What progressive player to buy... (1 Viewer)

[Billy Fogerty]

I am going to get a progresive scan player very soon. What do you guys think is a good ps player for $1000 and under. I am leaning toward the RP91K, but is there a better player for this money? Want to read your opinions before I make a decision. Thanks in advance.

 

[Brajesh Upadhyay]

Link Removed for a shootout of progressive scan DVD players.
I have the Panny RP91 & the Malata N996 -- both are terrific players! The Panny has the best picture quality with minor quirks and the Malata is regionfree, does superb PAL to NTSC conversion & has a most useful x-y scaling feature.

 

[Peter Kim]

Thanks for the link, Brajesh. One question / concern...in the shootout article, they comment on the Malata and its interlaced performance - "we can't really recommend this as an interlaced player".
What does this mean? I have a regular tv (non-progressive scan capability). Does this mean the Malata won't perform well on my Sony Wega 24"?
My primary interest in this player revolves around its PAL to NTSC conversion capability. However, will the picture quality on my tv be compromised compared to my old Toshiba SD-3109?
Thanks again for any info.
Peter

 

[DaViD Boulet]

it means the Malta, like a few other progressive players from JVC, use "flags" on the DVD disc to figure out how to deinterlace the DVD...like how to do the 3-2 pulldown or just line-double if it's supposed to be a true 480I source (not from film).
The trouble is that some DVDs aren't "flagged" properly. Even some big titles...Titanic, for instance, has the flags backwards. Any progressive-scan player that uses flags to deinterlace Titanic will produce a pretty shoddy image.
Most progressive-scan DVD players don't rely on flags...but instead analyze a few fields of the picture to determine what is going on (film or video, and if film, the 3-2 or 2-2 pulldown). Then the deinterlacer does what it needs to do. This is the better route because it can't get foiled by poorly encoded/flagged discs.
This is also the problem with HTPC...they all rely on flags too.
Bottom line is that for the majority of DVDs which have good flags and are film-based, the malta will look great.
-dave
p.s. the other reason they didn't like this player was it's algorithm to line-double "native 480I" stuff produced a soft picture. The faroudja chip is the best for that job.
[Edited last by DaViD Boulet on September 26, 2001 at 03:49 PM]

 

[John Morris]

Billy: Panasonic RP56 - although this player is relatively new, early reports have been very positive and I believe it uses the Faroudja Sage chipset... oh yea, and it only costs $250 or so.

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Take Care,
merc
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Link Removed
God Bless America!!!

 

[Darryl_B]

What does this mean? I have a regular tv (non-progressive scan capability). Does this mean the Malata won't perform well on my Sony Wega 24"?
My primary interest in this player revolves around its PAL to NTSC conversion capability. However, will the picture quality on my tv be compromised compared to my old Toshiba SD-3109?
Peter

Peter, actually the shootout doesn't recommend the player for interlaced output because, unlike most other players, the interlaced output is derived by converting the progressive-scan signal to interlaced. This can degrade the interlaced picture, as mentioned in the article, especially when the deinterlacing chip uses its video mode. With this in mind, it is quite possible that the picture quality on your tv will be compromised compared to your old Toshiba SD-3109.