Page 1 of 2 1 2 LastLast
Results 1 to 25 of 30
  1. #1
    Forum Regular
    Join Date
    Mar 2002
    Posts
    21

    BEST $500 or under 1080p DVD player to pair with Sharp Aquos LCD LC52D92U LCD TV?????

    I have a Sharp Aquos LCD LC52D92U and need to get a new DVD player to take advantage of the HDMI capability. What is the best DVD player for the money for under $500 that has 1080p. Id love to spend less if there isn’t much falloff in quality.
    I have a ton of DVDs and don’t want to start replacing with Blu-Ray or HD DVD (or at least not until a clear winner is the format standard). I will use it for DVD movies only (most likely, although have considered a carousel for music as well.)

    For the time being I cannot afford to upgrade the receiver (B&K AVR202) and will continue to use my Dynaudio Audience line of speakers.

    Please advise!

    rwalsh@hotmail.com

  2. #2
    Forum Regular
    Join Date
    Nov 2003
    Location
    Margate, Florida
    Posts
    614
    Hi Airblue: I am not an owner of a upconverting player since I do not have the type of television for that mode. However, I farted around the web. First of all I do not think you have to spend anywhere near $500.

    The most favorable reviews come on two OPPO players, the Dv 980H and the DV-981HD. You can go to the OPPO site to read the specs but they do upconvert to 1080P. They to a host of other things as well. CNET rated these things excellent. I am sure you can find other reviews on these players such as AUDIOREVIEW or perhaps EPINIONS.

    Much cheaper than the OPPOS that also garned some fav. reviews by owners is the Samsung 1080P7. This could do well for your movies.

    The other name brand unit is the Sony DVPNS77 H/S. I would check AUDIOREVIEW and EPINIONS for reviews on this unit and look up the specs on the Sony website.

    You could get a HD-DVD player that does 1080P unconvert at almost the same prices as the OPPO. You do not have to buy HD-DVD discs, but you sure could rent them plus have a player for your standard DVDs. If you go that route, make sure the HD-DVD player does a true 1080P upconversion. Some of what these players do have been a little mind boggling in the 1080i-1080P realm of things.

  3. #3
    Da Dragonball Kid L.J.'s Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2005
    Location
    Posted in da cut
    Posts
    3,577
    Yeah, some of these Blu-ray/HDDVD players do an excellent job at scaling DVDs. I agree with Kelsci on either getting a decent affordable DVD player like Oppo or just going BR/HD and having the best of both worlds.

    No need to replace your library, just pick up new releases or join netflix. And if your current AVR has 5.1 analog inputs, you can enjoy the HD audio that comes along with BR/HD, as long as you get a player that has 5.1 outputs.

  4. #4
    Forum Regular codecougar's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2007
    Posts
    126
    OK, now I'm pissed

    I think it is ridiculous that people are still waiting to buy a HD player to see who "wins" the format war. You have a 1080p television yet you are going to hold off and not use it to its full potential for what reason exactly??

    Trust me on this one. Buy a Blu-ray player. You can get a Sony-BDP-S300 for $439.57 which is well within your budget. The difference between a Blu-ray disc running at a native 1080p on your tv and upscaling a standard DVD is quite stunning. The Blu-ray picture will have you smiling from ear to ear and you will be back thanking me for changing your life

    The Blu-ray player will also upconvert your standard DVD's to 1080p.

    You can rent Blu-rays at Blockbuster and you can buy new releases for around $20 at Walmart or on-line.

    If you are worried about the dreaded format war, don't sweat it. Blu-ray has all but been declared the winner. Six of the eight major movie studios (Disney, Fox, Warner, Sony, Lionsgate and MGM) have released movies in the Blu-ray format and five of them (Disney, Fox, Sony, Lionsgate and MGM) are releasing their movies exclusively in the Blu-ray format. They also signed a huge deal with Blockbuster who recently started carrying and promoting Blu-ray.

    It would take a miracle for HD-DVD to win this war. BUT, in the worst case if HD-DVD does somehow pull ahead, so what? A year or 2 from now you will have to buy a HD-DVD player that will probably run you about $150 by that time. So you lose $150, but you gain 1-2 solid years of watching movies in full, stunning high definition.

    You are about to drop this money on a DVD player that can upconvert your standard DVD's to 1080p which a Blu-ray player does anyway. Why spend the money on old technology when you can get what you want and much more??

    OK, rant over...

    Go for it !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  5. #5
    Tyler Acoustics Fan drseid's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2004
    Location
    Fairfax, VA
    Posts
    823
    Quote Originally Posted by codecougar
    OK, now I'm pissed

    I think it is ridiculous that people are still waiting to buy a HD player to see who "wins" the format war. You have a 1080p television yet you are going to hold off and not use it to its full potential for what reason exactly??

    Trust me on this one. Buy a Blu-ray player. You can get a Sony-BDP-S300 for $439.57 which is well within your budget. The difference between a Blu-ray disc running at a native 1080p on your tv and upscaling a standard DVD is quite stunning. The Blu-ray picture will have you smiling from ear to ear and you will be back thanking me for changing your life

    The Blu-ray player will also upconvert your standard DVD's to 1080p.

    You can rent Blu-rays at Blockbuster and you can buy new releases for around $20 at Walmart or on-line.

    If you are worried about the dreaded format war, don't sweat it. Blu-ray has all but been declared the winner. Six of the eight major movie studios (Disney, Fox, Warner, Sony, Lionsgate and MGM) have released movies in the Blu-ray format and five of them (Disney, Fox, Sony, Lionsgate and MGM) are releasing their movies exclusively in the Blu-ray format. They also signed a huge deal with Blockbuster who recently started carrying and promoting Blu-ray.

    It would take a miracle for HD-DVD to win this war. BUT, in the worst case if HD-DVD does somehow pull ahead, so what? A year or 2 from now you will have to buy a HD-DVD player that will probably run you about $150 by that time. So you lose $150, but you gain 1-2 solid years of watching movies in full, stunning high definition.

    You are about to drop this money on a DVD player that can upconvert your standard DVD's to 1080p which a Blu-ray player does anyway. Why spend the money on old technology when you can get what you want and much more??

    OK, rant over...

    Go for it !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    No reason to get pissed Codecougar, the OP is just thinking like most folks out there.

    I, of course, completely disagree with your contention that BR has "won" anything (and I own both formats), but it certainly is in as good position as HD DVD to remain viable long-term. I think for what the OP wants, it has less to do with what high def format is winning, and more to do with what players can best upconvert regular DVDs to 1080p. For that I have not found any of the Sony stand alone Blu-ray players (including my own) do the job particularly good (although they play 1080p BR discs perfectly). The PS3 is supposed to do a very good job on DVD upconversion, however, and the newest model will be released soon at just under $400.

    Toshiba's higher end HD DVD players upconvert DVDs rather nicely, and as another poster said (Kelsci if I recall correctly) it gives you a rental option on the discs as well if you choose to go that route.

    The Oppo, already mentioned, would be my recommendation as well if you want to avoid the high def formats entirely right now and save some money. It is an excellent upconverting DVD player.

    ---Dave
    Integra DHC-40.2 Pre/Pro
    Coda 2 X 200 Watt Amp
    Rotel RB-985 5 X 100 Watt Amp
    2 Tyler Acoustics 2 Piece Linbrook Signature System
    1 Tyler Linbrook Signature Center Channel
    3 Tyler Taylo Reference Monitors
    1 ACI Titan II Sub
    Toshiba HD-A1 HD DVD
    Panasonic BDT-210 + 350 Blu-ray
    Consonance Droplet CDP-5.0
    Sony 55NX-810 1080p 3D-LED HDTV

    Office:
    Opera Audio Consonance CD-120
    Jolida 1301A 2 X 30 Watt Int. Amp (Sovtek Tubes)
    Opera Audio Consonance Eric-1 Speakers

  6. #6
    Forum Regular codecougar's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2007
    Posts
    126
    Quote Originally Posted by drseid
    No reason to get pissed Codecougar, the OP is just thinking like most folks out there.

    I, of course, completely disagree with your contention that BR has "won" anything (and I own both formats), but it certainly is in as good position as HD DVD to remain viable long-term. I think for what the OP wants, it has less to do with what high def format is winning, and more to do with what players can best upconvert regular DVDs to 1080p. For that I have not found any of the Sony stand alone Blu-ray players (including my own) do the job particularly good (although they play 1080p BR discs perfectly). The PS3 is supposed to do a very good job on DVD upconversion, however, and the newest model will be released soon at just under $400.

    Toshiba's higher end HD DVD players upconvert DVDs rather nicely, and as another poster said (Kelsci if I recall correctly) it gives you a rental option on the discs as well if you choose to go that route.

    The Oppo, already mentioned, would be my recommendation as well if you want to avoid the high def formats entirely right now and save some money. It is an excellent upconverting DVD player.

    ---Dave
    I'm not really pissed.

    Well, again, I guess I just wish more people would jump in the HD pool one way or another. Whether he goes with Blu-ray or HD-DVD, he is going to get a good upscaling DVD player that can also play true HD. Of course, once he sees how amazing HD can be, he will probably rarely watch standard DVD's again. I just think it's a waste of a 1080p television to go with a standard DVD player..

  7. #7
    Forum Regular
    Join Date
    Sep 2004
    Posts
    46
    Quote Originally Posted by codecougar
    I'm not really pissed.

    Well, again, I guess I just wish more people would jump in the HD pool one way or another. Whether he goes with Blu-ray or HD-DVD, he is going to get a good upscaling DVD player that can also play true HD. Of course, once he sees how amazing HD can be, he will probably rarely watch standard DVD's again. I just think it's a waste of a 1080p television to go with a standard DVD player..
    I certainly agree that Blu-ray is going to win out (NOT a Toshiba fan at all after my last DVD player) but it has one serious drawback - cannot play standard CD's on one (so far anyway)! That's why I didn't even consider it for my DVD player since my CD player went out too. For an excellent upconverting DVD player that also has excellent CD sound I recommend a Marantz DV6001 (lists at $550 but I'm certain you can find one for your $500 limit). Anyone compare Marantz to OPPO? They both use the same Faroudja DCDi processing and NSV (Noise Shaped Video) but I'm guessing the Marantz has a superior DAC for CD playback if that's important to you at all. Of course the Marantz is twice as expensive so depends on if you just want video performance or both audio and video.

    Cheers,

    G
    Last edited by gman086; 10-25-2007 at 12:29 PM.

  8. #8
    Forum Regular codecougar's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2007
    Posts
    126
    Quote Originally Posted by gman086
    I certainly agree that Blu-ray is going to win out (NOT a Toshiba fan at all after my last DVD player) but it has one serious drawback - cannot play standard CD's on one (so far anyway)! That's why I didn't even consider it for my DVD player since my CD player went out too. For an excellent upconverting DVD player that also has excellent CD sound I recommend a Marantz DV6001 (lists at $550 but I'm certain you can find one for your $500 limit). Anyone compare Marantz to OPPO? They both use the same Faroudja DCDi processing and NSV (Noise Shaped Video) but I'm guessing the Marantz has a superior DAC for CD playback if that's important to you at all. Of course the Marantz is twice as expensive so depends on if you just want video performance or both audio and video.

    Cheers,

    G
    Blu-ray players most certainly do play CD's. I use my Sony-BDP-S300 Blu-ray player to play CD's just about every evening. It sounds fantastic.

    Secondly, I don't care how much you spend on a standard DVD player or how high end it is, it will never come close to matching the picture quality of a Blu-ray player playing Blu-ray discs. I realizing that nobody is arguing this, I just can't see why anyone would waste money (let alone $550) on a standard DVD player when you can get a BR player for less.

  9. #9
    Forum Regular
    Join Date
    Sep 2004
    Posts
    46
    Quote Originally Posted by codecougar
    Blu-ray players most certainly do play CD's. I use my Sony-BDP-S300 Blu-ray player to play CD's just about every evening. It sounds fantastic.

    Secondly, I don't care how much you spend on a standard DVD player or how high end it is, it will never come close to matching the picture quality of a Blu-ray player playing Blu-ray discs. I realizing that nobody is arguing this, I just can't see why anyone would waste money (let alone $550) on a standard DVD player when you can get a BR player for less.
    Ah, I see now where the second gen Sony Blu-rays do play CD's but your S300 supports only standard CD playback; it won't play SACD's and doesn't even have a HDMI version 1.2 output that would allow multi-channel SACD's. The S500 has version 1.3 outs and can do the DTS decoding (important to me) but still no ability to play SACD's. NO THANKS, I'll wait until they become more "universal" for my needs but shouldn't be long now and I'm certain Marantz is working on one as we speak. Plus how many movies are even available on Blu-ray? Just the most popular titles as I understand it. I'm sure this will change soon but not soon enough for me to go out and buy a blu-ray player just yet.

    Cheers,

    G

  10. #10
    Forum Regular codecougar's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2007
    Posts
    126
    Quote Originally Posted by gman086
    Ah, I see now where the second gen Sony Blu-rays do play CD's but your S300 supports only standard CD playback; it won't play SACD's and doesn't even have a HDMI version 1.2 output that would allow multi-channel SACD's. The S500 has version 1.3 outs and can do the DTS decoding (important to me) but still no ability to play SACD's. NO THANKS, I'll wait until they become more "universal" for my needs but shouldn't be long now and I'm certain Marantz is working on one as we speak. Plus how many movies are even available on Blu-ray? Just the most popular titles as I understand it. I'm sure this will change soon but not soon enough for me to go out and buy a blu-ray player just yet.

    Cheers,

    G
    There are hundreds of titles currently on Blu-ray (I believe around 400) and many released every month. I believe there have been/ will be around 40 BR titles released just this month alone and it's not just the popular titles.

    I believe some BD players do SACD such as the PS3.

    I am sure your player tops mine in terms of CD capabilities, but the fact remains that my Blu-ray player does full 1080p resolution at 24 frames per second with uncompressed PCM audio. You may have a better CD player, but that's about it.
    Last edited by codecougar; 10-25-2007 at 05:46 PM.

  11. #11
    Forum Regular pixelthis's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2007
    Location
    tuscaloosa
    Posts
    5,528

    Cool

    "upconverting" players are mostly hype, really.
    You can't get extra resolution out of a disc that just isn't there, requires an expensive scaler. But an upconverting DVD player will make a dvd look smoother sometimes.
    But for the most part my 400$ sony dvd recorder blows the doors offa my samsung
    upconverter, I got the Samsung for the SACD/DVDAUDIO.
    But if you dont want to take the plunge get an upconverter, one that RECORDS
    btw, as "vcr" DVD players are rapidly replacing ones that dont record.
    AS for Blu-ray "winning" when the people in HOLLYWOOD say its over, its over.
    Trust me, Blu ray is the way to go
    LG 42", integra 6.9, B&W 602s2, CC6 center, dm305rears, b&w
    sub asw2500
    Panny DVDA player
    sharp Aquos BLU player
    pronto remote, technics antique direct drive TT
    Samsung SACD/DVDA player
    emotiva upa-2 two channel amp

  12. #12
    Forum Regular
    Join Date
    Jan 2003
    Posts
    119
    Quote Originally Posted by codecougar
    If you are worried about the dreaded format war, don't sweat it. Blu-ray has all but been declared the winner. Six of the eight major movie studios (Disney, Fox, Warner, Sony, Lionsgate and MGM) have released movies in the Blu-ray format and five of them (Disney, Fox, Sony, Lionsgate and MGM) are releasing their movies exclusively in the Blu-ray format. They also signed a huge deal with Blockbuster who recently started carrying and promoting Blu-ray.

    It would take a miracle for HD-DVD to win this war. BUT, in the worst case if HD-DVD does somehow pull ahead, so what? A year or 2 from now you will have to buy a HD-DVD player that will probably run you about $150 by that time. So you lose $150, but you gain 1-2 solid years of watching movies in full, stunning high definition.

    You are about to drop this money on a DVD player that can upconvert your standard DVD's to 1080p which a Blu-ray player does anyway. Why spend the money on old technology when you can get what you want and much more??

    OK, rant over...

    Go for it !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    Hold your horses for a moment! HD DVD is anything but dead and there are many 'experts' out there that are predicting that the format war is far from over. As for the whole Blockbuster promotion, I believe you will find that their original decision to pull HD DVD off the shelves is now being viewed as a serious error. Blockbuster has since apologized for this error and promised to provide equal floor space and promotional advertising for HD DVD and Blu Ray.

    As for the studios, both Blu Ray and HD DVD have their own 'exclusive' studios and the other studios are (rightly IMO) releasing both formats.

    Long story short, the "miracle" that you say is necessary would not be viewed by many industry experts as a "miracle" at all. The race is going and it is a tight one.

    Oh yeah...I agree completely about the upconverting properties of the players. I have an HD-A2 that I picked-up for $199 and it does a great job upconverting.

  13. #13
    Forum Regular codecougar's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2007
    Posts
    126
    Quote Originally Posted by Keith from Canada
    Hold your horses for a moment! HD DVD is anything but dead and there are many 'experts' out there that are predicting that the format war is far from over. As for the whole Blockbuster promotion, I believe you will find that their original decision to pull HD DVD off the shelves is now being viewed as a serious error. Blockbuster has since apologized for this error and promised to provide equal floor space and promotional advertising for HD DVD and Blu Ray.

    As for the studios, both Blu Ray and HD DVD have their own 'exclusive' studios and the other studios are (rightly IMO) releasing both formats.

    Long story short, the "miracle" that you say is necessary would not be viewed by many industry experts as a "miracle" at all. The race is going and it is a tight one.

    Oh yeah...I agree completely about the upconverting properties of the players. I have an HD-A2 that I picked-up for $199 and it does a great job upconverting.
    Blu-ray #1, Blu-ray #1

    HD-DVD...hack phwwt..........

  14. #14
    Forum Regular
    Join Date
    Jan 2003
    Posts
    119
    Quote Originally Posted by codecougar
    Blu-ray #1, Blu-ray #1

    HD-DVD...hack phwwt..........
    Very scientific

    Seriously though, people are and should be concerned about jumping into this format war at this time. The big advantage of HD DVD is that if you are out shopping for an upconverting standard DVD player, you might as well spend a few extra $'s and get an HD player (as opposed to ALOT of extra $'s for a Blu Ray).

    If Blu Ray wants to win this race, they had best be chopping the price of their players. I only hope that the drop in the PS3 price forces others (including Sony!) to do the same on the stand-alone units. If they do that, I will likely buy a Blu Ray player and become format neutral. Until then -- Blu Ray sucks...take the red pill!!!

  15. #15
    nightflier
    Guest
    I'll second what gman said. The fact that Sony's own BR players don't support SACD is a huge problem for me. I have a huge collection of SACDs and I don't want to give up on those. I've always relied on a single player for both movies and music, and I don't really want to buy two players with so much overlap (in my case, I would probably opt for the Oppo, with mods, and one of the BR players).

    Then there's the thorny issue with HDMI. So far only the PS3 has HDMI 1.3 and it just makes me wonder why Sony's highest-end player doesn't have HDMI 1.3 or SACD playback. With HDMI 1.3 pre/pros and other components now finally coming to market, I don't want to buy something that will not provide everything the BR or HDDVD spec can deliver.

    Long story short, I'm waiting it out, not only for the format war to settle down a little, but also because there really isn't a player out there that meets my needs.

    BTW, airblue, if you're not in too much of a hurry, there will be some real blood-letting on HD prices this holiday season. I just read in another post that Wallmart is selling Toshiba HDDVD players for $98, and there are probably going to be similar deals from BB, CC and Target in both formats. That should leave you another $400 to start up that HD disk collection, if you want. If anything, this is really going to light the format war on fire....

  16. #16
    Forum Regular codecougar's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2007
    Posts
    126
    I just think it is odd that any audio/ video- phile would choose to "wait it out". Aren't these the same people who go out and spend thousands of dollars to get the absolute best sound and picture?? I mean there are guys on this forum who spend hundreds upgrading power cords in the hopes of getting a slightly better picture.

    Whether you spend $200 on a HD DVD player or $400 on a Blu-ray player, I think it is money well spent. If you have a HD television, why would you want to watch SD DVD's? That's like buying a HD tv and watching SD television broadcasts.

    To each their own, I guess. I am thoroughly enjoying watching movies in HD. I spent $450 for my Blu-ray player a few months ago. In a year or 2 if HD-DVD wins the war, oh well, I'll just buy a HD-DVD player. I'm not going to let my 1080p television go to waste in the interim.

    I wonder what ever happened to the original poster? Maybe we scared him away

  17. #17
    Forum Regular pixelthis's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2007
    Location
    tuscaloosa
    Posts
    5,528

    Cool

    Quote Originally Posted by codecougar
    I just think it is odd that any audio/ video- phile would choose to "wait it out". Aren't these the same people who go out and spend thousands of dollars to get the absolute best sound and picture?? I mean there are guys on this forum who spend hundreds upgrading power cords in the hopes of getting a slightly better picture.

    Whether you spend $200 on a HD DVD player or $400 on a Blu-ray player, I think it is money well spent. If you have a HD television, why would you want to watch SD DVD's? That's like buying a HD tv and watching SD television broadcasts.

    To each their own, I guess. I am thoroughly enjoying watching movies in HD. I spent $450 for my Blu-ray player a few months ago. In a year or 2 if HD-DVD wins the war, oh well, I'll just buy a HD-DVD player. I'm not going to let my 1080p television go to waste in the interim.

    I wonder what ever happened to the original poster? Maybe we scared him away
    I have picked neither as my "hd" choice. my choice is VOD.
    New titles hit my on-demand button a little late, but still look great.
    Why doesnt the video-audio-holic run out and grab one of these players?
    Well, for one thing they are evolutionary rather than revolutionary, the revolution was digital.
    AND if you have a pretty new set, one that won't do 1080p than the improvements these new formats have to offer are a bit problematic, I even saw video noise in one of the demo discs I watched! Wasn't impressed at all.
    Sure they are nice, but I have other sources and don't really see the need to jump in
    right now, I have wasted enough treasure on formats that went nowhere.
    Besides I am not really interested in supporting a bunch of nimrods who couldn't put their egos aside for the sake of their customers. WHO is going to be paying fot the carnage caused by this "war"? YOU AND I.
    Unless we opt out, which I am doing. My DVDs' are fine for the moment.
    Does that answer your question?
    LG 42", integra 6.9, B&W 602s2, CC6 center, dm305rears, b&w
    sub asw2500
    Panny DVDA player
    sharp Aquos BLU player
    pronto remote, technics antique direct drive TT
    Samsung SACD/DVDA player
    emotiva upa-2 two channel amp

  18. #18
    Forum Regular
    Join Date
    Jan 2003
    Posts
    119
    Quote Originally Posted by pixelthis
    I have picked neither as my "hd" choice. my choice is VOD.
    New titles hit my on-demand button a little late, but still look great.
    Why doesnt the video-audio-holic run out and grab one of these players?
    Well, for one thing they are evolutionary rather than revolutionary, the revolution was digital.
    AND if you have a pretty new set, one that won't do 1080p than the improvements these new formats have to offer are a bit problematic, I even saw video noise in one of the demo discs I watched! Wasn't impressed at all.
    Sure they are nice, but I have other sources and don't really see the need to jump in
    right now, I have wasted enough treasure on formats that went nowhere.
    Besides I am not really interested in supporting a bunch of nimrods who couldn't put their egos aside for the sake of their customers. WHO is going to be paying fot the carnage caused by this "war"? YOU AND I.
    Unless we opt out, which I am doing. My DVDs' are fine for the moment.
    Does that answer your question?
    You had original asked about an upconverting player to take advantage of your HDMI connection. My sole point in my posts was that instead of spending your money on a Oppo or something, you can get a real HD player...be HD DVD or Blu Ray that will do the same job upconverting.

    FYI -- It looks like we're getting the first shipment of the $399 PS3's up here in Canada. This should force the stand-alone BD players to drop their prices and it should push Toshiba to reduce their prices as well. IMO, I believe we are 6-12 months from seeing HD DVD players under the $200 mark and Blu Ray under the $300 mark.

  19. #19
    Class of the clown GMichael's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2005
    Location
    Anywhere but here...
    Posts
    13,243
    With HD-DVD players on sale today for $99.00, and PS/3's that play BR available at $399.00, why buy a std DVD player that upscales? Both of these units do a fine job of upscaling std DVD's while you wait. And you could even pick up a few HD titles with the cash you'll save from your $500 budget. If you need SACD, then the $499.00 PS3 models will do that for you too. And oh yeah, it will play games if you're into that.
    WARNING! - The Surgeon General has determined that, time spent listening to music is not deducted from one's lifespan.

  20. #20
    Forum Regular
    Join Date
    Jul 2002
    Posts
    378

    5.1 Inputs

    Quote Originally Posted by L.J.
    Yeah, some of these Blu-ray/HDDVD players do an excellent job at scaling DVDs. I agree with Kelsci on either getting a decent affordable DVD player like Oppo or just going BR/HD and having the best of both worlds.

    No need to replace your library, just pick up new releases or join netflix. And if your current AVR has 5.1 analog inputs, you can enjoy the HD audio that comes along with BR/HD, as long as you get a player that has 5.1 outputs.
    I have a denon 4800 which is a older receiver, It has 6ch or 8ch EXT.IN analog inputs which the guys at the hifi shop told me to use for dvd-audio, I was wandering if this connection would work for the BR/HD audio, Im guessing that my 4800 is way to old and dvd-audio is a whole different animal than BR/HD audio is but i thought i would ask.

  21. #21
    Da Dragonball Kid L.J.'s Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2005
    Location
    Posted in da cut
    Posts
    3,577
    Quote Originally Posted by s dog
    I have a denon 4800 which is a older receiver, It has 6ch or 8ch EXT.IN analog inputs which the guys at the hifi shop told me to use for dvd-audio, I was wandering if this connection would work for the BR/HD audio, Im guessing that my 4800 is way to old and dvd-audio is a whole different animal than BR/HD audio is but i thought i would ask.
    Yeah, it'll work fine. The BR/HD player will do all the decoding. Just make sure the player has 5.1 analog outs. I linked some info from Dolby below.

    "Multichannel Analog Connection
    A next-generation optical player may also include line-level audio outputs derived from the multichannel mixed PCM signal passed through digital-to-analog converters. The advent of SACD and DVD-Audio in recent years has led to the incorporation of 5.1 and even 7.1 external inputs on many A/V receivers. If your A/V receiver is equipped with 5.1 or 7.1 external audio inputs, the selection of an optical player equipped with 5.1- or 7.1-channel line-level outputs will provide full-bandwidth reproduction of the audio signal originating from your HD player.





    Figure 3 Connection via Multichannel Analog Inputs

    A connection through either of these existing interfaces will let you experience the full potential of the high-resolution audio delivered on next-generation optical formats."

    http://www.dolby.com/consumer/techno...HD_avrs_2.html

  22. #22
    Forum Regular
    Join Date
    Jul 2002
    Posts
    378

    5.1

    Quote Originally Posted by L.J.
    Yeah, it'll work fine. The BR/HD player will do all the decoding. Just make sure the player has 5.1 analog outs. I linked some info from Dolby below.

    "Multichannel Analog Connection
    A next-generation optical player may also include line-level audio outputs derived from the multichannel mixed PCM signal passed through digital-to-analog converters. The advent of SACD and DVD-Audio in recent years has led to the incorporation of 5.1 and even 7.1 external inputs on many A/V receivers. If your A/V receiver is equipped with 5.1 or 7.1 external audio inputs, the selection of an optical player equipped with 5.1- or 7.1-channel line-level outputs will provide full-bandwidth reproduction of the audio signal originating from your HD player.





    Figure 3 Connection via Multichannel Analog Inputs

    A connection through either of these existing interfaces will let you experience the full potential of the high-resolution audio delivered on next-generation optical formats."

    http://www.dolby.com/consumer/techno...HD_avrs_2.html
    Thanks for the info, Now all i need to do is save up some money for the player.

  23. #23
    Forum Regular pixelthis's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2007
    Location
    tuscaloosa
    Posts
    5,528

    Cool

    Quote Originally Posted by Keith from Canada
    You had original asked about an upconverting player to take advantage of your HDMI connection. My sole point in my posts was that instead of spending your money on a Oppo or something, you can get a real HD player...be HD DVD or Blu Ray that will do the same job upconverting.

    FYI -- It looks like we're getting the first shipment of the $399 PS3's up here in Canada. This should force the stand-alone BD players to drop their prices and it should push Toshiba to reduce their prices as well. IMO, I believe we are 6-12 months from seeing HD DVD players under the $200 mark and Blu Ray under the $300 mark.
    SONY anounced today that the price of their Blu-ray player will be lowered 20%...
    to 399$.
    So you could be right about a sub 300 price.
    If you count the free movies its already under 300 bucks
    LG 42", integra 6.9, B&W 602s2, CC6 center, dm305rears, b&w
    sub asw2500
    Panny DVDA player
    sharp Aquos BLU player
    pronto remote, technics antique direct drive TT
    Samsung SACD/DVDA player
    emotiva upa-2 two channel amp

  24. #24
    Forum Regular
    Join Date
    Sep 2004
    Posts
    46
    Quote Originally Posted by codecougar
    I just think it is odd that any audio/ video- phile would choose to "wait it out". Aren't these the same people who go out and spend thousands of dollars to get the absolute best sound and picture?? I mean there are guys on this forum who spend hundreds upgrading power cords in the hopes of getting a slightly better picture.

    Whether you spend $200 on a HD DVD player or $400 on a Blu-ray player, I think it is money well spent. If you have a HD television, why would you want to watch SD DVD's? That's like buying a HD tv and watching SD television broadcasts.

    To each their own, I guess. I am thoroughly enjoying watching movies in HD. I spent $450 for my Blu-ray player a few months ago. In a year or 2 if HD-DVD wins the war, oh well, I'll just buy a HD-DVD player. I'm not going to let my 1080p television go to waste in the interim.

    I wonder what ever happened to the original poster? Maybe we scared him away
    Well I took the plunge, more or less because I was pushed off the plank! My Marantz DVD player wasn't HDMI compatible with my TV and Receiver (which really has me wondering about Marantz since I have their receiver too) so I got a Sony S500 Blu-ray player and everyone plays together nice now. And you are right, the picture and sound quality (for Blu-ray discs) are second to none, amazing really. But, and there's always a BUT..., the sound quality of CD playback is inferior (both digital and analog) due to some slight background noise that the Marantz players eliminate. My biggest beef is video quality for standard DVD's - it's pathetic when compared to the Marantz and certainly no better than an el cheapo $150 player you can get at Wall Mart! The upscaler function adds noise and I found the best picture by using the source direct setting on the Blu-ray player and letting the HDTV do the upscale. And load times are ridiculous IMHO. They have a LONG way to go IMHO.

    Blu-ray availability is terrible at my local Hollywood video. They don't plan to carry many HD movies until something shakes out in the "war" and I don't see that happening for a while. SO, you're left to watch standard DVD's for many titles on an "inferior" player IMHO! I may keep the Marantz for audio and standard DVD playback, just connect it using component and optical instead of HDMI. Where in the world do you guys get your Blu-ray discs? Also the rentals are $5 and not $4 like the standard ones (yeah, I know it's worth it but just still another caveat).

    I'm not returning the Blu-ray player (got a smokin deal because they owed me at the video shop) and I really enjoy watching BD's but I really would wait if you're looking for a "universal" player and expect audiophile quality from your CD's or have an extensive standard DVD collection. Back to the original post - I would recommend the Marantz DV6001 Universal player since you have an extensive collection of standard DVD's. It lists at $550 but can be had for less if you shop around. You won't be sorry. Just make sure you have at least 2 inputs on your HDTV for HDMI as I was unable to switch my DV7001 thru a repeater in the receiver but every setup with differ in how the HDCP signal gets transferred between components.

    My 2 cents,

    G MAN
    Last edited by gman086; 11-18-2007 at 12:11 PM.

  25. #25
    Da Dragonball Kid L.J.'s Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2005
    Location
    Posted in da cut
    Posts
    3,577
    Gman, give Netflix a try. Well worth the $16.99 a month I pay for unlimited rental. 3 out at a time and no late fees.

    $5 per rental is too much. You could buying BR titles for $5 more than that.

    http://forums.audioreview.com/showth...903#post213903

Page 1 of 2 1 2 LastLast

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •