DVD player (480p or 1080i) under $200 for RCA DLP

[Grayson73]

I have the RCA HD50LPW42 DLP HDTV which is native 720p. It does NOT accept 720p from external sources, so I'm left with 480p or 1080i.

Can you recommend a DVD player for under $200? My TV accepts DVI input.

I currently have the Yamakawa 288k/vga which does not have good 480p output.

[Ratman]

Any DVD player should produce good results since the TV's native display is 720p and all DVD's are encoded at 480i. You get deinterlacing and upscaling already.

Never heard of a Yamakawa, so all I can't comment. :)

[Grayson73]

Is the internal scaler good enough that I can just use 480i or will it be better if I get a DVD player that outputs 480p or 1080i?

[Ratman]

That depends on the Yamakawa, a new DVD player or the TV.

All DVD's are 480i.

Some DVD players perform better deinterlacing (480i to 480p) than the TV. Some TV's better than the DVD player.

Some DVD players may perform better upscaling (480p to 720p/1080i) than the TV.

Bottom line is that your TV's native display format is 720p so...

Feed the TV 480i/480p. The TV upscales to 720p.
Buy an upscaling DVD player, feed the TV 1080i and the TV will downscale to 720p.

IMO... enjoy what you have and wait to see what happens with HD-DVD/BluRay. But, feel free to experiment if you purchase from a retailer with a liberal return policy.

Sorry I can't be more helpful.

[Grayson73]

Does the RCA have a good deinterlacer? The RCA will have to deinterlace whether its 480i or 1080i, so there's no benefit in going to 1080i, is there?

If the RCA doesn't have a good deinterlacer, then a good de-interlacing DVD player which outputs 480p would be the better choice?

[Ratman]

Whether 480i, 480p, or 1080i. The native display of the TV is 720p.

You will never know which does what best.

As I said, "But, feel free to experiment if you purchase from a retailer with a liberal return policy."

[DrJoe]

Actually, a DLP is digital -- so your "best" picture will probably come from a player with a digital video output -- DVI-D or Firewire. But I don't know if there are any players under $200 with that feature.

With the component video connection, you have two analog-digital conversions you don't need: The DVD player converts the digital information on the disk to analog component video and the TV coverts the analog component video to digital DLP.

Do you know if the DVI-D and Firewire inputs are also limited to 480i/p and 1080i?

You should move this post over to the DVD player forum. You'll get much more useful information there.

Joe

[Grayson73]

Yes, the DVI-D input is limisted to 480i/p and 1080i.

I posted on the RCA forum because I'm sure others are in the same situation as I am with the 720p limitation.

[DrJoe]

Well as for "most" other persons -- they use either 480i or 480p via component for DVD, and don't have 1080i or 720p DVD players. I don't know anyone who has a DVD player that outputs 720p and only a few that upconvert to 1080i.

As far as "what $200 player is best" -- that is something that will best be addressed on a general (non-HD) forum. Most of the DVD players folks talk about that do high def are significantly more expensive. For non-DLP RCA sets, they typically have multiple scan rates - one for 480i/p and one for 1080i. I'm thinking of sets like the D52W20 CRT RPTV Sceniums (which have indepoendent video settings for 480i/p and 1080i) and the F38310 directview set (which has independent scan rates /geometry settings for 480p, 540p and 1080i). These sets "upconvert" 480i to 480p (or 540p), and don't generally do as good a job as a good DVD player will. Folks may tell you that players with a Faroudja video processor deinterlace better than those with a Genesis chip -- but I like Genesis because it allows you to scale improperly flagged letterboxed DVD's. With the Faroudja chip, you have to turn deinterlacing off and let the set do it (because you can't "zoom" 480p video).

You can download my F38310 FAQ from my home page for a detailed discussion of DVD players and how they work with RCA sets (specifically the F38310).

It is a VERY common thing for HDTV sets to not allow 720p inputs -- not just RCA.

Later

Jor

[Ratman]

As stated earlier:
Feed the TV 480i/480p. The TV upscales to 720p.
Buy an upscaling DVD player, feed the TV 1080i and the TV will downscale to 720p.

And...feel free to experiment and purchase a DVD player from a retailer with a liberal return policy.

These are limitatations we all deal with... only you can decide what looks best to you. We can only provide some insight based in reading and our own experience(s).

[Toaster]

I have no complaints with my samsung 841... available at amazon.com for $60 refurb as I recall, I actually bought mine from a local retailer as a last one display for $55 and he threw in the DVI->HDMI cable for me. There is a hacked firmware available specifically for the 841 to allow Divx playback and upconverting through the component cables.... info on that can be found over at avsforum.com

Upconverting players with Faroudja chips seem to be the players of choice by most, they supposedly give the best upconverting performance, but as it has been pointed out already- if the tv converts better than the player, you wont see much difference if any at all. The samsung 841 I have uses the cheaper Zoran chipset to upconvert, but honestly I think you'll get more from the digital connection of a high end dvd player than the upconverting - I feel ?

I will add to this, that IMHO spending big $$$ on any upconverting dvd player is probably a waste. I saw very little improvement from my dvd's and my old dvd player to the new upconverting dvd player, but there is a slight improvement... For $60 its worth it, for $200 I wouldn't buy one.


That's my .02¢

GOOD LUCK and HAPPY HUNTING.