DVD players

I don’t think I need the latest and greatest, but what works good for a high-def TV?

My current one uses component inputs for the picture (RGB), and for audio I use a digital cable for 5.1 sound.

I saw a DVD player that is a 1080i upconvert with HDMI output (less than $50)…is that any good? If that is the way to go, am I better off using the HDMI out or just the RGB cable for video?

I’m sure I’ll have more questions on this later…most of it is new to me.

Thanks.

For regular DVD’s RGB will be just fine.
HDMI is quickly becoming more widespread and for HD DVD’s it’s the only way to go.
I’m a bit skepitical on low end HDMI devices.

Everything you ever wanted to know about electronics, display devices, or audio componets can be found here.

http://www.avsforum.com/

I went through this same dilema in May since the Blue Ray vs. HD-DVD war hasn’t been settled. Couldn’t justify spending $300 or more on a player when a year or two later it would be $100.

I have a 1080i Phillips upconvert using HDMI that I am pretty happy with. I believe Target carries those. What I have noticed is that my upconvert player does a better job than my Panasonic plasma’s ability to upconvert. That is not the “rule” for all TVs, but it is what I have noticed for my combination.

If I sent a 480p signal to my TV and let my TV upconvert my picture was worse (fuzzy in transition areas) than when I sent an upconverted 1080i. I may have had something setup wrong, but I think I had it covered. Good luck.

Thanks for the link Pier, that forum is really in-depth and I have some learning to do.

leiting, I think that is the DVD player I was looking at. I’ll try it out, but I think I’ll wait for prices to drop before I think about HD DVD.

Thanks.

FYI, this is what my upconvert is:
http://www.amazon.com/Philips-DVP5960-Player-Upscaling-direct/dp/B000G18DR0/ref=pd_bbs_1/104-0500986-4633508?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1187926372&sr=8-1

Ya, avsforum is pretty impressive.

That is the one…$45 at Wally-World. It looks like I will need the HDMI cable to ‘up-convert’ the video. I used the same RGB cables and had the same picture quality with my older Sony DVD player (480i).

I’m not sure I’ll notice much of a difference though. The picture is really good right now as is (at least to me). I’ve got some more reading to do on this stuff.

This is an example where I noticed the difference between 480p and 1080i upconvert. We were watching “Night at the Museum”. There were close ups of Ben Stiller where the eyebrows were fuzzy running 480p. The eyebrows were much more defined after upconverting with the player.

That player comes with a 1 meter hdmi cable. If you need longer ones check out ( http://www.monoprice.com ). As far as that goes, any video cables including Wii or audio wiring.