dvd player with hd upconversion (1 Viewer)

[rogerthert]

hello, i currently own a toshiba hdtv which is 720p. my question is, would a dvd player with hd upconversion work with my tv if it says the player has a 1080p output, and not a 720p output? will any upconverting dvd player work with any hdtv?

thanks!

 

[Stephen Tu]

Yes, it would be hard to find any 1080p player that didn't also have a 720p setting option. But IMO they are mostly a waste of money. Your TV itself already upconverts if the DVD doesn't; an upconverting DVD may or may not be any better, and the difference is subtle at best. To get a large picture quality increase, you need to get a Blu-ray player and BDs. Blu-ray players will also upconvert DVDs though again the benefits of this will be small if any.

 

[rogerthert]

alright, well thanks for your input. i've heard alot of different things from different people, so i guess i'll just have to figure it out. but i am actually leaning towards the blu ray direction. i think eventually the cost of blu ray discs will go down, whereas upconversion dvd players will flutter out.

why do they have upconversion dvd players, when hd dvd's didnt even last? they were overrun by blu ray. oh well, life's many questions.

thanks.

 

[Stephen Tu]

IMO it's because most everyone already had a DVD player (or 2 or 3); manufacturers needed a marketing gimmick to convince the average consumer who doesn't know any better that they just have to get a new DVD player to go along with their new HDTV, even though the old one is probably still working fine and the PQ difference marginal if any. Then once one manufacturer starts doing it everyone else has to copy so they look identical on the spec sheet and don't lose sales to the competition for lack of the feature.

 

[Al.Anderson]

I think you're confusing HD-DVD with "high definition". Which is understandable since they both have the words 'high definition' in the name. HD-DVD is a format. High definition is a resolution. Bluray provides high defintion image.

Upconverting DVD players had a window of usefulness before the onslaught on fixed pixel digital TVs. When the TVs were analog (with guns) they didn't upconvert internally. With fixed pixel displays they have to upconvert, so all you're doing is chosing which device is doing the upconverting. In any particular case, the DVD may do a better job, but generally most people won't be able to tell the difference.

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

Because not all HDTVs do a great job of upconverting DVDs and lots of people have large collections of SD DVDs that they may not want to, be able to afford to, or even have the chance to, replace with Blu Ray discs. (Just as was the case with the earlier transition from VHS and laserdisc to DVD, it is going to be years before many titles are released on Blu Ray. Hell, thanks to rights issues and other things there are still titles that have never been released on DVD that were issued on tape or LD.)

Regards,

Joe

 

[rogerthert]

just thought that was sorta funny...thats where i got the HD DVD. i remember they use to sell them.

 

[rogerthert]

(that's where i was talking about hd-dvd. i know its a format, but i was talking when they actually made the dvd with the name HD-DVD specially on it, making it different than standard, or blu rays.) anyway..just thought the pic was funny. hope ya'll like it.