# Up-Convert Player vs. Blu Ray



## merrim19 (Jul 8, 2008)

Ok, give me a chance to explain because I think I have a legitimate question and I'm sure I'm not the first. I have a 37'' 720p LCD in the living room playing off of an up-convert player. I like the picture and have been happy with the LG player. I just purchased a 50'' 720p Plasma for the basement, "media room". The easy pick would be a Blu Ray player for this unit, but is the difference worth the additional $100-200. Am I missing out on a noticable picture difference if I go with another top of the line up-convert, assuming I'm not interested in building an expensive Blu Ray disk collection?


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## tomdkat (May 6, 2006)

The main other feature, that is often over looked, HD DVD and Blu-Ray bring to home theater is improved audio formats over the traditional Dolby Digital and dts audio we've enjoyed with DVD. Lossless audio now enters the home theater world which compliments the native HD video quite well.

So, if you want to enjoy Dolby TrueHD, dts-ma HD, or PCM audio on various Blu-Ray releases, you've got no choice but to go Blu-Ray. If you don't plan on changing the audio part of your home theater and are happy with traditional Dolby Digital (including Dolby Digital EX) and/or dts (including dts-es discrete, dte-es matrix, etc) audio, then an upconverting DVD player might be a great avenue for you.

I bought the Panasonic DMP-BD35K for my dad for Christmas. I got it on sale through Amazon for $220. If you look enough, you can find great deals on great performing Blu-Ray players. If that is just more than you want to spend, you can either wait or get the Oppo Digital DV-980H or one of the other Oppo Digital players available.

The Oppo Digital players have EXCELLENT reputations for EXCELLENT video performance, including upconversion. Oppo Digital is even coming out with a Blu-Ray player, if they haven't done so already.

When I bought the above Panasonic Blu-Ray player, I was pondering the Oppo DV-980H for my dad because I wanted to keep cost down. When I found out that Panasonic unit had great upconversion performance, I snagged it because the sale price was right.

The PS3 gets great reviews as being a great Blu-Ray player but I'm not into using a gaming console for movie playback. You should also consider a PS3 since it's very popular among Blu-Ray enthusiasts. At one point, it was the best Blu-Ray player on the market but I don't know if that's the case anymore.

Peace...


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## merrim19 (Jul 8, 2008)

From the latest reports I've seen, the PS3 is still right at the top. However, I also am not interested in the gaming side of it and seems overkill for just a playback. Interesting note about the sound. I invested a fair amount into a Panasonic 5.1 receiver and speakers back in 2000. It has a DTS chip, but I'm unaware of the newer systems. I'd then wonder if, assuming I stick with my current receiver, the newer Blu Ray audio systems would not improve the sound quality.


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## Mr. Newton (Aug 26, 2006)

Aside from the sound quality,I was under the impression that a Blu ray player at 1080P could not display those extra lines of resolution on a 720P tv,therefore no point in getting a Blu ray player (for picture quality).Am I wrong ? I may be getting a up converting player and my tv is 720P,so I am interested in your thread.


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## tomdkat (May 6, 2006)

merrim19 said:


> From the latest reports I've seen, the PS3 is still right at the top.


From what I understand, the upconversion quality of the PS3 isn't as good as several standalone units, the Panasonic I listed included. Since you're considering an upconverting DVD player, it's clear you're interested in watching current DVDs on the player you do get. 

Here is one review of the PS3 compared to the Oppo DV-=983H, a newer model of player from Oppo than the DV-980H unit I mentioned above. It appears the PS3 doesn't do as well with upconversion of DVDs as one would hope. AVS Forum is a GREAT resource to get techie home theater gear-head info on all kinds of home theater related topics. Several industry insiders participate there as well. 

I felt obligated to mention the PS3 since it's so popular even though I wouldn't buy one for myself.



> I invested a fair amount into a Panasonic 5.1 receiver and speakers back in 2000. It has a DTS chip, but I'm unaware of the newer systems. I'd then wonder if, assuming I stick with my current receiver, the newer Blu Ray audio systems would not improve the sound quality.


All of the Blu-Ray players should still output Dolby Digital or dts compatible audio streams. In the world of dts, this is called a "core" stream. It's really neat to learn how these audio codecs work.  The player should be able to output Dolby Digital or dts audio your receiver today can decode, if you choose to go that route. If your receiver has 5.1 or 7.1 analog audio inputs, you can get a player with 5.1 or 7.1 analog audio outputs and let the _player_ decode the Dolby TrueHD or dts-ma HD signal. Toshiba HD DVD players often were used to decode Dolby TrueHD audio since A/V receivers with built-in decoders were not on the market when HD DVD first hit the street. 

I don't think you'll get the same audio improvement if you don't process the new audio formats since the Dolby Digital and dts audio you can process now won't be lossless. It just not might be a priority for you right now but something you can think about later. A/V receivers with built-in decoders of the new audio formats are coming down in price fairly quickly.

In any event, the Oppo digital unit might be a great short-term solution since it's a GREAT player, supports many audio and video formats (more audio than video), and can offer your TV a great 720p video feed, if you so desire. If you feed your TV a 1080i feed, it will downconvert the signal to 720p anyway, so you have some options (even if you decide to go with a Blu-Ray player).

Peace...


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## tomdkat (May 6, 2006)

Mr. Newton said:


> Aside from the sound quality,I was under the impression that a Blu ray player at 1080P could not display those extra lines of resolution on a 720P tv,therefore no point in getting a Blu ray player (for picture quality).Am I wrong ? I may be getting a up converting player and my tv is 720P,so I am interested in your thread.


If 720p is the native resolution of your display (TV, projector, etc), it will convert any video it receives to 720p. If your display can't accept a 1080p video signal, you should be able to feed it a 1080i signal and it will convert that to 720p. Any good Blu-Ray player should be able to interlace 1080i video from the 1080p (de-interlaced) source without problems so I wouldn't let "1080p" be an issue worth worrying about. If you get the least expensive, crap Blu-Ray player you can find then I would be worried. 

EDIT: Remember, upconversion address video resolution *only* and doesn't do anything for the audio side of things. Also, if you're interested in the extra feature content and interactive material Blu-Ray offers, like BD-Live, going Blu-Ray is your only choice.

Peace...


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