what makes an expensive hd dvd player better than a less expensive upconverting player?

Answer 1

GOOD QUESTION!

Better is pretty subjective, as it should also take into account "value"...

Blu-Ray and HD-DVD players all do something that upconverting DVD player can't do, and that is play their respective disc formats in their "native resolution" of either 720p or 1080p.

Upconverting DVD players on the other hand, can ONLY take a 480p image (the native resolution of standard DVDs) and interpolate, fill in, or otherwise enhance them for display on 720p, 1080i, and 1080p screens.

That said, I am totally happy watching my standard DVDs upconverted for display on my 56" HDTV. And I consider myself to be a fairly demanding viewer (I've been a professional home theater designer for nearly 20 years and a serious movie buff for a lot longer than that.)

So for me, I can't yet justify spending top dollar on an emerging technology that only gives me a small margin of enhancement and enjoyment of movies. For me, its all about the quality of the writing, directing, acting and cinematography, ALL of which I can see just fine with my regular DVDs.

Last note: there IS a real difference between standard DVDs played on a standard player, and ones played on an upconverting DVD player. Just as there is a real difference between that and a Blu-Ray/HD-DVD disc played on one of their own players. Unless you have a big enough screen however, the differnces may not be that noticeable, or at least enough to justify the cost.

I recommend we all wait until we can download HD movies directly off the internet (which won't be long, I guarantee) before running out and dumping a barrel-full of cash on what could very well become an obsolete technology in a lot shorter time frame than strandard DVDs have been around.

An HDTV IS worth the investment however, because no matter how the image gets to it (HD player, satellite/cable box, or computer) you're still going to need that essential ingredient to see it in real high definition.

Enjoy, and keep me posted!

Answer 2

The expensive HD player can actually read HD content from the disc (1080 lines max).

The upconverting player can only read SD discs (480 lines max) and then scales it up.
You don't need an upconverting player. Any HDTV can upconvert SD signals just fine.

So, either buy the cheapest DVD player with component out or buy an HD player.

Answer 3

Get the best of both worlds and buy the RCA/Toshiba HD/DVD player. I own one (the RCA version) and it plays the standard HD movies at 1080i at beyond theater quality and does a very good job of converting standard DVDs to 1080i.

My set might have a little to do with that has it is a Toshiba DLP with up converting technology (all DLP TVs use a computer processor) which gives you better then 35mm theater quality pictures.



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Answer 4

hd dvd player. blu ray is pretty cool but it's just sony's way of trying to make some money. they had something similar when vhs' came out. it was the same but neeeded a different player. blu rays will go away. stick with hd dvd.

Answer 5

one is simulating it, the other HD or Blu-ray is pure

I haVE A UPCONVERTING UNTIL THE BLU-RAYS COME DOWN,

IT LOOKS ok FOR NOW

BUT FOR ME SOME ON WHO LOVES SOUND,THE BIG DIFFENCE IS GOING TO BE TRU-DTS OR TRU-DOBLY IT IS RECORDED AT 196k INSTEAD OF 96, SO IT HAS 2X THE INFO OF MUSIC OR SOUND,ONCE YOU HEAR IT YOU WILL NEVER GO BACK

BUT IF YOU ARE LISTING OUT OF A TV SPEAKER FORGET ABOUT IT, OR IF YOU DO NOT HAVE HD FORGET ABOUT IT