Help with Buying a Progressive Scan DVD player (1 Viewer)

[RockyZ]

I would like to know some opinions on some progressive scan dvd players. I am shooting for the price range of 200 to 300, if not lower. So if you have one let me know what you think, how much you got it for and what brand. Thanks

 

[Derek Lauzon]

Hi Rocky, I just picked up the Toshiba 4700 and for the money it seems to be a great progressive scan dvd player. The picture is outstanding and the build quality is very good for a player of this price. I got my for $400 CDN, I think it can be had for as low as $200 in the states. I hope this helps.

 

[SteveA]

I just recently stood at the same crossroads - trying to decide on a progressive scan player for less than $300. My top contenders were (with their primary advantages):

Panasonic RP-56 - a great value (

 

[Allan Jayne]

Choosing a progressive scan DVD player is difficult because there are two hard to evaluate poroblems. Fortunately these problems are almost never seen at normal television viewing distances and are usually very subtle even when sitting closer for a more theater-like viewing experience. (Their subtlety makes them harder to evaluate.)
(1) How it handles non-film source material, or film source material without properly placed flags to preserve the 3-2 pulldown,
(2) The chroma upsampling bug.
The fact a player has a manually selectable choice for film mode versus video mode versus perhaps a few other modes is evidence that its handling of problem 1 above is less than best. An extreme showing of this problem is if the picture is nice and sharp when nothing is moving and then the entire picture gets a bit softer when something starts moving. Another, more subtle, manifestation of this problem is momentary comblike feathery ghost trails behind an object as it moves.
A disk with computer generated material, such as Toy Story or Bug's Life, will help reveal the presence of the chroma bug. The bug shows up as tiny incorrect horizontal streaks where two contrasting color patches one atop the other meet. Less than half the progressive DVD players made today do not have this bug.
More:
http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/vidbug2.htm
There is an often mentioned article named "shootout" that goes into more detail about problem #1 but I forget its URL.

 

[Bill Kane]

Here's the DVD Link Removed with internal links to player tests