Standalone HD upconverters (upscalers)

[dfyh]

I was thinking to buy an upconverting dvd player for my sony bravia hd lcd (its up to 1080i), however, while browsing around the internet I ran across some standalone hdmi converters, through which you can connect your SD equpment to your HD TV and scale the image up to 1080p.

I was wondering are those converters really good and which brands/ models would you recommend? I would also appreciate if you point me to some good european online shops. There are various models like: component to hdmi, composite to hdmi, vga to hdmi, usb to hdmi and "all-in-one" models.

Im asking this cause I can also use them with my old analogue vcr, camcorders, vga pc etc, while an upconverting dvd player would be just for dvd's.

here's an example: http://www.hdtvsupply.com/viscswwihd.html

thanks for your help

[jagabo]

Unless your HDTV is old or bottom end the upscaler built into the TV is probably better than any standalone upscaler that costs less than US$1000.

[ricoman]

Sorry jag, but I'd have to disagree with you. Just about any AV mag or online forum will tell you that the OPPO dvd player or bluray are the best out there: http://www.oppodigital.com/
For around $200 or so you can get their upconverting player (I have one) and it is terriffic. For $500 you can get their new bluray player (that of course also upconverts dvds). They both play just about every format known. Considering the upconverter that the OP linked is $400, it would be a no brainer to get the OPPO BDP-83 bluray player. By the way dfyh, just about all bluray players also upconvert dvd to near HD quality video.
But don't take my word for it, google OPPO and read the raves.

[jagabo]

I was speaking specifcally about standalone upscalers. The Oppo DVD players won't upscale his analog SD sources. The market for standalone upscalers is so small they don't have any economy of scale.

Blu-ray players are good upscalers but nowhere near native HD quality. And again they won't upscale his SD analog sources.

Yes, it's a no brainer to buy a decent upscaling DVD player or BD player rather than a standalone upscaler. How much better they'll do than the upscaler in his HDTV will depend on many factors. If he's currently running composite video from an old DVD player to his TV, upgrading to an upscaling player and running HDMI will get him a much better picture.

[redsandvb]

I was thinking to buy an upconverting dvd player for my sony bravia hd lcd (its up to 1080i), however, while browsing around the internet I ran across some standalone hdmi converters, through which you can connect your SD equpment to your HD TV and scale the image up to 1080p.

I was wondering are those converters really good and which brands/ models would you recommend? I would also appreciate if you point me to some good european online shops. There are various models like: component to hdmi, composite to hdmi, vga to hdmi, usb to hdmi and "all-in-one" models.

Im asking this cause I can also use them with my old analogue vcr, camcorders, vga pc etc, while an upconverting dvd player would be just for dvd's.

here's an example: http://www.hdtvsupply.com/viscswwihd.html

thanks for your help

A good one might be the DVDO Edge, http://www.anchorbaytech.com/products/systems/. I'd bet that it'll be better than what's in the TV. How much better and how much you might notice, can't say for sure. It's listed for more than the one you linked to, but sometimes deals can be found at authorized online dealers. I don't have any clue if any of them ship to Europe, though.

BTW, the scaling/upconversion 'guts' of the Oppo BDP-83 are pretty much what's in the Edge.

8)

[victoriabears]

I saw no difference between the oppo 981 and the philips 5990, sorry.

I watch mainly old stuff I will grant you and my eyes are 56 years old.

I think an old hi fi adage is applied here, law of diminishing returns.

$70 or $500 is the oppo 7 times better for you?

Also like hi fi we are in danger of watching the quality of the picture not the content

[ricoman]

Sorry jag, I stand corrected. I somehow missed that he wanted to use it for his vcr etc.
VB, I have the OPPO 981 and had an Lg (pretty much the same as your Phillips) and though I liked the LG just fine, I thought the OPPO was a bit better, nothing earth shaking of course, but crisper, just MHO. Also, the LG only lasted 2 1/2 years while the OPPO has had 2x the use and is still going strong. The $500 is for their new bluray player, not dvd player, they're in the $200 or so range.

[jagabo]

I haven't seen the Oppo players myself but I don't doubt they're better than the second (third?) tier players like the Philips 5990 (which I do have, though I use my HTPC for most non-DVD sources). But when you look at a lot of the tests from the HQV benchmarks (often used in reviews to judge players) a large potion of them have to do with IVTC'ing odd telecine patterns that most people will never run across. And a lot of the moire/jaggy tests are things that a lot of people don't notice (or will just think is normal) unless the defects are pointed out to them.

Then you have issues of what resolution HDTV you're watching on. With 720p sets the actual screen resolution varies from about 1024x768 to 1366x768. So whatever resolution they receive from the DVD player is going to be scaled again by the HDTV. It's not surprising under those circumstances that one can't see much difference between a Philips and an Oppo playing upscaled SD.