Upconverting DVD Player Options/Impressions - Page 5

Anybody have any thoughts on what would be the best DVI DVD Player (Do not care about Component quality) to connect to my new Benq PE8700+? I have been flipping back and forth on the Bravo D2, the Momitsu, and now the Denon 1910. Also would like to see how the Bravo D3 turns out but it looks like it will come out too late as I am completing my Home Theater by the beginning of October. I have a Denon AVR 3805 so using the Denon Link with the 1910 is attractive. I have heard some bad things about the current line of Denon's though and hope it doesnt carry over to the DVI players. I will be using a Ram Electronics DVI Switch 4x1 to connect my Benq to the DVD player, a Dish Network 921 HD DVR, and an HTPC with a Radeon x800 in it. So any thoughts?

Titus

I just placed an order with Crutchfield for the Denon 1910. Their promise date from Denon is Sep 6 (Labor Day), so they'd expect that customers who pre-ordered will get it by the end of the week (Sep 10). The price was a little below what Mallu listed on the first page and included free shipping and had no sales tax. Hopefully, there will be no delays.

On a side not, I noticed that the 1910 comes in both silver and black. Crutchfield still did not have any color information, so I am going to have to call back to get put in a color request. Does anyone have any opinions/theories on color matching (this is far from my ability). The TV I am about to order is the Panasonic 42PWD6UY, which is black. Is there any reason for me not to get a matching color?

Stupid question: Is this thread being limited to under $500 players? Just curious...

Actually, the "DVI" is what caught my interest.

I'd be happy with anything you want to add. The clue probably would be: How many threads do you see for that one player? Better throw a few Pioneer units on there, too, as applicable, like the 59 Elite, and so forth.

I'm a bit of a newbie, and would like some thoughts on my situation. I bought an open-box Samsung 931 for about $80 for use on a 65" Mitsubishi CRT RP television. I'm less than thrilled with the results.

The upconverted 1080i over the DVI looks extremely grainy and contrasty, compared with the 480p over the component connection. I don't know how else to say it, other than the picture quality is noticably worse at the higher resolution, all digital setting.

Is this the result of using the upconverting player with a CRT, versus a fixed-pixel display like an LCD or DLP? Or is it just my subjective tastes?

Granted, it's only $80, but if all I'm going to use the player for is 480p over component, I'd probably pick another player. This machine is painfully slow. Also, it uses the same remote button to skip chapers, as well as to fast-foward or fast-reverse. THAT is aggrivating as all get out.

If there' s no way I can enjoy better quality from the up-converting player, then I see no reason to tolerate the other annoyances.

There's no question this player was a good deal, price wise. That's why I feel bad for even complaining ...

I'm still learning how these things work, but I THINK the set displays 480p and 1080i without converting, so I guess that would be considered "native."

I just did some more poking around the Mits. website, I saw that the Mits. TV has its own edge enhancement feature that can be selected/deselected for each separate input. I knew the feature existed, but I didn't realize that each input had its own settings. It could be that I still have this turned on for the DVI input.

If that's the case, then perhaps that is part of the problem. It might explain why the picture has an "over Photoshopped" feel to it...

Stustu,

Just for clarification... the native rate of your set is only a single resolution. All incoming formats are scaled to the native rez of your set. Being that it's a Mits... I am fairly certain that the native rez is 1080i. Therefor everything that comes into your set is scaled to 1080i for display on the screen. This is assuming there's not some other weird stuff going on with your setup that I am missing.

Perhaps I am missing something?

Regs,
Jeff

Jeff,

If anyone is missing something, it is me, without a doubt. One month ago I thought it would be cool to have a big TV. Little did I know how much more complicated it is to have a 65" versus the twelve-year old, 20" RCA I replaced.

Looking again at the specs on the TV, it indicates there are actually 1200 lines of horizontal screen resolution, so I guess that would make 1080i the true "native" format.

At any rate, I'm anxious to get home and fiddle with the set's own edge enhancement setting - perhaps that's the issue.

Thanks to all for the help.

hehehe... yep. You basically hit the nail on the head. Welcome to our wonderful world. Unlike 99.9% of the rest of the world at large, most of the goober here like myself want to eke out the last iota of picture/sound quality from our setups. The biggest "problem" with this is that the more you learn, the more you tend to nitpick the small things. To quote my wife after seeing me spend 3 straight nights with the DLP once I got it's guts replaced, "Why can't you just be happy with turning it on and watching the tv?" That pretty much sums up all the rest of the world at large.

Best of luck with your tweaking!

Regs,
Jeff

lol, funny! haha

bless our wives.

Yep... seems to be a rather common occurrance as far as SO's and our hobbies. Let's see... the other two common reactions are the stadard "you are such a goober" eye roll, and the typical "whatever" statement. Of course all three of these can be used together.

"Why can't you just ? Whatever! *eye roll* *walks out of room*"

Gotta love 'em... and I've got a little 15 month old version of her in training right now. Daddy needs a boy for #2!!!

C ya,
Jeff

Just a correction, I think Zenith 318 new firmware only disables component upconversion output for RCE disks. Therefore, you can still get component upconversion output with non-RCE disks or backup copy with RCE removed.

re: wife's opinion re: HT equipment...

Hate to inform everyone of this, but you can't win on the other side either. My wife was originally very skeptical of my HDTV and then subsequent (better) DVD player purchases. Mostly along the same lines of "what was wrong with the old picture", etc., etc.

Well now she's upset with me because I have spoiled her so bad with the improved picture, she can't stand watching anything on the old TV and DVD player now used as a spare! You just can't win.

Now you have an excuse to upgrade you spare system as well. I think it's a win-win situation...

Want to see the definition of "disinterested"? Tell your wife the following:

"But honey, now we can get 'American Chopper' in high def! "

(BTW, the built-in edge definition was on with my Mits, so that reduced some of the grain I had with the 1080i DVI image from the 931. I played with a few more discs, too, and found some where the upconverted picture was very nice, others not so nice. So, while it's not 100% the greatest thing since sliced bread, I guess I'll keep it")

the trick I found is woman are more interested in visual than audio(some will argue thats the way of us men) but I found when I took my wife shopping for audio, there was no interest aty all. she could care less if it was a 6" dynamic mono speaker audio system. she just does not appreciate it.

when I took her TV shopping, well she was very interested and even picked out the tv she wanted. this was after "we dont need a TV" well she loves the 36" XBR800 and to this day comments once a week how she loves this tv!!!!! she loves that it can do 4:3 and HDTV and she loves the HDTV.

it didnt take much to convice her to buy a projector too. she does think audio is a waste of money but loves the visual..... and they say we are visual beings!