HD-DVD Upscaling DVD Players

Hey team,

Having just gotten a brand new Samsung 50" HD Plasma with 20,000:1 contrast and 3 HDMI sockets, and buying an XBox 360 I was thinking about now going the whole hog and buying a Blu Ray player.

But to be honest, the Blu Ray players are pretty expensive as are all of the discs, like £30 each or something ridiculous,

I did however come across this on Play.com (UK): DVDs, Music CDs, MP3s, Video Games, Books, Electronics & Gadgets - Free Delivery :
Play.com (UK) : Samsung DVD-1080P7/XEU DVD Player With HDMI 1080p Upscaling : Electronics - Free Delivery

Now as far as I can tell, it's a DVD with a difference, in that it does it's best to convert standard DVD into HD-DVD as long as you have a compatible TV which I do.

Has anyone tried one of these upscaling DVD Players at all, and if so are they and good?

I do really need a new DVD player anyway, and at only £50, even if it gives 'slightly' better picture over standard players it might be worth a try.

What do you lot think?

Cheers,
Darren

The XBox 360 is a DVD player and will upscale so why buy an extra DVD player.

See here for DVD vs HD DVD FAQ: XBOX 360 HD DVD Player Addon & DVD Upscaling - Xbox 360 & Xbox Forums

Hmm, I'll be honest, Monty. The 360 is way too loud to watch any movie that doesn't have Bruce Willis in it. It is VERY noisy, and hard to hear anything at all if there's any slice of quietness.

Same goes with games of course, but with games you aren't trying to focus on what's being said as much as you would have to on a movie.

It depends, is the TV a keeper??

Yep, the TV is a keeper! Hopefully, unless it needs to go back as well,

The price of Blu-Ray players is seriously making me think about buying a Sony PS3.

We already have a 360, but not connected to our big telly, so I think the PS3 makes sense.

Hey darren, Wow nice tv! be careful when you have consoles hooked up to plasmas but! the HUD's on most games dont move and therefore can burn images into you shiny new tv ... Personally i would not bother with the bluray player! waste of money, and most of the movies that came out before bluray and are now available on bluray are only upscaled from their dvd predecessors, so it isnt really 1080p! also the players are waaaaay overpriced and there is also that war between bluray and HDDVD... although its pretty clear i think now that bluray will win. My advise, wait! in a couple more months they will be heaps cheaper and like you saw most dvd players upscale n e way! i think even the 360 does! plus i recon in a few years we wont be using any discs! itll be all hd downloads through microsoft... xbox is already doing it now in tha US and maybe even UK im not to sure. I would by the DVD player just my opinion!

I've had an upscaling DVD player for about 2 years. It is pretty good on my "cheaper" HDTV. When I connect to the snazzy big Samsung upstairs it has a strange sort of lagg around high contrast objects.

For £50? Buy and try I say. If you don't like it, it has cost you next to nothing and you can chuck it away.

oh yeah.....I agree with Sprint. Don't play games on a plasma. Ok on LCD, but leave a game on too long on plasma .......

buy the PS3 and have best of both worlds! quiet enough to watch movies on, HD games, bluray... oh and you can connect wirelessly to your PC to share any media you have also.

i have a HD DVD upscaler thing and whilst it is better quality than a standard DVD, its nowhere near the quality the PS3 and bluray puts out. thast on a 32in 1080i HDTV (phlips)

My 360 is fine playing DVDs, fan only really kicks in when playing games.

Have you got it in a an enclosed area where it can't cool properly? My PS3 was in a TV cabinent and used to whirl like a helicopter when playing DVDs.. moved it's nice and quite now.

XBox 360 are doing downloads already BTW.

They are a good idea.

Upscaling just fills in the blank lines based on
what's above and below the "missing" line.
(Also know as a line doubler)

So it doesn't really give you an HD picture.

Originally Posted by Darren156

Yep, the TV is a keeper! Hopefully, unless it needs to go back as well,

I've also got a 50" Samsung Plasma and an Xbox 360 (through component). I also have an LG Home Cinema that upscales and a Toshiba HD DVD player both connected via HDMI and I have to admit I struggle to tell the difference in picture quality.

My younger brother has a 42" Sony LCD and a PS3 but he plays DVD through a regular Sony player connected though scart and the picture is horrendous. It's like watching a VHS tape with blurring and ghosting happening all over the place.

You've already spent £1000 on a tele you might aswell fork out a bit extra and get the best out of your DVDs.

Originally Posted by Sprint_85

there is also that war between bluray and HDDVD... although its pretty clear i think now that bluray will win.

War is over, BR won!

Originally Posted by Sootmeister

My younger brother has a 42" Sony LCD and a PS3 but he plays DVD through a regular Sony player connected though scart and the picture is horrendous. It's like watching a VHS tape with blurring and ghosting happening all over the place.

That's the disadvantage of an LCD. They do suffer from motion blur and pixellation. Plasma doesn't suffer from that but on the other hand you have to be careful with the games consoles as plasmas can suffer from image retention, although the new plasmas seem better in this respect.

You can get Blu-ray players for way less than £300 now and I dare say that the prices will continue to come down. DVD players went the same way.

Check on Play, they are doing a Samsung BluRay that would match your telly for £199

Originally Posted by Monty

My 360 is fine playing DVDs, fan only really kicks in when playing games.

Have you got it in a an enclosed area where it can't cool properly?

Anyone with a 360 thats enclosed will find out about it quickly enough when it dies

Cooling is the biggest bugbear on the console, but keep 'em in the open and as you say, they're fine