Dvds On Your Hdtv - Upscaling Dvd Player

[fotoman]

I just got my new oppo upscaling dvd player. I have a 73 inch HDTV - its a 1999 - the first year they were available.

The problem is, is my tv in the hd mode will only take 1080i

Well - dvd's always looked like crap. and even though upscaling dvd players have been out for a while - the damn copywrite worries make it so they only allow upscalled - 1080i version only works through the new HDMI cables. Because the HDMI cable can stop you from pirating the movie -RRRRRRRR

anyway so there were a few dvd players out there with remote control "hacks" that would unlock the ability to do upconverting to 1080i using the component out. (the 3 rca plugs)

Ok - so i spent alot of hours researching to try to get something i could use on my tv.

By the way - if you don't have multiple hd component inputs - i found an inexpensive, HD component - 4 in 2 out - but thats for another thread

ok, back to my saga - all of the hacks have been disabled in the newer versions of players-

ok - BUT - i did find this other brand oppo, they are out of california, not found in any store i could find, but has good reviews on teh units -

this thing does everything, divx, xvid, usb and memory card inputs - plays everything you can think of photos, ect.

the one i got was 150 bucks. - Ok, here is the good part. Somebody took to hacking one of the beta versions of the OS - so, now i got 1080i on my main big tv.

WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW watching batman begins - wow, i'd say the picture is 80% of what a great HD

and it has direct 6 chanel audio out, which i decided to give a whirl - i'm loving it, better sound than my Harman Kardon could produce under its proccessor

So - the point of the post is - 1. I recomend getting an upscaling DVD player - great stuff. this is the one i got http://www.oppodigital.com/dv970hd/dv970hd.html

2. if you only can do component instead of HDMI and you want to upconvert. i can guide you to the software to download - burn it to a CD and in 5 minutes, your rocking and rolling.

Especially if you have a HUGE tv like mine which allows you to see all of the flaws in dvds

My enjoyment of major movies on the home theater has returned again - which is great cause with the little one i won't be going to the movies for a while.

and, finally - if you haven't seen batman begins - ITS AWESOME ----- AWESOME very dark - very well written. GREAT cast. Its like - the best superhero movie of all time - 2nd is the new superman.

if anyone needs more info or help with any of the above, reply or pm me.

ALSO - if anyone needs a good universal remote - anything in the Logitech harmony series. I have had all kinds of touchscreen remotes - programable, macros yadda yadda

the harmony is a class of its own. - It was developed by a small company and logitech bought it a couple years ago. Great customer service and tech support and ANYone that can write a word doc, attach it to an email and send it can program this remote - and it sets up its own configuration via its website and downloads it to your remote. AWESOME

TOTALLY girlfriend/ wife/ babysitter friendly

maybe i should rename this PHO's home theater tips

[Bignasty]

I had an upconvert DVD player but was very dissapointed with the quality of picture on my Samsung 42" DLP. I ended up returning it and going back to my Progressive Scan DVD with component video. Now I'm actually using an extra PC I had lying around. I got a DD/DTS sound card for my machine so I can get digital sound via optical cable. And I'm using the PC input (ordinary computer monitor cable) to bring in the video. I've got the resolution on the PC's video card set to 720p and the picture looks quite great for ordinary DVD's. Of course I can also browse the web, check email, and do various other things too with the machine.

So my experience ultimately wasn't as good as yours with the upconvert player. I'll buy an HD DVD player or BluRay player once the battle for marketshare forecasts a winner. Also waiting for the price drop. For now my PC makes me very happy.

As for the Harmony remotes. They are pretty great. I have one but don't even use it. I've found that the success of the remote really depends on the success of your equipment. Best way to use it is to eliminate as much switching as possible. If I had an audio receiver that did HDMI upconvert and switching I would absolutely break out the Harmony again. But the time delay for switching between video/audio sources is just a bit too long for my impatient girlfriend. I've now transitioned back to using just two remotes. My DVR/Cable remote and occasionally the Audio Receiver's remote.

Jon

[fotoman]

I think you have a good solution. I haven't gone direct computer to TV yet, But i have an xbox serving as a media center so i can stream video audio mp3 and photos from my main house computer, and it connects as a 1080i so its the same effect.

Upconverting definatly varies. The key for me was - i wasn't able to use a dvd player on my TV unless i got this specific one - because going through the old component inputs at 480i looked like crap

I couldn't even do 480p cause the of the old TV.

THe other big thing for me is, i have a 47 hdtv in my bedroom. AND - both tv's living room and bedroom back the same wall

so, i have 2 tivos, xbox, dvd upscaling all go into 1 switch box - from that switch box it goes out to 2 tvs

http://www.a-neutronics.com/shop/product_i...?products_id=29

means i can get any content in either room. Its sweeet

[bigpops]

I was going to go the upscaling DVD player route myself, but as i upgraded my PC, i decided to build a dedicated media PC using some of the spares, and a new case and motherboard. Hooked it up to the PC (VGA) input on my screen.

I couldn't be happier. It took a while to set up, but i'm now using Theatertek DVD player (based on the Nvidia's Purevideo) along with FFDshow to upscale. Not only that, purevideo can also properly de-interlace suitably encoded 1080i/60Hz streams to provide 1080p at 24 fps, which looks pretty sweet. Especially on movies with a decent bit-rate (17-20Mbps). Plus, if you use Theatertek, you can choose which file formats FFDshow works on (a feature i haven't seen elsewhere) so you don't end up having to disable it when you watch HD material.

On the HD-DVD/Blu ray thing. I really hope one format dominates (and quickly), or i can see neither format becoming mainstream. That can only be a bad thing for us, the consumer, as we'll never get anything like the library of video you currently get on DVD. For this reason, i hope noone releases a reasonably priced combo player, as we'll end up with two confusing formats, as we have with DVD-R and DVD+R.

PS. I also used to use an XBox with XBMC to play my media too. The only problem with it is a 733MHz celeron isn't fast enough to handle 720p material. Other than that, it was great. XBMC is an awesome piece of software. It's a shame M$'s MCE isn't anywhere near as good.

[fotoman]

i predict blue ray will win out. 25 gig vs 40+ gig. 25 gig seems like enough until you start producing 1080 dvd video 3 language 5.1 / 7.1 sound and want to put extra features.

i think all the players coming out now play old dvds as well.