Is there a big difference between a DVD upconverter and a HD DVD Player?

Question

I recently purchased a HD DVD player which is a Toshiba HD-A2 DVD Player. The price of the HD DVD player is a significant amount more than an DVD Upconverter. I was told that the HD DVD player can upconvert regular DVDs to HD quality. What am I missing out on? It sounds like the two units do the same but have dramatic price differences.

What is best to go with? Would I get the same quality and spend much less by just purchasing an upconverter rather than an HD DVD player?

Answer 1

Yes

HD DVD has many advantages over any upconverting DVD player. Sound Quality for one.

Even if you don't have a surround processor that will decode the new HD DTS or the new Dolby Digital HD. I'm sure you'll be happy you have it once you get one.

It plays all your DVD, CD. I know the LG won't play a CD. Can you believe I can't play a CD after paying $1100.00 for this unit six months ago. Oh well.

If I had it to do over I would buy a HD=DVD player and a Bul-Ray player separately.

Answer 2

HD DVD players are also upconverting DVD players; however upconverted DVD is only pseudo HD. That said, done right (on a good upconverter) the picture can be much better than plain vanilla DVD (although still inferior to true HD DVD). The issue is relative quality difference and the price to obtain it.

I just answered a very similar question, so rather than repeat much of the info. have a look at the link (and read the article referenced there on why an upscaling player can be beneficial).

I have an HD-A2 and I use it mainly as an upscaling DVD player for my 720p projector and 110" screen (I see little benefit to HD DVDs, at least not enough to be worth the high cost except for a few disks which would truely benefit from HD (for me disk rental isn't a viable option)). I therefore consider my HD-A2 to be a good upscaling DVD player that will also play HD DVDs for the few times I want to bother. To me it's worth the relatively small price premium over a good upscaling non-HD DVD player (e.g. Oppo 981, $229) simply to have the ability to play HD DVDs if I want to. Sure the price may be much more than a cheap upscaling player ... but those don't work well (see the article I referenced earlier) and are a waste of money.

Anyway depending what you paid (e.g. the $99 sale price or the $300 regular price) it is more or less of a bargain. If I were buying today I'd consider the Venture model available in the US at WalMart for $197. It's a rebranded Toshiba HD-A3.

Hope this helps.

Answer 3

Upscaling does not change the amount of picture information you see. DVD max output is 480 x 720 pixels (300,000 approximately) HD-DVD and Blu-Ray max output is 1080 x 1920 pixels. (2,067,000) That's a 7 times improvement in picture detail!

If you have a 1080p television, I would not consider the HD-A2 or HD-A3 family of DVD players. They are only 1080i or 720p.

If AGB90's projector is true 720p, he should be seeing 720 x 1200 pixels, three times better than an upscaled DVD. (about 1,000,000 pixels) I don't understand why he isn't more impressed on something as large as a 110" screen. What I mean is, the larger the viewing area, the more valuable additional detail becomes. His answer is subjective to some extent and I certainly respect his opinion.

AudioTech is right on the money with the sound improvements. He gets a thumbs up from me.

I like the Blu-Ray/HD-DVD/DVD player by LG. It's too bad CDs won't play on it but they probably ran out of room and couldn't fit another laser diode assembly inside. If I had the LG, I would probably buy a cheap computer instead of a CD player and rip all my CDs to FLAC or 330 bps MP3. It's far more convenient than messing with the CDs.

Answer 4

You said, "I was told that the HD DVD player can upconvert regular DVDs to HD quality."

Unfortunately you were told wrong. Upconverter DVD players display better picture than progressive or regular DVD players, but they hardly compare to HD DVD quality.

All of this information is under the assumption that you have a HD capable TV.