As I become more and more demoralized by this stupid hi-def format war, I keep wondering if maybe sticking with DVD is the best move for at least a couple more years. I’ve been reading much on the DVD-3930CI and was wondering if the Realta upconversion to 1080p was as good as Denon claim. In one interview, Jeff Talmadge of Denon claims that 7 out of 10 people could not easily tell the difference in picture quality between a standard DVD on either the 3930 or 5910 as compared to a Blu-ray disk on some unnamed player. From those who own a 3930, do you believe this to be true? Is the picture quality you’re getting from your 3930 almost as good as Blu-ray or HD-DVD?

depends on your screen size. watching the 3930 on a 40" screen looks pretty amazing, but Blu-Ray on a 40" screen is still a tad better in resolution. Contrast in HD is visually superior over standard DVD. But when watching on a large screen over 40" it becomes obvious that true HD is superior. It's just that you can only get so much information out of a regular DVD, and scaling the image is not going to improve it to HD levels if the info is not there.

No.

Is the picture quality of a standard def channel output at 1080i from your cable box nearly as good as the HD channel? No.

The 3930 is a very good standard def DVD player and a very good upconverter. ITs still only 480 source material.

For the price of a 3930, you can buy both HD-DVD and BluRay machines, or a combo player.

BTW, I am a Denon dealer and have owned a 3910 and 5910 previously. Have not owned, but have used and sold several 3930. Now, the audio is what really makes the Denons stand out. If audio is more important to you, then the Denons are great.

SOrry, I mispoke. I haven't sold any 3930s. Sorry for the confusion.

It's all in the source (more bits the better). Just like SD DVDs, hidef DVDs still can be limited by the master.

larry

I have a 3930 and A Sony BDPS1 BD player. The 3930 is a great upconverter. Make no mistake about it. However on my 106" screen (via JVC RS1) - in a direct A/B comparison - playing identical films on both formats - the BD disc is VASTLY superior 95% of the time. The only time it's not superior - as PooperScooper mentioned - is when there is a limitation due to the master. There really is no doubt about it. Because of this - I'll be replacing most of my DVD collection w/ BD (and HD-DVD) discs.

Blu-ray and HD DVD have more than six times the number of pixels per frame that standard def DVD does... there is no comparison, really. The enhanced resolution that high def discs provide (especially when viewed on larger 1920x1080 native displays) is a real eye-opener. I will no longer be purchasing any SD DVD's if I can help it. While some upscaled SD DVD's do look pretty good, they simply can't compare to HD DVD and Blu-ray.

I was able to get a Samsung BD-P1200, a Toshiba HD-A20 and an Oppo DV-980H for less than $850 combined, so that Denon seems pretty high to me considering it only has the basic functionality of my Oppo (which is additionally region free and does PAL to NTSC pretty well). The SD DVD upscaling in both my BD-P1200 (Silicon Optix Reon processing chip) and my HD-A20 (Anchor Bay/DVDO processing chip) is top shelf, too.

Thanks for all the info. I'm using an 118" diagonal screen with a 720p projector, but in a few months I'll be upgrading to 1080p. So I guess that what everyone's saying is that HD disks will always look better than SD-DVD's no matter how much I spend on upconversion. Once you see the difference, you won't want to go back.

With recent revelations in the format war, it looks like anyone could win it regardless of which one the public chooses. Money talks, and even if one side has the advantage in sales, the other could win just by paying off the studios and certain stores like Walmart. I think I'll buy a $399 HD-DVD player this fall, and wait for the Blu-ray counterpart in the spring. That's probably the safest bet.

Lets say there's a range from 1 to 10. 1 being standard DVD's at 480p and 10 being HD-DVD at 1080p. Where does up-scaled standard DVD's fall in the range? Is it closer to HD-DVD's like 7-8? Or is it closer to 480p standard DVD's around 2-3?

more like 5-6

I've compared the 1080i output of my 3930Ci against the same movie playing on one of the 1080i channels I get from cable, and the cable was noticeably better. This is on a 42" plasma with 1024x768 native resolution, sitting 11 or so feet away.

But it's not like a night and day difference. I don't own any of the new blue-laser players because it's not enough of a difference for me to care. Maybe someday if I get a larger display and there is a clear indication that one of the new formats will take over from DVD I'll reconsider, but for now I'm happy with the 3930Ci.

Well, I see this thread ended a long time ago, but if anyone is still subscribed that owns the 3930, I would like to be able to get some help should I need it. I have mine coming on Thursday and to say the least I am very excited. I am surprised there is no owner's thread on this site, or any other for that matter, unless someone knows of one?

I dont think you guys get what scalers do.
They just re-map video signals to a display.
Yes they can add EE and DNR, but those are innacurate to the source.
The Denon's scale accurately but the are even better at deinterlacing.
People who say there is immediate improvement, probably have their gear setup wrong.
In AV, personal preference is irrelevant, TV's, Disc transports, receivers, and amps have correct settings, people who intentionally leave their TV in "vivid" mode are doing it wrong .
Chances are the DVD player's scaler is better, but any other improvements are placebo effect.
I got a denon 2930 hooked up to my kds60a3000, the differces between the TV scaler and the DVD scaler amount to the smallest sharpness pattern in THX Optimode, this favors the Denon.
People who say that the Denon's picture even rivals the worst 1080i broadcast, are lying. HD versus DVD always wins.

In AV, personal preference is irrelevant

That does not compute.

-Bill

Well my eyes see a big difference with this player. I was a video tech for a long time so I know what the numbers on paper are, but everyone sees things differently and has 2 sets of eyes different from everyone else's, that is much more important than figures and values. In installing and choosing equipment for people, I used to bring 2 or 3 models into their home, and give them the lowdown on the specs, but they made the choice with their eyes! Some techs put too much emphasis on what things are supposed to be instead of personal opinion. Then I have dealt with some where they could never understand a product being chosen by someone that had lesser specs than what they would choose.

Oppo DV-980H for less than $850 combined, so that Denon seems pretty high to me considering it only has the basic functionality of my Oppo (which is additionally region free and does PAL to NTSC pretty well).

I bought this Oppo player and was less than thrilled with its performance converting PAL to NTSC. We moved back to the US from the UK a couple years ago with a large collection of PAL DVDs so this was an important consideration. The Oppo player produced combing artifacts and didn't handle the cadencing very well at all, but i suppose it's fine for just the occasional PAL DVD.

I looked at the 2930 as an alternative and was able to compare it to the 3930 at a local shop. There's not a lot between them in terms of video performance - it's very very good on both. The 3930 has better audio performance - but you're starting to talk about doubling the price for what is generously a 10% increase in performance. For me, the AL24 processing in both players makes the biggest difference - the difference between the analogue section of the 2930 and a digital signal sent to my Denon 2308 avr is clearly and instantly audible to anyone.

Anyways, I came home with a good deal on the Denon 2930 - it handles PAL DVDs very well and the audio performance (from analogue outputs) is far superior to either of the Oppo players. In my mind, I would say you're paying roughly 4 times as much for double the performance of the Oppo. The Rep I spoke to said the Oppo 981 will handle PAL DVD better - but you don't get great audio performance. I suppose that matters less if you send your receiver a digital signal over hdmi and have a top of the line receiver doing the DA conversion.

But comparing SD to HD is just silly - there is no comparison. I also have the Samsung BP-1400 and just about any blu-ray player is an order of magnitude better than SD DVD. That said, the denon 2930/3930 will certainly show off SD DVDs at their absolute best.

There is no real comparison between standard dvd and a blueray or HDdvd. A player with the HQV processing as in a Samsung or Tosh unit will upconvert SD dvd to a superior picture than the Oppos or my Panny s97 ,which I still use for non-anamorphic and 4:3 source dvds.

The Samsung BD-P1200 blueray player is so fine with wide screen dvd's and that HQV processing makes me wanna watch all of my SD dvd's all over again however...My Sammy or my Tosh A30 HDdvd player are far superior to standard dvd when spinning BD or HD disks.

That said and I think it's widely known, the Superbit 5th Element is considered to be very close to the Blueray version due to the studio rushing this disk out. Got'm both and yes, they are the closest in quality to eachother compared to my other duplications.

I spent under 350.00 (120 for Tosh and 220 for Sammy) for both players and got 14 free hd and blueray disks through rebates.

Lock n load on a Bluray or HD player with HQV...well worth it, and forgot OPPO ..... unitl they come out with one of their own BD/HD players which I'm sure will be hot and i'll get that machine as well.

My Blu-ray 5th Element (re-master) played on my Denon 2500 Transport looks vastly superior to my Superbit version played on my 3930. I've compared them both side by side (106" screen w/ JVC RS1).