[Lex vs Kingpin]

Hi there,

I am having some difficulty while trying to decide what to buy next, and I seriously need some help.


Current hardware:

panny 8 series commercial 42" plasma with 7th series HDMI blade

denon 785 (= 1905) receiver (no hdmi input)

toshiba sd-5980 dvd player (almost 2 years old)


Now, I am selling my dvd player and trying to decide between oppo 971 OR blue ray dvd player (prolly a 20gb ps3).


My concerns with ps3 are:

1) no upconversion to 720p for sd dvd's

2) image quality of 1080p/60f disks on my 720p panny

3) receiver's lack of hdmi input (true-hd sound or whatever they call that)


My concerns with oppo player:

1) not future proof

2) bad investment(?) considering more blue ray movies are coming

3) macro blocking issues with panny (if it still exists)



Advantages of ps3 over oppo:

1) can also play games

Advantages of oppo over ps3:

1) superior image quality at 720p for sd dvd

2) can play ntcs and pal sd dvd movies (not sure if ps3 can do this)



At this point I would like to get your suggestions which way to pursue - thanks

 

[JOHNnDENVER]

I see you did not get much response. By default you are posting this in the Blu-ray forum, so get the PS3 hands down and start enjoying some or at least some more real HD content.

 

[Lex vs Kingpin]

Thanks John for the reply.


I decided to open a similar thread in the hd-dvd player section after some more research > http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=789366


prolly i am in the route of hd-dvd rather than a ps3, but will be waiting some more responses.

 

[TwinTurboZX]

Don't waste your money on HDDVD, with limited studio support you'll be really limiting yourself. Also, what that mosman72 was feeding you in that other thread is a load of crap. The same film has exactly the same picture quality on both formats. MPEG-2, AVS and VC-1 are all capable codecs and will give you an awesome HD experience. Get yourself a 20GB PS3 and enjoy.

 

[Neo1965]

A lot of people want to talk about upscaling DVD players, but very few discussed the scaler in the display itself. The scaler in your panasonic plasma is very good, and I'll bet that it upscale better than the broadcomm chip.


The PS3 has a very good deinterlacer and spits out 480P on SDDVD. But it does not upscale, so if you have a cheap or older TV, this is no good for you. Fortunately, your plasma upscales well.


While the HD-A1 is worth the money as a HDDVD player. There is a format war, and the studio support is aligned to the BD side at this point. The best would be if you can buy both formats, but if you can only afford one, my advice is to wait until the outcome is more clear.


You can look at the movies released on both formats and decide which ones you can continue to watch in SDDVD and which ones you want to watch in HD.


Universal and Weinstein release HDDVD exclusively.


Sony, Fox, Disney, MGM, Lionsgate release in BD exclusively.


Warner & Paramount are neutral and release on both (though MSFT appears to have sweetened the pot to get limited exclusivity for StarTrek on HDDVD).


As long as both sides are pouring money into this, the fight will be long and ugly, unless you're an early adopter like many here, buying into the wrong format can leave you eventually with a player that can't play any new movies.


This is why the general public should stay away from this format war.

 

[nick2010]

I would recommend that you get the BD player, since it will last longer and if you get a PS3 you can also play games on it.