Advice on NTSC PAL Standalone Player

[jvbruggy]

ok guys, im looking towards buying a standalone dvd player since my ps2 cant play pal dvds which I have alot of. I'm looking to get the best dvd player I can for my hdtv under a 100 dollars. Im leaning towards this one...

http://www.sears.com/sr/javasr/product.do?BV_UseBVCookie=Yes&vertical=ELEC&pid=0575714...00&tab=des#tab

anyway I am wondering if it can play both ntsc and pal like the cyberhomes can. If I enter a region hack does that mean I can play pal and ntsc?

[jvbruggy]

I've found another alternative,

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=3610578

plz give some advice

[handyguy]

Lots of use have a philips 642, but also try reading this section:
https://www.videohelp.com/dvdplayers

[jvbruggy]

im sorry i forgot to mention i have a hdtv and am lookin forward to getting something with hdmi cables preferrably included in the box since they cost about $80 by themselves.

[FulciLives]

All 3 players listed here are utter crap for PAL to NTSC.

If you want quality PAL to NTSC and want upconverting and HDMI etc. then you need the Oppo Digital OPDV971H ... however the price is $200 US Dollars.

But you get what you pay for only this DVD player performs as good as players triple it's price.

So actually it's a "deal" at only $200

http://www.oppodigital.com/

Good Luck

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[Ghostmaker]

The Oppo is the only way to go with HDTV. I believe they now pack a DVI to HDMI cable in the box also.

http://www.onlybestrated.com/oppo-opdv971h-1080i-hdtvready-divx-player-with-output-p-4...130d5987c5e23d

[FulciLives]

The Oppo is the only way to go with HDTV. I believe they now pack a DVI to HDMI cable in the box also.

http://www.onlybestrated.com/oppo-opdv971h-1080i-hdtvready-divx-player-with-output-p-4...130d5987c5e23d

Yes depending on where you buy it ... it should include a DVI to HDMI cable.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[painkiller]

The web site for the Oppo actually says the cable is available for direct purchases through them.

(Thanks, guys, I was looking around for such info as well.)

[jvbruggy]

moments after i posted this i went ahead and bought the JSI dvd player and wasnt impressed with the quality of the player and the price. HD looked grainy at times, I put it back in the box and got a refund and thought to myself, u get what u pay for. ( dont know why a JSI product would cost 80 dollars anyway) I went an ordered the OPPO as suggested by you guys... cant wait to get it and try it out on my hdtv. Ill keep yall posted =)

[handyguy]

There is a refurb on ebay for $160 & $15 shipping....but it states:
": Hi, I'm interested in the dvd player and need the dvi-hdmi cable. Do both the dvi-dvi adn dvi-hdmi cables come with the player? Sorry, it may sound stupid...more
Dec-01-05
A: All units ship with a 5' DVI-DVI cable and a 6' DVI-HDMI cable."

[jvbruggy]

YES!!! MY OPPO Has arrived !!! WOOT WOOT, now time to plug it in

[jvbruggy]

Question about My OPPO or i guess all dvd in general with hd upconversion, how come when i put the dvd player in 1080i mode it seems like it looks worse than 480p, i think movies look better in 480p, maybe im doing something wrong, also i got it connected via dvi to hdmi on a philips hdtv

[FulciLives]

Question about My OPPO or i guess all dvd in general with hd upconversion, how come when i put the dvd player in 1080i mode it seems like it looks worse than 480p, i think movies look better in 480p, maybe im doing something wrong, also i got it connected via dvi to hdmi on a philips hdtv

The OPPO has a ton of different "settings" for "tweaking" the image ... you might want to search the AVS FORUM as you will likely find the answer there.

I seem to recall there was a HUGE thread there on the OPPO but you might have to use the SEARCH function to find it now.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

*** EDIT ***
Below is a direct link to the OPPO thread over at the AVS FORUM
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=491306

[manono]

Hi-

For many people 1080i doean't look so good. If that's your case, then compare 720p and 480p. Also, how DVDs look at the various upscaled resolutions will be at least partially determined by whether or not you've calibrated your TV set. At least run it through the THX Optimizer. For PAL playback, make sure you have it set for Video 2. Read thorough the first post of the thread to which FulciLives linked. Lots of good information there. There's another even larger thread about it in the DVD Player Forum over at AVS Forums. They should both be on the first page as there's a lot of discussion about the player. That will keep you informed about any firmware releases. The player is constantly being improved with new firmware. It still has its quirks, though.

But you get what you pay for only this DVD player performs as good as players triple it's price.

Good for you, FulciLives, pointing out that such videohelp.com favorites as the Philips DVP-642 are pieces of junk, especially for those that have HDTVs. And the Oppo now performs better than some players costing even more than 15 times the price. The Secrets Of Home Theater people have rewritten their review, now that new firmwares have significantly improved the Oppo, and it now bests the vaunted $3500 Denon 5910 with the highest score ever:

http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/cgi-bin/shootout.cgi?function=search&articles=all

Not bad for a $200 player.

[jvbruggy]

my tv doesnt have 720p it has 480p though, how do i calibrate my TV set? any dvds u know that have the THX optimizer whatever that is =P and thanks for the links guys, i will read up on them. Thanks for your help and advice guys, i appreciate it, 1080 doesnt look terribly bad, but i can see a real difference between it and 480p, 480 being the better of the two, reason i say this is because the colors seem more alive on 480p (really dont know how to explain it). on 1080 they seem darker, people seem pale, maybe thats how they are really suppose to look. dont know give me some more advice =P maybe its me maybe its not, to me 480p looks better

[parallax1]

All 3 players listed here are utter crap for PAL to NTSC.

For what setup? And why is the 642 crap? Because you think so? I have one and it's excellent for PAL/NTSC. Of course I don't have an HDTV so I'm not elite like the rest of you.

[manono]

Hi-

my tv doesnt have 720p

Are you saying it doesn't accept 720p from the Oppo? To switch DVI resolutions, you have to first eject the DVD. You can't switch while the DVD is loaded (I don't think).

You didn't say what the resolution of your TV set is. Mine's 1280x720 fixed pixel DLP, and 720p looks noticeably better than the rest. For some with unusual resolutions such as 1368x768 (or something like that), because there is no 1:1 pixel mapping, it's sometimes recommended to output 480p and let the TV do the rescaling.

There are a ton of DVDs with the THX Optimizer, but all the Star Wars DVDs have it. edDV posted the link to the list of DVDs with it once, but a search should turn up the link easily enough.

[manono]

Of course I don't have an HDTV so I'm not elite like the rest of you.

You'll have one too, before too long. Some are down around $7-800 now. Nothing to do with being elite. It's more a question of priorities, I'd say. Some of us that enjoy watching movies on DVD and/or AVI like to have them looking their best. At that review link I posted before, scroll down to the 56 ratings (mediocre) to see what they say about the DVP-642. Most of the tests and comments are for HDTV owners, but some apply to you as well. They don't mention PAL playback, but that player is also mediocre at best at doing PAL2NTSC. It doesn't do a good conversion as a real player would. But you'll never know until you compare it to a player that does, and until you view on a better TV set. Of course, at this point there's no reason for you to buy a DVD player that costs more then the TV set. The Oppo is only at its best when using DVI anyway.

Repeat for those considering buying this player: do not buy it unless your TV set has either a DVI or HDMI port. The Faroudja chipset isn't used over component.

[parallax1]

All that I'm saying is that using component outputs, 16x9 PAL DVDs look almost as good as 16x9 NTSC DVDs on my setup....which is not 'top of the line' by any means. But, for the majority of us at this point the 642 makes buying PAL DVDs an "apples-to-apples" decision versus NTSC DVDs where the PAL discs have the edge in extras or completeness. The old APEX players really didn't give that choice because of the incorrect aspect ratio that would be displayed on 16x9 DVDs. Also, to say that the 642 is crap is simply...an opinion. Fulci Lives has the right to his but it needs to be taken in context. He is very outspoken on many things here and in my opinion he feels that anything he doesn't like is crap. Just look at his other posts.


After reading the comparisons I also would like to point out that no where in them does it state ANYTHING about the 642's PAL/NTSC ability. Not only that, it compares the 642 to a specific Sanyo model. When you read the opinion of the Sanyo model on that page, the reviewer mistakenly calls it a Samsung. I have to question the tests if they can't even get the names right !! Therefore I would LOVE to see any other such tests that conclude that the 642 is crap in its PAL/NTSC conversion. Once again I must point out that Fulci Lives is entitled to his opinion but that is all that it is. My opinion is that the 642 is an EXCELLENT player for PAL/NTSC for the average person....and I'm just as much of an expert as Fulci Lives.

[giannid]

My 642 plays PAL DVD's fine on NTSC TV.

[FulciLives]

I've seen a lot of different DVD players that do PAL to NTSC conversion. Although not perfect I have the old (no longer made) Cyberhome CH-DVD 500 and this model has one of the better if not best (at the time) PAL to NTSC conversion. I've also seen Malata and JVC and Pioneer models.

I bought a Philips DVP-642 for DivX/Xvid playback. It seems fine for that but NTSC DVD playback is medicore and PAL DVD to NTSC conversion looks like utter shit. It has major anti-aliasing issues due to the way it does the resizing from PAL to NTSC resolution. Motion was smooth but the anti-aliasing was absolutely horrible.

I also bought one of those $40.00 Cyberhome CH-300s players and here the resizing was much better but still "off" a bit and the motion was not smooth but looked "stilted" as if frames were being dropped.

If you are on a budget and need excellent PAL to NTSC you can buy a pre-modded JVC for about $110 + shipping. Better yet you can get the Pioneer 588A pre-modded for about $180 + shipping but at that point you might as well just get the OPPO at $200 + shipping.

I've been dealing with PAL to NTSC conversion with VHS since the mid 80's and then in the very early days of DVD ... I know what PAL can look like when converted to NTSC (both good and bad).

- John "FulciLives" Coleman