Get an upconverting DVD player for $34.99 shipped

(Credit: Coby)

Many people erroneously assume that an HDTV automatically makes everything look better: TV, movies, their living rooms. The reality, of course, is that without high-definition video sources, images can look rather disappointing. A typical DVD player, for instance, produces only 480 horizontal lines of video; HDTVs are optimized for 720 or 1080 lines, which is why your DVD of The Matrix looks like poop.

One option is to spring for an HD DVD or Blu-ray player, but they're expensive, and there's that whole format-war thing. Bleh. A better option, at least short term, is an upconverting DVD player, which makes all your standard DVDs look a helluva lot better courtesy of some pixel-scaling wizardry.

Buy.com has the Coby DVD-283 upconverting DVD player for $34.99, shipping included. The player includes an HDMI output, so it's ideally suited for modern HDTVs. Granted, Coby is, um, well, let's just say the brand isn't spoken in the same breath as Sony or Toshiba. But for 35 bucks, how can you go wrong? This is a cheap and effective stop-gap solution while you wait for the HD DVD and Blu-ray camps to make peace.

[BlasterMasterD]

For $35 it may be worth trying, but keep in mind that HDTVs have a native resolution that they will upconvert to before displaying content. If you have a fairly decent TV, chances are it will containt more expensive processing chips and do a better job on its own than a $35 upconverting DVD player. And if you happen to have a 1080p TV and only a 1080i upconverting DVD player, the TV still has to process and de-interlace the signal, so I'm not sure you're gaining much.

The Oppo upconverting players do an excellent job, but beyond that I've found that a progressive scan DVD player looks better on my 1080p SXRD than a $100 Samsung upconverting DVD player and a few others I've tested. For most newer sets I'd recommend hooking up a progressive scan player and letting the TV work its own magic.

[truelove79]

You are correct. See my comment from earlier. "Up-converting" DVD-players are the industries biggest scam.

[Alphastream]

Does purchasing a cheap electronics unit sound like a sound environmental idea? When you calculate the costs of disposal, manufacture, and hazardous chemical exposure to workers for the two to three units you will end up buying under this strategy, not to mention the lost time you will spend on installing two to three units plus the cost of each and their cables and other gear (and that last one will probably be an expensive one anyway), you are far better off waiting for good units to become cheaper. And, you are probably better off waiting on HDTV prices (and power consumption, and image quality) to improve.

[acabtp]

To answer the question posed in your first sentence, no... but it doesn't matter because what's better for the consumer and what's better for the environment are not the same.

Sure you could argue that what's better for the environment is better for everyone, but be realistic, this is a capitalistic society, and these devices are produced with the aim of being as cheap as possible while retaining just enough functionality to give them the competitive edge that gets them from the shelf to the consumer's living room. The environment only factors in as much as the company producing it needs to handle the costs associated with it's creation; the disposal isn't their problem.

Expanding on what you're saying, it wouldn't make sense for auto manufacturers to build anything but electric cars, fast food restaurants to use anything but completely recycled and recyclable packaging, citizens to take anything but public transit whenever possible, all industrial power to be sourced from renewable sources, etc. These things just don't yet make good business sense.

[jackmalocha]

Does having a TV at all sound like a sound environmental idea? Or any electronics for that matter?

[da_bean]

You needed a computer to view the web and post to this article. That's an electronic device.

[mlehiste]

Blu-ray will win
Buy PS3 - it also upconverts DVDs

[truelove79]

Up-scaling or up-converting DVD players are the biggest scam in the industry. They are the world's largest con and noone even questions it.

Let's think about the logic here. You say that an up-scaling dvd-player uses some "pixel-scaling wizardry" to convert a 480 source to 720 or 1080 . What do you think your TV does? That's right, the exact same thing. It uses some "pixel-scaling wizardry" to make a 480 source fit the screen, just like these fancy shmancy up-scaling dvd players. If your TV didn't upscale a 480 source, the video would only fill roughly a 3rd or 4th of the screen. Your TV upscales EVERYTHING you give it, that's what they do. Why do you need a DVD-player to do it? This goes double if you have a CRT. A CRT is literally able to change it's resolution, so there is absolutely no need to upscale.

Using a very sophisticated piece of test equipment (my eyes) I can tell you that up-scaling DVD players are useless. For my money, I trust my TV to upscale the image to it's native resolution more than a $30 to $80 dvd player. I've set my up-scaling dvd player to 480, 720, and 1080 outputs and I can tell you the 480 looks best. I tested on bright and dark scenes on several movies. In fact, 1080 has some terrible artifacts. Obviously performance will differ among dvd players, but I still trust a $2000 TV to do it before a cheap dvd player.

The only thing you want to look for in a dvd player is if it has the outputs you need (HDMI) and supports DTS output and crap like that. This whole up-scaling crap is a big scam. In fact, I can't even believe a tech site doesn't bring this fact to light. CNET is just perpetuating the problem.

I especially love this line from this artible: "which makes all your standard DVDs look a helluva lot better courtesy of some pixel-scaling wizardry." Don't believe this, no "up-scaling" dvd player is going to make any DVD look any better than on a good old fashioned CRT. Playing the DVD on it's native resolution of 480 on a CRT is going to be your best bet. The best you can hope for on a fixed pixel display (plasma, LCD, DLP, etc.) is that your bought a good TV and it handles 480 sources well. If a movie looks like crap on 480 on your brand new plasma, "up-scaling" it to 1080 isn't going to make it look any better.

[truelove79]

Oh, and by the way. I wasn't saying you need to go out and buy a CRT or use your old CRT. I have a plasma. I'm just saying, if you have an up-scaling dvd player, just set it to 480p output and leave it.

[rickbroida]

I'm not saying you're wrong, but my experience has been quite different. A standard DVD player makes movies look fuzzy and washed-out on my 46-inch LCD; they look considerably better when viewed on a media center or an upscaling DVD player (connected via VGA and HDMI, respectively).

I guess the upshot here is that if you're not happy with the way DVDs look on your HDTV, an upscaling DVD player might make a huge difference. (There's plenty of anecdotal evidence online to support this.) And I think $35 is a great deal considering that most upscaling players sell in the neighborhood of $100 or more.

[jsr1tex]

I appreciate your comments. This has kept me from purchasing an upconversion unit. However, please would you know since my 2 year old Sony player has optical cable capability would that make the same image input the HDMI as you mentioned.
Thanks,
[e-mail]

[manalagi001]

Waste of money. Better to save it and apply it towards a true high-def purchase.

[jscott418]

It was a big deal going from Black and White T/V to color. Then when cable and satellite came around that was great too. But I have seen HD and Blu Ray and for most movies I could care less how many pores I can see on a persons face. Or how much better it's supposed to be.
I am perfectly content with regular wide screen 480. In a couple of years we will have HD HD or HD Blu Ray HD or some other format that everyone will say you have to have. I think I will wait until one of the formats has truly won out and has enough content out to make it worth while.

Waste of time blah blah doesn't work blah blah save your money blah blah

All I know is my DVDs look much much better on my 42" plasma since I got the upconverting DVD player. That's all I need to know.

[rickbroida]

Some interesting reading on the subject:

http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/home-entertainment/oppo-dv981hd-upconverting-dvd-player-reviewed-verdict-1080p-alchemy-224218.php

http://www.oppodigital.com/Getting-Most-out-of-DVD-on-HDTV-Display.html

[GadgetConsumer]

BEWARE of BUY.COM promos. They are currently taking $50 off on a $51 purchase when signing up for a RevolutionCard account. They don't mention that all sales are final when using a coupon. They gave me a return authorization for an unopened product. Buy.com confirmed that they received the product back, and promised a refund to my credit card within 7 business days. 3 weeks later, they said "no refunds" and won't even send the unopened product back to me.

If they aren't going to follow their own refund policy, they need to give the merchandise back to the buyer. BUY.com is obviously getting some kind of financial benefit from RevolutionCard. At the very least, they should send back the item to me, and not just keep it, re-sell it, and double their profit. As of this writing, there are over 600 consumer complaints logged with the Better Business Bureau regarding Buy.com?s handling of refunds. Buyers beware!