Ok..... gonna retire the poor little 1031q....

Now.... here's what I've been using for the last few years. Progressive scan DVD Player and line doubler for SD television to the Sony. I know I could have pushed it harder but I baby the tubes. I wanted it to last until I could upgrade. I will always have a soft spot in my heart for that baby though...

We do have HD cable service upstairs to my LG HD tubed television and I've got a lower end DVR that will upscale to 1080i.

I don't want to get into HTPCs.... really, I've got enough servers and pcs to maintain here and I really don't want to build an HTPC. So what's the best combo to feed my 8000 the best HD TV signal and a nice DVD player that will upconvert. I don't see myself purchasing enough BR or HD-DVD movies to make it worth purchasing a compatible player just yet. We mostly rent when it comes to movies and most places aren't renting BR or HD DVDS.

What about fixing SD television content? My line doubler worked good on the 1031Q but I'll need more than that for this PJ. If we aren't watching the HD channels, the standard def channels look "YUCK"....

So.... basically, I'm looking for the best, most streamlined way to feed it....

1) HD channels
2) Get the most out of the non-hd channels
3) Upscale regular DVD Movies.

Thoughts? THANKS!

. . . . . So what's the best combo to feed my 8000 the best HD TV signal and a nice DVD player that will upconvert. I don't see myself purchasing enough BR or HD-DVD movies to make it worth purchasing a compatible player just yet. We mostly rent when it comes to movies and most places aren't renting BR or HD DVDS.

What about fixing SD television content? My line doubler worked good on the 1031Q but I'll need more than that for this PJ. If we aren't watching the HD channels, the standard def channels look "YUCK"....

So.... basically, I'm looking for the best, most streamlined way to feed it....

1) HD channels
2) Get the most out of the non-hd channels
3) Upscale regular DVD Movies.

Thoughts? THANKS!

1) Moome card (VIM-HD) with gamma control
2) Not much to do here - Garbage In = Garbage Out
3) Toshiba HD-A1 (~$100-125 slightly used) or Toshiba HD-XA2 (the best in upscaling (~$400-500) but both upscale SD-DVD's to 720p or 1080i over HDMI very nicely.

The Moome card has both component and HDMI inputs and you can switch between them.

SD TV on cable or any other source is just pretty much garbage. You could try your existing doubler - don't know if it would help or not.

The 1st generation and 2nd generation Toshiba HD-DVD players are getting very cheap because the 3rd generation players are now out (or very soon). No one has noted any appreciable PQ differences in the different generations, just improvements in load times and additional features. NetFlix and BlockBuster both rent HD-DVD (or Blu-Ray) discs via their online services. I use BlockBuster, I receive an HD-DVD in the mail. I watch it at my leisure. I take it to the local BlockBuster to exchange it for a FREE SD-DVD to watch. They scan in my HD-DVD return and the next day I get an email from BlockBuster advising me that the next HD-DVD on my list is on its way. I usually receive them in 2 days. The free SD-DVD from the brick and mortar BlockBuster does not count against my allocation of HD-DVD's online.

If you think you'd prefer a BluRay player I can't advise you on that, but the lowest end BluRay players run about the same as the top-end HD-DVD players. What I have read, but not really researched is that the dual players cost as much as one each of the HD-DVD and BluRay players.

Then, you can watch your PJ, but keep on eye on eBay or Videogon for 8500 modules that you can upgrade your 8000 with. They don't all have to be done at once, but the end result is an even nicer PJ.

My 2 cents

Thank you. Maybe I should clarify my concerns with SD television. I am fully aware I'm never going to get HD quality out of SD programming, but I KNOW I can get it better than unprocessed. I saw the difference my doubler made on the Sony. I don't expect perfection out of it, just better.

I understand that a lot of you think SD is not worth watching, so why bother, but I don't feel the same way. Fx Network (some of my favorite shows such as The Shield, Nip-Tuck, Rescue Me, etc.)is not available to me in HD, but I'm not going to give up watching those shows simply because I can't get them in HD.

I want better than doubling, but something that will pass through the HD channels w/o messing with them.

Moome card, I've seen it mentioned. How are the results different than the HD Fury adapter other than the gamma adjustments and the fact that it's an internal card rather than an external adater?

The HD box will upconvert SD to 1080i or 720p, whatever you select for it to output. That's about as good as you'll get.

There's still the odd show up here that I don't get in HD, so I watch it in SD, upconverted to 1080i via my HD box, into my BArco retro 67" set. It's not as good as HD of course, but is watchable.

uh... maybe the HD DVR box is an older model because you can't set squat on it as far as I can tell.........I'll call the cable company

I think what you want is a newer Video processor than your old doubler. look in the for sale ares here and on Videogon for a used lumagen VP with rgbhv outs and dvi outs. this way if you upgrade and get a moome card you'll be ready. Many use the lumagen processors here and love them. The algorythm they use to scale is very very good. here are a few links i found for you. the pro is the best model from lumagen out the three with the last one with the sdi next.

http://cgi.videogon.com/cgi-bin/cl.pl?procscal&1199043971&class&3&4&

http://cgi.videogon.com/cgi-bin/cl.pl?procscal&1199634105&class&3&4&

http://cgi.videogon.com/cgi-bin/cl.pl?procscal&1195319749&class&3&4&


Athanasios