Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Technical Questions HD Player or Blu Ray?

I am borrowing an HD-DVD player in a week or so to do a Transformers movie night with a pick up of Transformers on HD-DVD via Netflix. I am excited and afraid at the same time. I think that once I see it, I won't want anything else, and I really can't spring for a new purchase now, or for the holidays even...

I wonder when you will be able to buy the combo-drive for a HTPC? I keep wanting to go HTPC anyway, so when I get to that point, maybe the combo PC drives will be readily available and for a good price.

As they say you only notice a real visual difference between 720P and 1080P is if the screen is large enough and you are close enough. I have had the opportunity to see 1080P and 720P side by side on a 37" LCD and the difference was negligible. But I could tell, which leads me to believe that on the larger screens the difference will be much more noticeable.

I think both have great PQ and AQ. I have the tos hd-xa2 that is a great upscaler for SD -DVDS for my sammy dlp. I have a lot of sd-dvds and have no playback problems nor with the hd-dvds. The ps-3 and the bd- players also have great pq/aq. I decided to go with the HD because of the finished specs. I think the bd new specs should be finished!!! around Nov.1. If I were going to get a bd player I think I would wait until then. Anyway enjoy the HD experience. Good luck!!

I have a Samsung DLP also. HLN617W. I only have an Oppo 871 upconverting for SD DVD's. I think the picture looks really great! I do hear now and then about people going over to HD DVD players...either format. Is your DLP 720p like mine or do you have 1080p? If it's 720p is the picture quality that much better when watching an SD DVD in a HD player?

I have the Sanyo Z3, which is 720p, and HD content is still AWESOME over SD DVDs even when upconverted. Once you go HD, you won't want to go back. That is why I am almost afraid to borrow a HD-DVD player for a Transformers HD-DVD movie night with "the guys"... I've seen HD at 720p on my projector via over-the-air TV, and WOW! Heck, I've caught myself watching pro-football games for teams I could care less about because the HD is THAT good!

Yes, I know that HD looks good on 720p! I watch it over cable all the time.

My question is: Will a high-def DVD player (either format) make a standard-def DVD look BETTER than an up-converting SD-DVD player does, such as the Oppo-971?

I have too many SD DVD's to replace them all with a high-def version. Too much $$$$! But, I may be willing to purchase a high-def player if it can make standard-def DVD's look even better. Then I can just start buying any new movies in the newer high-def format, and still enjoy my SD movies. Otherwise, I see no compelling reason to get a high-def player.

Depends on the player you want to get, the A20, A3 and A30 all use the same ABT upscaling chip for SD DVDs (a very good chip). The A35 uses a slightly better ABT chip for upscaling.

All in all, you probably won't notice a difference from the 971 upscaling (it may be slightly better), but your new player will be able to play HD DVD's.

I have the A20 and the upscaling is really, really good.

I do too, and I concur.

Also keep in mind that upscaling really is only an algorythm that is making "educated guesses" at how to create new pixels to simulate higher resolution. While there are some different approaches to this, it isn't a "new" idea, so they've got it figured out pretty well by now.

If you are looking at an HD format player just to do a better job of upscaling SD DVDs than a good SD DVD player, then save your money. It isn't worth it. I know that there are a TON of my movies that I will never buy on any HD format. I don't think that many people would completely change out a movie collection. I know of a few off of the top of my head that I would like in HD... Lord of the Rings trilogy (not out), The Matrix (just the first one), Star Wars, and Batman Begins would be on my short list of movies I already own that I would get again. The other 250 DVDs wouldn't get "upgraded".