Prog. Scan DVD player in NON-Prog. mode? (1 Viewer)

[BrianGC]

Hi,
Is there any benefit in getting a prog. scan dvd player and using it in non-prog. mode on a non-HD television? I'm wondering if the decoder chips might be better? I assume the prog. scan units probably have more bells and whistles.

Thanks,
BrianGC

 

[Jonathan L]

Brian,

If nothing else, you can convince yourself (or the wife that you are "future-proofing" by buying a unit that supports progressive.

If you have a non-progressive player right now, and you don't have any problems with it, then I can't see a reason to pick up progessive one.

However, if you need a new player, there's also nothing wrong with buying one that does support it. I was starting to have issues with my Sony DVP-S530D (which was almost 4 years old) like skipping and such, so I picked up a Sony DVP-NS715P. It's an absolute gem. It can't go so far to say that it looks better than my 530, because my 530 was never hooked up via component like this one is, but I'm using it in interlaced mode now and it's gorgeous.

 

[DaveGTP]

Brian,
From what I gather, the interlaced video quality will have more to do with the brand & model than whether it is progressive or not. But, for what you can get a decent brand interlaced DVD player (say $120-150), you can get a progressive scan for about the same price range (my Panny CP72 progressive 5 disc changer ended up being $159 when I get the rebate back). The video to my 27" Zenith TV is much better than my Playstation 2 was.


So...be more concerned that you pick up a good brand/reliable player, rather than progressive scan. Don't pick up a cheap brand. But future proofing never hurts for the measly few extra $$.

 

[Dennis Nicholls]

Some of the progressive scan players use 54 MHz rather than 27 MHz video DACs and that may make them look better in interlaced mode. My SD-6200 uses them and right now I'm using a scaler that requires 480i input. The output is 1024 x 768 and it looks darned impressive.