Recommendations from Vid Gurus SirT, Pix etc

[O'Shag]

Hi all you wild and crazy video guys,

Some of you are very experienced with all things video and I wanted to get your opinions on possible upgrades. For DVD, I currently have a Denon DVD3910 and Sony DVP-NS9000ES. Some of the options I've been thinking about are:

All pre-owned (or is that a bad idea?) -
- Denon 5910 (5930ci??)
- Proceed DVD transport
- Previous generation Parasound Halo DVD Player
- Sony's new 1200ES Blu-Ray player
any others you might recommend?

Also, given that the hi-res formats seem to be advancing rapidly, do you feel that it is more practical from a videophile perspective to focus on players that are primarily hi-res?
Another question I'd like to pose to youz guys is whether from your experience the lack of an HDMI or similar digital video connector is a disadvantage (the Proceed nor Parasound do not have HDMI connectors)

Looking for opinions from the magnanimous ones PixelThis and SirTerrence as well as others. Hearty heated discussion is always welcome. :thumbsup:

[Mr Peabody]

In my opinion no HDMI will be a disadvantage, I don't know of any player that allows SD upconversion via anything else. Some claim there isn't much difference if any in PQ between component and HDMI. I personally believe it totally depends on the player and display used. It's been a while since I've looked into this but I also believe I read 1080p will only be done via HDMI.

If standard DVD playback is a concern no current Blu-ray player is worth a crap except the Denon 3800. You need to grab a Samsung BD-P1200 before they all but disappear to rare instances used. The player has it's limits but it's one of the best upconverting standard DVD players made. It has a separate Silicon Optics chip for SD. Current players use a Sigma Design single chip for both HD and SD, and the SD suffers. Reviews show if fails many of the SD video tests and DVD playback is better from cheap DVD players. I just bought a second bd-p1200, refurb.

I'd say your 3910 would be hard to beat and maybe pick up a good BR player and start your transition. Marantz is coming out with a Blu-ray player soon, it's on their website. From the looks of the chip set used it should offer good SD. It should for $2k.

[O'Shag]

Thx for the response Mr P. The sound of the Denon 3910 is very good, but to be honest, I'm not thrilled with its upconverting capabilities. Could the upscaling limitation I'm perceiving perhaps be that my TV is the 70" Sony XBR2 and such a screen size is a challenge? I thought the limitation might be adressed by an outbound scaler, so I did buy an DVDO HD+ some months back. While it does offer an improvement over the scaler in the player, it still is not quite as good as I expected. Perhaps my expectations are too high, in that regular DVD can never acheive the quality of hi-res. Again I have very limited experience with hi-res video formats so far. The Samsung BD-P1200 you mention sounds very interesting. What price is it going for at present?

[Mr Peabody]

Have you tried any of the calibration DVD's like Digital Essentials or Avia? Sony makes a great display and I've heard the outboard scalers are very good, so I wonder if there might need to be some adjustment. 70" and outboard scalers are out of my comfort zone though. Maybe Sir T will step up here later.

Do you know the "native resolution" of your TV? My 62" DLP says it's 1080i, I experimented with switching from 720p to 1080i out of my bd-p1200 and noticed the 1080i was much better. Even on a down hill ski sceen where Progressive Scan is said to have an advantage. So don't go against the "native rez". Knowing you I'm sure you already have fine cables. Hopefully you also understand there can be gain from using good power conditioning products. Do you sit at or close to the recommended distance from the screen? Other than that I'm out of ideas. Most places have a 30 day return policy, pop in and pick up a BR player and give it a spin. Some will include a movie in the box.

[O'Shag]

Actually I haven't tried any calibration DVDs. I did want to get the DVD Essentials calibration tool at some point. I have calibrated the TV according to several posts I've read, but have found some of them leave the picture a little to dull and dark. I have done some calibration checks through the DVDO HD+ and all looks to be correct.

[pixelthis]

"Upscaling" is a marketing gimmick.
You cant get an increase in resolution without an expensive outboard scaler.
A DVD is 480i, WITH "PROGRESSIVE" SCAN you can get 480p, a hugh increase because its progressive.
But to get that to 1080i you wont get any extra res.
As for HD I would suggest you stick stricly to BLU players, they play DVDs as well,
any DVD only device is obsolete out of the box, because DVD is obsolete.
Why? Well, the human brain makes up for any quality gaps in a video picture,
watch HD for awhile and SD (like with DVD ) is downright disapointing.
This is why I THINK DVD will be "phased" out a lot faster than most think.
:1:

[O'Shag]

Thanks for that excellent advice Pix. I am realizing that the bigger TVs require an HD source to look good. Even the SD content on my big screen tv is somewhat disappointing. This doesn't concern me too much as I reckon all programming will be broadcast in HD over the next few years. So then, I think the older Denon, Parasound, or Proceed would not be a wise choice after all.