Philips DVP5990/37 and Toshiba XD-E500 NTSC to PAL question

[vatkat234]

I'm in the USA and want a DVD player that plays PAL. But I heard the Toshiba XD-E500 converts 576p down to 480p then up scales to 1080p. Making the picture have a lot of jaggies.

I do not know how the Philips DVP5990/37 works but if it can up scale 576p to 1080p then this is a DVD player I want to pick up.

Thank you.

[jagabo]

After viewing some resolution test patterns I've come to the conclusion that the 5990/37 (USA version) also first downscales from 720x576 to 720x480 then upscales that to 1080p. It doesn't look bad with normal video though.

[vatkat234]

After viewing some resolution test patterns I've come to the conclusion that the 5990/37 (USA version) also first downscales from 720x576 to 720x480 then upscales that to 1080p. It doesn't look bad with normal video though.

When you say normal video in what way, viewing on a SDTV set? Or watching a good encoded DVD?

I have a 26inch HDTV set. I hoping this DVD player can do the job for me. As I like to order U.K. DVDs from amazon.

Off Topic "Dead Set" great zombie TV show but feels more like a movie. Channle 4 from the U.K. made it.

There's a trailer here.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dead-Set-DVD-Jaime-Winstone/dp/B001CMV1GM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s...4830945&sr=8-1

[jagabo]

For "normal video" I was watching a commercial PAL DVD from the UK upscaled to 1080p on a 46" 1080p LCD HDTV via HDMI.

heheh -- Dead Set sounds pretty good!

[jman98]

Have you looked at the Oppo (http://www.oppodigital.com) line of players? We've had one negative comment here that I can remember about them where somebody thought they were subpar at playing PAL, but everybody else has raved about their PAL playback capabilities. You could probably send email to them and ask if they can upscale PAL to 1080p or if they go to NTSC resolutions first and upscale from that like jagabo reported on the Philips player.

[victoriabears]

Oppo is lovely kit, but way overpriced, is it really 4 times as good as the Philips 5990, not to me it isn't

[FulciLives]

I don't have an Oppo Digital but have read a lot about them. You have to be careful though what you buy.

For instance the Oppo Digital DV-980H uses a MediaTek chipset. Pretty much the same as what all the Philips DVD players use. I would imagine (knock on wood) that it would perform similar.

However the Oppo Digital DV-981HD has the Faroudja DCDi chipset. There was also an older model by Oppo Digital (no longer made) that also used the Faroudja DCDi chipset. These two models are the models that have been praised for their PAL to NTSC conversion ability and apparently it is due to the Faroudja DCDi processing.

To make things even more confusing Oppo Digital released the DV-983H which uses a different chipset (not MediaTek and not Faroudja DCDi) and this chipset (called VRS by Anchor Bay) is supposedly "as good as it gets" for standard definition DVD Video. How well it handles PAL to NTSC I do not know (it does do it though) but the price tag is rather exorbitant for this model ... I forget the price now as it seems Oppo Digital has stopped selling this model. They claim it is to be replaced by their "soon-to-be released" Blu-Ray player (BDP-83) which I believe will also have the VRS by Anchor Bay processing for standard definition DVD Video discs. No price has yet been set for the BDP-83 model.

If I had the money I personally would buy the DV-981HD model but be warned that you MUST use the HDMI output to take advantage of the Faroudja DCDi processing. So if you don't have a HDTV with HDMI then you might as well just buy the Philips DVD player and be done with it.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

P.S.
Oppo Digital website ---> http://www.oppodigital.com/

*** EDIT ***
One more thing I wish to point out. I once saw a comparison on the 'net that a user had made. This person had a MediaTek chipset DVD player (I think it was a Philips but I'm not sure) as well as the first Oppo Digital unit with the Faroudja DCDi chipset. They had two screen captures they did using a PAL DVD being converted to NTSC (I think they took pictures of their TV screen using a digital camera). The image was that of a car grill (that was at a skewed angle like what you might see in the old BATMAN TV series or the first two EVIL DEAD films) and the MeditaTek DVD player clearly showed the "jaggies" whereas the Oppo Digital Faroudja DCDi chipset DVD player was smooth as butter.

[victoriabears]

FYI=I had the 981hd and now use Philips 5990 on a 46 inch Sony "W" series.

What I think is often missed is the part the TV plays in processing/upconverting.

I watch VHS on this TV and it is very watchable, it is also what you are used to, as an old fart (55) I am not that interested in the latest bang and crash movies in HD, I bought the TV for the size.

[vatkat234]

My HDTV does have HDMI.

I know there are some hacked firmware for the Philips DVP5990/37. Does anyone know if you can make the Philips DVP5990/37 upscale from 576 to 1080?

I know there is some info here.

https://forum.videohelp.com/topic355675.html


* New font with outline for OSD, SETUP (must be like in V2 version).
* Full Unicode support for ISO+Joliet / USB (Thanks to shoora).
* Add for TV Type PAL and Multi, but NTSC is default.
* Move few pixels subtitles to left.
* Two version with and without volume on Repeat keys.

DVP5990_37_vb6_v1_2_2_volume.rar
http://rapidshare.de/files/41206251/DVP5990_37_vb6_v1_2_2_volume.rar.html

[vatkat234]

Have you looked at the Oppo (http://www.oppodigital.com) line of players? We've had one negative comment here that I can remember about them where somebody thought they were subpar at playing PAL, but everybody else has raved about their PAL playback capabilities. You could probably send email to them and ask if they can upscale PAL to 1080p or if they go to NTSC resolutions first and upscale from that like jagabo reported on the Philips player.

I called OPPO and asked that what's the best OPPO for PAL? The man on the phone said the DV-981H is. On their site the DV-981H and the DV-983H are rated the same.

I might go with the Philips DVP5992 for $50.00 dollars for now. The OPPO is a lot of money just to play a few PAL DVD's.

The one thing I like about Philips DVP5982 is that it supports DIVX Ultra.

I may still get a OPPO down the road, if I do I want to go get the DV-983H.

The U.K. shows I like if anyone wants to check them out are.

Being Human. There is also a pilot that is different then how the show is now.

Merlin.

Dead Set. Best Zombie flick.

Right now the only PAL DVD's I have are.

Mortal Kombat. The TV show.

Fraggle Rock. In the U.K. Fraggle Rock the old man is played by a different actor and he and his dog live at the light house.

Dead Set.

If anyone is looking for a Region Free BLU-RAY

http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/26/first-region-free-blu-ray-players-available/

http://www.bluraymods.com/

[vatkat234]

I used http://www.google.com/products?q=DVP5992 to get the

http://www.google.com/products?q=DVP5992

Philips DVP5992 for $49.99

It's is a refurbished model but for $49.99 I'm okay with it. I really did not want to spend over 50 bucks. If I was going to go over 50 dollars I was thinking just break for the OPPO DV-980H and been done with it.

Plus this give me time to save up for the OPPO DV-983H is I really get into ordering more PAL DVD's from the U.K.

[jman98]

I might go with the Philips DVP5982 for $50.00 dollars for now. The OPPO is a lot of money just to play a few PAL DVD's.

The one thing I like about Philips DVP5982 is that it supports DIVX Ultra.

If the cheaper Philips works for you, that's fine. No problem with saving money. But Divx Ultra? Seriously? There are like 5 people in the entire world who care about that. I guess you're one of them.

Divx Ultra was dead on arrival - the format that almost nobody wanted and almost nobody uses. Only a few hard core nut job rippers even bother with it. I bought the commercial Divx codec and I like it and the company and I hope they stay in business, but they've had to move to H.264 support to try to stay alive. That's where the industry is moving. Divx has its place for sure, but I wouldn't make a buying decision on Divx Ultra support. In 2-3 years you probably won't find any DVD players that still support it. Read some posts about trying to get the subtitles out of a Divx Ultra container (I've never seen a solution to this yet) and tell me if you still think it's all it's cracked up to be. MKV is the container of the future, not Divx Ultra.

[jagabo]

The one thing I like about Philips DVP5982 is that it supports DIVX Ultra.

Just in case you're not aware, Divx Ultra doesn't include high def support. It's just internal divx menus, chapters, subs.

[vatkat234]

The one thing I like about Philips DVP5982 is that it supports DIVX Ultra.

Just in case you're not aware, Divx Ultra doesn't include high def support. It's just internal divx menus, chapters, subs.

Yes I know DIVX Ultra is only SD. I do wish this player supported MKV.

[vatkat234]

I might go with the Philips DVP5992 for $50.00 dollars for now. The OPPO is a lot of money just to play a few PAL DVD's.

The one thing I like about Philips DVP5982 is that it supports DIVX Ultra.

If the cheaper Philips works for you, that's fine. No problem with saving money. But Divx Ultra? Seriously? There are like 5 people in the entire world who care about that. I guess you're one of them.

Divx Ultra was dead on arrival - the format that almost nobody wanted and almost nobody uses. Only a few hard core nut job rippers even bother with it. I bought the commercial Divx codec and I like it and the company and I hope they stay in business, but they've had to move to H.264 support to try to stay alive. That's where the industry is moving. Divx has its place for sure, but I wouldn't make a buying decision on Divx Ultra support. In 2-3 years you probably won't find any DVD players that still support it. Read some posts about trying to get the subtitles out of a Divx Ultra container (I've never seen a solution to this yet) and tell me if you still think it's all it's cracked up to be. MKV is the container of the future, not Divx Ultra.

DIVX Ultra was just a small extra. I might encode some of my own stuff in DIVX Ultra for my self.

I know about MKV I use it all the time with my PS3. I use a program called MKV2VOB. And yes I wish this DVD player supported MKV. But for 50 dollars it's not going to happen.

I was going to go with the DVP5990 and that model does not have DIVX Ultra. When I looked at the DVP5990 over the DVP5992 I went with it.

Also look at it this way DVP5990 $50.00 dollars DVP5992 als $50.00 dollars. I'll take the one that has little extra under the hood.

I did not take Philips DVP5992 over the OPPO for DIVX Ultra. It came down to money. If I start to buy more U.K. TV shows, I'll take the DVP5992 put that on one of my SD TV sets and get a OPPO for my HDTV set.

[Ai Haibara]

Hm? The 5990 does support DivX Ultra features. The two I have do, anyway.

Supposedly, the only real difference between the 5990 and the 5992, others have said on this forum, is the outer casing, basically.

[vatkat234]

Hm? The 5990 does support DivX Ultra features. The two I have do, anyway.

Supposedly, the only real difference between the 5990 and the 5992, others have said on this forum, is the outer casing, basically.

Yes you are right the DVP5990 and DVP5992 are the same. I think Philips is doing some marketing and trying to push USB 2.0 play back that they never marketed on the DVP5990.


New Philips DVP5992 with USB 2.0 feature!
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1021947

New Philips DVP5992 DVD player with USB 2.0 feature!!
https://forum.videohelp.com/topic349792-30.html