My current 3 year old progressive scan dvd player is starting to act weird, so I'm starting to look at getting a new one. I'm wanting to try an upconversion one, and I'm looking for some suggestions...

Now I know that the Oppo's are considered the best, but I'm looking to spend $100 or less on a player. I need it to be flexible as far as playing DVD-/+R and RW's and not choke on them. I would also really like DivX support, but since I've never actually had a player with that, this issue isn't a deal breaker since I don't know what I'm missing without having it. :D Oh, also, I can go HDMI or component, I have free slots for each on my tv right now.

I've been to Circuit City and Sears (not the best store choices, I know, but there's nothing else where I live, and even those two are 60 miles away) and got some model numbers to research, etc. The Sony DVPN-S77H seems to be fairly highly regarded, but it doesn't have DivX support, and I really would kind of like that. I've also looked at the Samsung DVD 1080P7, but it seems people either love it or hate it. And even though I didn't see it in a store, I've been reading about the Pioneer DV-400V, and it seems like the majority of people like it, but I want to be sure about it, as I'd have to order it online, and I don't especially want to deal with a return to an online place.

In case anyone is curious, my TV is a 46" Rear Projection Toshiba, model 46H84. (It's about 3 years old.) It is capable of 1080i, but not 1080p, which brings up a question....would it be stupid to get a 1080p upscaling player if I can only use 1080i? I feel like I might just be paying for something I wouldn't use.

And one more thing, just out of curiosity...... my current (dying) progressive scan dvd player is hooked up with component, and my TV is upscaling the picture to 1080i. Would an upconversion player actually help my picture quality, or should I just go for a cheapo player and continue to let my tv do its thing upconverting the picture? I've read where some people say their upconversion players make their DVD's look almost-HD, and while DVD's do look good with my current set up, I would never call it near-HD.

I'd appreciate any thoughts, suggestions, answers, ramblings, or anything like that.
:)

And one more thing, just out of curiosity...... my current (dying) progressive scan dvd player is hooked up with component, and my TV is upscaling the picture to 1080i. Would an upconversion player actually help my picture quality, or should I just go for a cheapo player and continue to let my tv do its thing upconverting the picture? I've read where some people say their upconversion players make their DVD's look almost-HD, and while DVD's do look good with my current set up, I would never call it near-HD.

I've asked this same question before regarding my SXRD XBR2, and no one seems to have an answer. I mean, if my $3000 TV does a world class job of upconverting SD (that's why I bought it), is a $99 DVD player going to improve that?

My current 3 year old progressive scan dvd player is starting to act weird, so I'm starting to look at getting a new one. I'm wanting to try an upconversion one, and I'm looking for some suggestions...

Now I know that the Oppo's are considered the best, but I'm looking to spend $100 or less on a player. I need it to be flexible as far as playing DVD-/+R and RW's and not choke on them. I would also really like DivX support, but since I've never actually had a player with that, this issue isn't a deal breaker since I don't know what I'm missing without having it. :D Oh, also, I can go HDMI or component, I have free slots for each on my tv right now.

I've been to Circuit City and Sears (not the best store choices, I know, but there's nothing else where I live, and even those two are 60 miles away) and got some model numbers to research, etc. The Sony DVPN-S77H seems to be fairly highly regarded, but it doesn't have DivX support, and I really would kind of like that. I've also looked at the Samsung DVD 1080P7, but it seems people either love it or hate it. And even though I didn't see it in a store, I've been reading about the Pioneer DV-400V, and it seems like the majority of people like it, but I want to be sure about it, as I'd have to order it online, and I don't especially want to deal with a return to an online place.

In case anyone is curious, my TV is a 46" Rear Projection Toshiba, model 46H84. (It's about 3 years old.) It is capable of 1080i, but not 1080p, which brings up a question....would it be stupid to get a 1080p upscaling player if I can only use 1080i? I feel like I might just be paying for something I wouldn't use.

And one more thing, just out of curiosity...... my current (dying) progressive scan dvd player is hooked up with component, and my TV is upscaling the picture to 1080i. Would an upconversion player actually help my picture quality, or should I just go for a cheapo player and continue to let my tv do its thing upconverting the picture? I've read where some people say their upconversion players make their DVD's look almost-HD, and while DVD's do look good with my current set up, I would never call it near-HD.

I'd appreciate any thoughts, suggestions, answers, ramblings, or anything like that.
:)
If your display does not have HDMI, then Sony S77 would not do much, from what I gathered here in the last few days. I'm in the same boat, just got a Bravia 40S3000 and hooked up my 9-year old Sony S300, via component, and picture looks a little better than my old Sony 35" tube. Ordered S77 from Amazon today and waiting delivery.

I've asked this same question before regarding my SXRD XBR2, and no one seems to have an answer. I mean, if my $3000 TV does a world class job of upconverting SD (that's why I bought it), is a $99 DVD player going to improve that?

It does make me wonder.....but yet, I'm inclined to try an upconversion player, since I need a new player anyway, and I have always been curious about them.

Anyone have any thoughts on the players I mentioned, or suggestions for similar ones? I'm not asking for much, just the best possible upconversion player that $100 or less will buy, that will play anything I give it, and that supports DivX. :eek: LOL! Not much....yeah right. This could prove to be an interesting search.....but my DVD player searches usually are.

I'd love to hear any comments or suggestions.

I've asked this same question before regarding my SXRD XBR2, and no one seems to have an answer. I mean, if my $3000 TV does a world class job of upconverting SD (that's why I bought it), is a $99 DVD player going to improve that?

I have the same set...a 1080P signal going into it like say from an Oppo 980 via HDMI will look sharper & cleaner...Blacks a little blacker..I know...I just got one off of Amazon...on Oppo's recommendation...The picture is superb from it...and yes...you can see a difference between the various settings... I have had a couple other dvd players not do as well...

Mac

Go pickup an Oppo 980h refurb that can be purchased for $130 and it upscales better than anything else out there including sony's lousy dvd players.
The refurbs can be purchased for around $125 when you call Oppo and ask for one. and they carry the same warranty as new units and they have the best customer service around.

I'm also curious about this. My Mitsubishi WD-65733 up-converts to 1080P, but would an external (via HDMI) upscaled signal produce a better picture?

Would it simply depend on the quality of the player?

In case anyone is curious, my TV is a 46" Rear Projection Toshiba, model 46H84. (It's about 3 years old.) It is capable of 1080i, but not 1080p, which brings up a question....would it be stupid to get a 1080p upscaling player if I can only use 1080i? I feel like I might just be paying for something I wouldn't use.You may want to stay away from an Faroudja chip based upconversion units. They can cause macroblocking on many rear projection displays.

In the final moment it gets down to what looks good to YOU - everybody sees things a little differently.

Every individual buyer will have a different experience with a particular brand.

Sony makes some of the best electronic equipment available - we own both a consumer and quite expensive professional grade camera along with a couple of high quality monitors - all from Sony - all solid and reliable performers obviously made to take hard use.

Anyway, we like the way our 1080p tv up converts from our older Panasonic dvd player if fed a good component signal and it does a good job with both dual layer and compressed single layer movies.

We use a Sony dvd player to up convert via HDMI to our panasonic front projector cause the PJ doesn't do so good a job with standard def up conversion and - to our eyes and pleasure - it up converts well even when spread across a 10 ft screen and the Sony dvd player is as reliable as we could want.

The "Power" is always in the devices processor. I don't have enought DivX material to make that a factor for us and if something won't play I just transcode it to something more friendly to my player.

I've had success transcoding movies that were highly DivX compressed to a single CD to a much larger file which when burned to a dvd-r plays just as clearly as the DivX original.

Okay - hope my rambling counts as a contribution to your thread.

Thanks for everyones replies and opinions!

I decided to order the Pioneer 400v, as it has options that the Sony 77h just doesn't have. From reading other threads, I came to the conclusion that the general thinking is that the Pioneer and the Sony are pretty similar in picture quality, anyway.

However.....the Pioneer 400v came yesterday, and I have to say I'm pretty disappointed. It doesn't have anything on my old JVC player....in fact, my old JVC generally looks quite a lot better than the 400v! I tried every resolution my tv supports (480i, 480p, 720, and 1080i) on the 400v, and the sharpness just isn't there, I even set the Sharpness to "Fine", but it just seems to have a softer looking picture, and I'm just not used to that. My old progressive scan JVC, hooked up through component, and with my TV upscaling the picture, has a very sharp and crisp picture, and looks quite a bit better than the new player. Small details on faces, etc are more easily seen with my old JVC than with the 400v.

I did discover that the best setting for picture quality on the 400v is 480i or 480p, letting my tv do the upscaling.....however, it's still not as good as my old player. Also, the 400v seems to have very noticeable (I'm not sure if the term would be macroblocking, or grainyness, or what), but in solid color areas, the pixels seem to dance/flash/move around, and it's fairly distracting.

So, needless to say, I'll be sending the 400v back to amazon. I'm now seriously considering the Oppo 980H. In fact, I actually called oppo to ask about a refurbished one, but they were out! :( The Sony 77h is still a consideration, but I think we're leaning more towards the Oppo at this point. Can anyone here comment on either the 77H or 980H, after reading what I've said about the 400v?

Have you considered the Toshiba HD A3? It is only $125 at Amazon with a slew of free HD DVD movies, and is supposed to be an excellent upconverting player (as good or better than the Oppo's, at least that's what I've read.)

I am in the same boat as you, have been debating whether or not to try it for my big 40" Sony CRT (1080i). Regular DVD's already look great with my existing cheapie JVC prog-scan player, not sure if a good upconverting player will really make a difference.

If it makes even a small improvement, then I can easily justify getting the HD-DVD player even if Blu-Ray has almost locked things up. If it doesn't, well I'll stick with my cheap JVC player and wait for Blu-Ray player prices to drop...