Expensive DVD Players worth the money?

[S2KDDS]

I've got a sony 130.00 dvd player and want to upgrade. What do you guys have and is it worth the extra few hundred for an upconverting player?

Thanks

[MrMcGoo]

DVD upgrades depend on a range of factors. Progressive scan is excellent, if you have a display that will give you the full benefit. Another feature that might be important is i.link. The i.link allows similarly equiped receivers to decode high reo;ution music from SACDs and DVD-As. Both formats seem doomed at this time due to poor acceptance in the market.

A new generation of high definition DVD players is due out later this year. It is unknown whether there will be a format war, since there are two formats for HD DVD. I am going to wait for a second generation HD DVD player before I jump into the market. Prices will be lower and quality will probably be higher. New surround formats will come with HD DVD.

Bill

[marksdad]

in general, you get what you pay for. mcgoo is right, but waht he did not mention is the part about better build, transports, power supplies, overall electronics......... as i said you get what you pay for

[JewishAMerPrince]

You don't have to spend even a few extra hundred. For around $200-250 you can get the Oppo DV97 which is rated by SECRETS as one of the absolute top performing upscaling players available at any price. I have one and I can report that it works well and appears to be well built.

[rjahr01]

I've got a denon 2910 and I love it, the build qualit is top notch and it can pretty much do anything...but they are fairly expensive and you won't be able to fine one generally for less then $600

[Cal Blacksmith]

I went another way and it works excelent. I went with a HTPC. That is a PC that is dedicated to only HT. It upscales to the native format of your projector or TV. is proven, easily upgradeable to HDDVD.

I have a sound card that passes the audio to the reciever for decoding so there is no loss of audio quality.

The only negative is the sound of the cooling fan with stock PCs. You can get quieter fans or locate the PC in another place. I use Power DVD for my programs and they sell as an option, a remote control that works with your pc the same way a control would with a stand alone player.

This route deserves serious thought and concideration.

[psg]

I don't want to steal this thread, but what about those of us still using 4x3 conventional TVs? Mine is a 52" RPTV and I don't plan to upgrade to HDTV for years, and the TV doesn't accept progressive scan.

Any benefit to a new DVD player? I'lke to have SACD/DVD-A capability but they seem to be staying fringe formats anyway...

[pyroponic]

You can get the discontinued Denon DVD-2900 for $500 if you look around, which retailed for $1000 last year I believe. In fact, I think this model is better than its predecessor, the DVD-2910. Ever since I went with the higher end unit, I do notice a noticeable difference in terms of the build of the unit, cleaner sound and a more vibrant picture. Overall function seems to be improved also.

[Speedball]

Hi S2,

I went from a Sony 120.00 player to a Denon 2900 on a 27" Sony TV and the difference in picture quality is huge.

I believe the replacement for the 2900 is the 3910.