which HI DEF DVD player for under £300

[Celtic]

which HI DEF DVD player for under £300??

- I looked at the sammy hd945 and the panasonic s97 and the denon 1910???

which would you gurus recommend ???

cheers

[Sammy709Sony930]

None of these are Hi-Def, it ain't out yet!

However, they do scale normal DVDs to Hi-Def resolutions (1080i/720p).

Wait until X-Mas and get a true Hi-Def player.

Sammy 945 now replaced by 950 and both are like rocking horse poo for availability. Pana S97 gets good reviews and can be had for real cheap (<150) now.

[Dodgy]

So we can get an HD DVD player at Christmas, but what about content to play on it? Will there be a difference in quality with my current DVD media when played on a HD capable player and screen?
Dave.

[Celtic]

cheers Sammy :O0

I appreicate what you are saying... I suppose the main thing is that these players have HDMI ports and can handle 720 / 1080i etc....

as for true HDMI...we need to wait until they start mass producing the discs etc to go with the projectors, players and Tvs before we see the real benefits...

I bought Circue du Soliel (la nouba) and it's mastered in true Hi Def according to the DVD package...have to admit the quality is very very good....

[Phayze]

I've just bought a Momitsu v880n, wich isn't hi-def either, but will upscale anything to 720p/1080i, and it even has powerstrip-esque controls to get 1:1 pixel mapping. I mainly got it for the network streaming, but it should last me until HDDVD becomes commonplace (and I have a HD plasma).

[Celtic]

so am I right in saying that the present DVDs are hi def but the limited amout of hi def dvd available (ie* next to nowt) means they have to upscale ?

cheers dude

[DB2k]

My Oppo Digital player just shipped. Supposed to be the absolute best.
http://www.oppodigital.com/
http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/cgi-bin/shootout.cgi?function=search&articles=122
http://www.dvdanswers.com/index.php?r=0&s=1&c=7102&n=1&burl=

[Sammy709Sony930]

so am I right in saying that the present DVDs are hi def but the limited amout of hi def dvd available (ie* next to nowt) means they have to upscale ?

cheers dude

No.

Current PAL DVD is 720x576 lines IIRC, interlaced (i).

HiDef has 720 lines progressively scanned or 1080 lines interlaced rather than 576 interlaced.

Some DVD players now UPSCALE to 720p/1080i. This is output via either component (analogue) or HDMI (digital).

But if you use a Plasma it displays in its native resolution which varies between Plasmas. My Pioneer 434 displays 1024x768 no matter what signal it is fed with, as that is its native resolution. Upscaling adds things that aren't there to fill the gaps. When Hi-Def DVD comes along there will be no need to do this interpolation and it should be a 1:1 mapping => picture quality will be better.

[Kevin]

I've taken a look at the info on the Oppo (BBK) 971H and it looks a superb player.

Can anyone tell me the best place to get one for use here in the UK ? I can't seem to find any UK sellers of either the Oppo or BBK version. Does anyone know any different ?

Also, I will looking to use it with my HDMI LCD. Some people have said it comes with a DVI-HDMI cable, is this correct ?

Many thanks,
Kevin.

[Celtic]

that dvd player looks an absolute belter !

can anyone find out if it's available here ???

[Napoleon]

Before you read a website and get excited over a few specifications you should remember that quite apart from anything else,it will only play NTSC discs.

[Celtic]

hmmmm.....good shout

[Kevin]

Before you read a website and get excited over a few specifications you should remember that quite apart from anything else,it will only play NTSC discs.

The BBK specs certainly list the video output options as:

NTSC/PAL 4:3, 16:9 Progressive Scan.

But the Oppo forums do tend to say that the Oppo plays PAL discs but converts them (internally) to NTSC and outputs them as NTSC. Obviously for the US market, as Oppo is the US susidiary of BBK.

The BBK though would have to play and output PAL as standard purely because that is the European standard.

But good call on the Oppo. I will concentrate my search to the BBK player.

Also, I didn't just decide purely on specs, I also read numerous user reviews and official tests. Everyone rates the player very highly.

Kevin.

[Retronana]

Samsung HD-850, HDMI out, scales to 720p and 1080i, will output scaled image via component outputs with handset hack.

Avalible from all Comet stores AFAIK, £109.99