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DVD players with HDMI, any good?


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Old 13-01-2006, 23:11
made_guy
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Is it worth investing in one of the new DVD players that feature an HDMI socket and upscale for HD ready Tv's?

How much better would one be than a normal DVD player with progressive scan?

I see that Samsung has one available for £100 but apparently you have spend about £80 on a decent HDMI lead.
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Old 13-01-2006, 23:26
Steve Green
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Hi,

I have a Momitsu which upscales to 720p/1080i through DVI, and I tried it out with a friend's 32" Panasonic LCD TV. (I'm waiting on a 720p projector to go with it)

Compared to 480p it was definitely better, for example there is a scene in Seven where a cab pulls up before John Doe gives himself up. In 480p, the brickwork really twitched but in 720p it was more stable.

I'd imagine the larger the screen, the more difference you would notice.

Regarding the 80 quid HDMI lead, from what I gather, if you're running the lead over longer distances it may be worth it, but a cheap one should be fine otherwise. (I ordered a £30 DVI to HDMI lead)

The other thing to bear in mind is that different DVD players might have different scalers inside. Homecinemechoice.com has a good forum discussing various DVD players.

Cheers

Steve
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Old 14-01-2006, 00:07
part-timer
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the new Samsung DVD player that is HD ready has a HDMI output and is getting rave reviews (Better than the £250 Denon) and upscales very well apparently. Its only about £85 and seems to be highly recommended.
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Old 14-01-2006, 00:10
sanderton
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Spoke to some technical chappies at CES who admitted that the upscaling chip in their HDMI DVD players was the exact same chip as is built into their plasma screens. If that's the case, so long as the connection is digital it shouldn't matter if the upscaling is in the DVD player or the TV.
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Old 14-01-2006, 17:56
imacken
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What about the Tosh 350E - only £70 at Amazon!
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Old 14-01-2006, 19:14
bayards
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Got the Sammie HD850 - was about £95 at John Lewis last September or so. Great picture running out via HDMI at 720p to Panny 32" LCD.

Of course stuff acquired from the net still looks terrible, even upscaled, but DVDs sparkle.

H
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Old 14-01-2006, 21:54
MDX
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The Samsung HD950 is on Play.com for around £110 and comes with a DVI/HDMI lead worth around £30-40
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Old 20-01-2006, 22:17
Sulphur Man
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The Samsung is a poor player IMHO. It has no PAL/NTSC auto-switching, which is diabolical. Budget players from 5 years ago had that. The external display is also unnecessarily bright and distracting.

If youre after a good HDMI player at the right price, seek out a Panasonic S97. Bizarrely, Panasonic deleted it in the UK a while back but examples come up on eBay, usually priced between 130 and 200. It has a picture performance and features on par with many high end players.
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