the jump in picture quality I've seen on my CRT. The people who have plazma or LCD are supposed to see a much greater jump than I see on my CRT due to their limitations in displayable resolutions.

Just so you know what I'm running..... I have a Sony XBR970 with a Sony NS75H DVD player. NO! I'm not an all Sony guy, but they did make some really good TVs back in the day of tube, and the DVD player IMO blows away the Oppo970 in picture brilliance and quality at 1080i.

On what I have seen personally, having an up-converting player is mandatory for fixed pixel displays if you want the best picture quality.

I disagree. Earlier today, I was watching the digital video essentials DVD on a 1920x1080 LG LCD tv, with a Samsung upconverting DVD player connected by HDMI. Several of the test patterns looked best by setting the DVD player to output 480P and letting the tv do the upscaling! Unfortunately, that player didn't support 480i over HDMI, because it still showed de-interlacing problems.

Many tvs have built-in upscalers that are better than $100 upscaling DVD players, the test patterns prove it.

Still, the LG's built-in upscaler was far from perfect. Some of the high-end upscaling DVD players would have done better. A low-end upscaling DVD player is usually only useful if it can output 480i over HDMI.