Robert%S

Dvd Player Options

I am a newbie who just recently bought a 50" Sony LCD rptv and had hd cable hooked up about a week ago. I have a old (1998) RCA DVD player with s video hook up and noticed that the picture looks sub standard after watching an hd channel. Will upgrading to a new dvd player make a big difference and what kind of hookups should I use? I have a HDMI port in the back of the tv but the cable seems pretty expensive. Any recommendations on dvd players and component versus HDMI would be greatly appreciated

John S

Your display should benefit from both up conversion and HDMI, and yes, component video alone is a very big step up from what you get on SVIDEO period. You are definetly short changing your DVD viewing experience right now.

John Garcia

Upgrading your player alone even if you just used S-video will probably make a noticable improvement. Going with HDMI from a decent player will most likely make an even greater improvement. HDMI will not be found on less expensive players, so expect to be paying a bit more for something other than a basic player.

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Jack Briggs

Because you're also asking for player recommendations, your thread has been moved to the A/V Sources area.

Jeff Gatie

DVD will always look substandard to a true HD broadcast. DVD is native 480i, HD is 720p or 1080i. That said, there are better ways to display DVD than through s-video and the advice you have received is good advice, just don't expect a true HD picture ( for that you have to wait for HD-DVD).

Robert%S

Thanks for your replies. It is worth it to me to spend some money to get the best picture I can. Does anyone have any suggestions on a player with HDMI hookups. There doesn't seem to be to many out there right now.