Neil Gendzwill Posted November 19, 2007 Report Share Posted November 19, 2007 I know there's a couple of AV geeks out there... just bought an HD TV (46" Sharp, 64 series) and am now considering an HD-DVD player. Is it worth going for one of the 1080p players? Anything other than Toshiba worth considering? I'd like it to do a nice job at upconverting normal DVD as not all titles will be available in HD - I've heard the X-A2 is the best at it, but are the cheaper players so much worse that it's worth the extra few hundred bucks? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D-Sub Posted November 19, 2007 Report Share Posted November 19, 2007 JUST a suggestion, but consider putting together a small, moderately spec'd HTPC DVD playback will be that better, as will output quality even on a standard DVD. Just need a quality vid card, or a motherboard with good graphics. Some even have HDMI now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack M Posted November 19, 2007 Report Share Posted November 19, 2007 You know that someday hd-dvd players are going to cost like $100. I'm going to wait for that. My TV does a great job at upconverting from 480p dvd. I have a hard time telling dvd content apart from hdtv. Maybe my tv (sony bravia xbr) is better than others in this regard, but I'm not itching for hd-dvd just yet. Maybe if my tv was 1080p, I would be. It's 720p. A friend raves at how much better regular dvds look through his player that does the upconversion internally and has hdmi output. I assume his tv must not be very good at doing the upconversion then. I haven't tried one of those players, but I don't see a need with my tv. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil Gendzwill Posted November 19, 2007 Author Report Share Posted November 19, 2007 Don't really need the HTPC as I've already got a Motorola cable box with the HD PVR. Regular DVDs look OK at a distance, but the HD stuff I get out of the Motorola is way better, that's at 1080i. The TV supports 1080p. I'm told the top-line Toshiba player has some sort of whiz-bang upconvert chip. It would be swanky to get it all onto HDMI for when I move to the wall mount, less cable to run. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pokkis Posted November 19, 2007 Report Share Posted November 19, 2007 Before buying player you should decide if you want to go with HD or with Bluray wagon and hope that you made correct choice ;) Anyway on HD side Toshibas are way to go with reasonable price tag. Either way you pick, you will have plenty of enjoyment with great picture quality. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skategoat Posted November 19, 2007 Report Share Posted November 19, 2007 I'm usually an early adopter. I have a $1,800 Phillips CD player to show for my lack of patience. But in this case, I am holding off as long as I can. I have a 1080p TV and I'm itching for high-res DVD but I'm not gonna get stuck with a Betamax. It really irks me that the electronics industry did it again - two competing formats. I'm leaning towards HD-DVD just because I can add a sub-$200 drive to my Xbox 360. But then again, I can get a Sony PS3 with built-in Blu-ray and HDMI output for $400. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D-Sub Posted November 20, 2007 Report Share Posted November 20, 2007 Don't really need the HTPC as I've already got a Motorola cable box with the HD PVR. Gotcha. I was thinking just for playback, but I guess that's a lot of work. Would cost about the same though :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MUD Posted November 20, 2007 Report Share Posted November 20, 2007 I bought the cheapest upconverting sony DVD player, I think it was on sale for $79.00. Now I am going to wait until one of the formats wins...... With the upconverting player it does a pretty good job on a 65". If I was going to buy one, I would pick the format and them pick up the corresponding game system that plays it, or build an HTPC. The technical side of things: I would say on a 46" you will not see the difference in top of the line and some other player. Pick the one with the features you want and go from there. The fancy players are for the people that think they can tell the difference.:D The weak link is going to be the TV not the player...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spil Posted November 20, 2007 Report Share Posted November 20, 2007 You know that someday hd-dvd players are going to cost like $100. I'm going to wait for that. We're already getting close to that, a few weeks ago, Walmart and Best Buy had a Toshiba HD-DVD player for $198. I think they were getting rid of them for this years stock. Look out for some more deals like this on black friday! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hagen Posted November 21, 2007 Report Share Posted November 21, 2007 ...why not do something completely different, check out VUDU. Hagen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RDY_2_Carve Posted November 21, 2007 Report Share Posted November 21, 2007 HD DVD players are already $100 or less, at least there was a sale at Wally World a week or two ago that a few people at work took advantage of. Another guy at work missed that deal and found the same player on the web for like ~$120. Also Black Friday looms upon us. I don't remember seeing a HD DVD player in the sales ads but I'm sure there's one in there. Head over to www.gottadeal.com and check all the ads for this Friday. There's a Mitsu 65" DLP for $1499 this Friday, and a 50" Samsung DLP for $799. Those were the great deals from what I remember...oh and the ATI 600 USB HD thingey that looks like a memory stick. That thing looks awesome and BB or CC had it for $59.99 (retail $100). I'm thinking about grabbing one of those to watch/record HD on my PC/Laptop. There's a review of it on www.hothardware.com and they had great things to say about it. Sorry if this was a bit off topic (since I know nothing about HD DVD players lol). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack M Posted November 21, 2007 Report Share Posted November 21, 2007 ...why not do something completely different, check out VUDU.Hagen. Sweet. I just said to TT the other day... "discs are obsolete". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trailertrash Posted November 21, 2007 Report Share Posted November 21, 2007 ...why not do something completely different, check out VUDU.Hagen. that box needs to go wireless. otherwise looks pretty cool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack M Posted November 21, 2007 Report Share Posted November 21, 2007 Actually I'm hoping Apple comes out with something similar. Hence my recent conversion to Mac. They're already half-way there, with the AppleTV box and being able to buy movies through iTunes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hagen Posted November 21, 2007 Report Share Posted November 21, 2007 that box needs to go wireless. otherwise looks pretty cool. Wireless is one of the features that we'll probably support in the future. Wireless game adapters and powerline adapters work well (I wired my house, since wireless can be temperamental, especially close to other entertainment gear). Hagen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil Gendzwill Posted November 21, 2007 Author Report Share Posted November 21, 2007 Unfortunately the black Friday stuff doesn't apply to us here in Northwest Canuckistan. The $99 HD-DVD blowout was a one-day only deal on the older Toshiba players. You can get the newer A3 for under $200 from Amazon including 10 free disks, but they don't ship to Canada. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trent Posted December 10, 2007 Report Share Posted December 10, 2007 hey neil, i'm considering a player too. did you get one yet, and if so, how's the pq compared to standard dvd? i'm used to a great picture from network hd tv. i'd be really disappointed if these new formats didn't match what i get free ota (and what i've seen at the big-box demos hasn't been that great). -trent Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil Gendzwill Posted December 10, 2007 Author Report Share Posted December 10, 2007 Haven't got one yet. My understanding is the PQ is much better than standard DVD or network HD. Big box demos typically have badly set up TVs. I'm going to be in Florida for a few days next week, hoping to score something on the cheap then. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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