Zenih/LG DVB418 (1 Viewer)

[EricRWem]

It's real. And sooner than you think.

 

[RomanSohor]

I didn't notice DCDi on there either, have they dropped Faroudja? (If they haven't I'll be mad I bought a 318 - if they did, well I'd rather have Faroudja to watch my high quality movies on my big screen then the ability to watch my DivX files without a computer)

 

[EricRWem]

I'd be surprised if they dropped Faroudjia honestly.

 

[RomanSohor]

I thought they might have because the player just says "Progressive Scan" on it, but upon closer inspection the DCDi logo is in the picture, looks like it is on the box or whatever the player is sitting on.

 

[EricRWem]

It's there. Faroudjia/DCDI all the way.

 

[Rex.G]

The fact that there is not upsacling through component is very exasperating!!!!

 

[EricRWem]

^^ That's the law. Upconvert through component is forbidden because of the lack of copy-protection on component HD signals.

You'll never see it again. Certainly not from any mainstream brand. I'd buy a Zenith 318 right quick if you really want and need that.

 

[David_Rivshin]

Note: It is *NOT* illegal to upconvert anything, or to pass it via any medium. The US congress has never passed any law stating what can or cannot be put on component video cables. The FCC has also never had a regulation on such an issue.

(Note: The FCC is considering regulations stating that a *broadcast* signal with a certain copy-protect flag may not be sent out over any medium that cannot reasonably guarantee security, and any devices which can access such a signal must respect that flag.)

(Note2: The DVD forum may not allow any device which upconverts over component to be certified (and display the DVD logo), which is likely what happened to Lite-on and Zenith.)

Sorry for getting on a soapbox, but this type of misconception cannot be let go. It is no more illegal to upconvert DVD over component, than to output it at 480p, or to upsample CD audio to 96Khz before converting to analog.
Contract matters between manufacturers and license granting bodies is a whole different can of worms, which is were alot of these silly restrictions are originating from. Granted the MPAA would love congress to turn these into laws, but so far that has not come to be.

-- Dave

 

[John S]

I bought two of them, one to just leave in the box after I tested it, because eventually the zenith will fail... It was/is that important to me.

 

[EricRWem]

I know. Let me rephrase. It's because of some stupid law that this has come to pass, even though the law is not explicity against upconverting. It's a copyright issue out of Hollywood, and this is one of the consquences, and I think it's dumb.

Regardless of reason, component upconversion is quickly being phased out and made extinct. That stinks.

 

[David_Rivshin]

Eric,
Sorry if I came off alittle strong, just didn't want anyone reading to get the wrong idea. I (obviously) agree that this situation is rather stupid, and serves noone's best interests in reality (it only does in some people's imagination). It's even sillier than the region coding system.

Can anyone even conceive of a reason why someone would want to grab the upconverted signal from such a player and pirate it? It's a huge waste of time for anyone. They would simply rip the raw data off the disk on a computer, and package it up. It's better quality (no D/A/D generational loss), faster, simpler, requires less equipment, and results in smaller files to transfer. And oh by the way, they could then upconvert at will before doing anything else they wanted with it. So exactly what problem is this "no upconversion over component" stance trying to solve? Tries to prevent an illicite activity, which noone has any reason to do, and as a side effect prevents valid uses which a great many people have a perfectly good reason to do.
I really can't see any use of this capability that would hurt manufacturers or studios in any way. Sometimes I get the feeling that there are people in suits somewhere who just never got over their fear of the boogyman. [rant mode=off]

I also agree that players which upconvert over component will be even harder to find in the future than they are now. I find this very unfortunate for people like me who have only component inputs on their displays.

I was going to buy a DVB318 as an upgrade to my lite-on 2001, but I found it's other faults made it hard to justify an incremental upgrade, and waited to see what new firmware would bring. Once the new firmware started restricting the upconversion capability I basically dropped interest in the player. Hopefully, something else will come out in the near future which I will find worth the money, but I'm not holding my breath.

-- Dave

 

[EricRWem]

TRY IT! If I'm reading you right, you haven't personally used the player, right?

If that's true, PLEASE do yourself a favor and give this thing a shot.

I have it and I'll be damned if I can see any flaws. I have nothing but perfection out of the box. Most people swear it's even better on component anyways.

Take a shot on it at Amazon. They have a great return policy. $160 some odd gamble could really pay off big for you. You lose NOTHING!




Info time on the 418, which really could hit at anytime it sounds like.

http://us.lge.com/Product/proddetail.do

If that links fails you, just go to us.lge.com hit digital video, and find this unit.

http://us.lge.com/www/upload/modelFile/LGDVB418.pdf

There's the link to the PDF manual.


Here is the link to the LG USA site info on the 418. Make sure you click download PDF specifically. It's there.

I called their customer service and spoke to a good guy there that said it's very likely it's coming out in November or December, along with "the rest of the late Fall releases, but that might change and be even earlier."



Here's what I could get off that site. I'll read through the manual and see what it says. You all can, too. Ignore the manual link near top. Hit the "Download PDF" instead.



Multi-Format Disc Playability: DVD Video/DVD±R/DVD±RW/ Audio CD/CD-R/CD-RW/WMA/JPEG/Kodak CD®
MP3 Decoding: Plays CDs filled with hours of MP3 files downloaded from your home PC
1080i Video Output: A special video processing circuit upconverts all DVD signals to high-definition 1080i (more than a thousand lines of horizontal resolution) for use with compatible televisions
7-in-2 Multi Memory Card Slot: MMC/SD/SMC/MS/ MS Pro/CF/MD
Progressive Scan Technology: Video is processed faster and sequentially to produce superior, crisp clear images
Super Slim Design: Stands only 1.5" high for convenient addition to existing home theater configurations

Divx Playability
Music Photo Album
(JPEG+MP3/WMA)

DVD Audio

SD to HD (1080i) Up-Conversion
HDMI with HDCP
Easy GUI


This player looks like it's poised to directly compete withe Panasonic S97 that's forthcoming.

 

[David_Rivshin]

I've got a Lite-on 2001 right now, which upconverts everything to 1080i over component, so I don't think I'll see *that* much improvement. From all accounts the DVB318 is better than the 2001, but things like the Y-C delay, and excessive cropped pixels have lead me to the conclusion that it's not $160 incrementally better. It doesn't help that Amazon raised the price to $200 (and I'd have to pay return shipping). Keep in mind that I'm also sitting 11 feet away from a 32" tube (rougly 5x screen width), so minor improvements would likely go unnoticed. Overall just doesn't cross my "worth it" threshold at the moment.
Anyways, I'm seriously considering getting a front projector (panasonic AE700 looks perfect for my purposes), and I'd want a (good) player that upconverts well over HDMI at that time (and a 5 disc changer would be nice too). The panasonic S97 or similar would probably fit my desires nicely. And I can consider the cost of the DVB318 as being towards such a purchase to make my pocketbook feel better

-- Dave

 

[EricRWem]