What is the best upconvert DVD player/recorder that can be bought at BB B&M?

hiccupleftovers

hiccupleftovers

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^^ Basically as it says above. I kind of want to get it as soon as possible (i.e. today if at all possible) so all help is always greatly appreciate.

Edit: Oh and it needs to also be able to play Xvid/divx/avi.

Edit:

You know what guys, it doesn't have to be include a recorder if a stand alone player is the better choice or option. Even pricewise that would help. Whatever you guys think is the best.
 
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PS3 is supposed to be an amazing upconverting DVD player with the new FW.

360 is supposed to be decent, though a dedicated player is supposed to be better.

One of the best I've heard of isn't sold at BB, unfortunately, and it's the Oppo players. Everyone I've seen talk about them raves about the quality.
 
I went through AVSForum.com to find out what people though and basically, most DVD Recorders don't have the capability to look as good as an upconverting stand alone DVD Playe. I picked up a Sony from the link below based on suggestions and I couldn't be happier. Blows away the 360 DVD player and my DVD Recorder, not to mention it upconverts to 1080p. Hope that helps :)

http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Sony...86042/catOid/-12873/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do
 
Just my opinion, but my Philips DVD Recorder that I just purchased a year ago is probably one of the worst purchasing decisions I've made in a long long while. Remote doesn't respond to button pushes until the second or third time, decides it doesn't want to finalize something and that 2 hours you spent recording becomes a coaster, recording quality is mediocre at best, and play quality is definitely subpar. I can't really say on the DVD Player 'toogood' is talking about, but as far as my experience with Philips DVD Recorders, stay as far away as possible.
 
[quote name='shrike4242']PS3 is supposed to be an amazing upconverting DVD player with the new FW.

360 is supposed to be decent, though a dedicated player is supposed to be better.

One of the best I've heard of isn't sold at BB, unfortunately, and it's the Oppo players. Everyone I've seen talk about them raves about the quality.[/quote]

Hold up, 360 can upconvert? Is it with the HD stand alone or just by itself?

What is FW from your PS3 comment?

I've heard of the oppos be raved about everywhere, but sadly I need to limit my purchase to BB at the moment.
 
You know what guys, it doesn't have to be include a recorder if a stand alone player is the better choice or option. Even pricewise that would help. Whatever you guys think is the best.
 
[quote name='hiccupleftovers']
What is FW from your PS3 comment?[/quote]

If you're asking what does FW stand for, he means the new Firmware upgrade available. If you're asking which FW, I haven't a clue. :)

I'm not sure what kind of TV you have (1080i or 1080p), but I really like my Sony 5-disc carousel with 1080i upconvert via HDMI (pretty sure all upconverts would have HDMI at this point). BB & CC usually have it on sale for ~$120-$130 now. I would almost rather have a 5-disc changer over upconvert if I had to choose, so this one was a no-brainer for me. I've had it for over 6 months now, and it's been a joy with no downside. Even has features I didn't know were possible, like a 5 memory last-play even when I've taken the DVD out of the carousel completely.
 
[quote name='AlphakirA']Just my opinion, but my Philips DVD Recorder that I just purchased a year ago is probably one of the worst purchasing decisions I've made in a long long while. Remote doesn't respond to button pushes until the second or third time, decides it doesn't want to finalize something and that 2 hours you spent recording becomes a coaster, recording quality is mediocre at best, and play quality is definitely subpar. I can't really say on the DVD Player 'toogood' is talking about, but as far as my experience with Philips DVD Recorders, stay as far away as possible.[/QUOTE]

Can't really comment on the DVD Recorder since I've never used them, but the dvd players made by Philips has never given me any problems. I was using the Philips D642 before I bought my HDTV and it worked flawlessly for the pass 3 years. I recently bought a 46" Sharp Aquos 46D62U and an OPPO DV-981 player (since it's one of the best ranking up-converting player around). But then I saw the Philips at costco for less than half the price of the OPPO and I tried it out. The PQ was on par with the OPPO, which was returned. If you need more info on the player, including how to make it region free, please check out the link below.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=819468&page=1&pp=30
 
[quote name='hiccupleftovers']Hold up, 360 can upconvert? Is it with the HD stand alone or just by itself?

What is FW from your PS3 comment?

I've heard of the oppos be raved about everywhere, but sadly I need to limit my purchase to BB at the moment.[/quote]
360 does upconverting via VGA or via HDMI. Won't do upscaling over component.

FW = firmware, with the 1.8 FW, I think they made upscaling on the PS3 look very very good.
 
I don't know about a DVD recorder, but I have a Panasonic upconverting DVD player, and a PS3. The PS3 is by far the better of the two for making DVDs look good.
 
Toshiba HD-XA2.
Best HD DVD and DVD upconverting player on the market because of the Reon chip inside. Has received stellar reviews from every home theater site out there. Its spendy, but you get what you pay for.

As someone else said, HD-A2 or HD-A20 are both excellent HD DVD players along with DVD upconverters. Not quite as good as the XA2, but they're also cheaper.
 
http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/cgi-bin/shootout.cgi?function=search&articles=all

check that link... should tell you everything you need to know about ranking. That being said, buy the oppo 980, it's not available at B&M, but you're not going to get the performance you will with an oppo (not to mention region free, and usb connectivity, yeah for playing divx files off of thumb drives). www.oppodigital.com

Basically the scheme goes like this Toshiba HD-A2 > Oppo 981 > PS3.

Xbox 360 upconverting fails every single test out there, you're better off letting your TV do the upconverting from an RCA jack out of your DVD player.

I recommend the 980 over the 981 just for the usb thumb drive connectivity, the only problem with the 980 compared to the 981 is it fails 2:2 cadence, which you'll never see unless you watch PAL imports.
 
[quote name='brendan424']http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/cgi-bin/shootout.cgi?function=search&articles=all

check that link... should tell you everything you need to know about ranking. That being said, buy the oppo 980, it's not available at B&M, but you're not going to get the performance you will with an oppo (not to mention region free, and usb connectivity, yeah for playing divx files off of thumb drives). www.oppodigital.com

Basically the scheme goes like this Toshiba HD-A2 > Oppo 981 > PS3.

Xbox 360 upconverting fails every single test out there, you're better off letting your TV do the upconverting from an RCA jack out of your DVD player.

I recommend the 980 over the 981 just for the usb thumb drive connectivity, the only problem with the 980 compared to the 981 is it fails 2:2 cadence, which you'll never see unless you watch PAL imports.[/quote]

I would get an Oppo because everything I've read anywhere leads to them. Everyone recommends them, but again, I have to buy this through BB at the moment.

That list is great, but it hardly has any Samsungs and not the one I listed above.
 
That link has all the benchmarks for all samsung players. I guess they didn't review that product that you linked specifically b/c it's not a dedicated player. Anyways it only scales to 1080i, and I doubt it contains a better scaler than their top of the line standalone dvd player (all the ones on top are blu ray players with reon chips in them). And they're blown away by the oppo.

http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/cgi-bin/shootout.cgi?function=search&articles=all&type=DVD+Player&manufacturer=27&maxprice=0&deInt=0&mpeg=0#SamsungDVD-HD755%20(HDMI)

My recommendation, sell the gift cards or whatever is tying you to the beast, and get an oppo 980. We'll be stuck with sd dvd for a while so you might as well get something that you'll love for a long time, instead of something that merely fills the hole... poorly.
 
Anybody have a site with reviews of just Samsung players (preferably the ones at BB) other than the site that has been posted?

I can't get an oppo (even though I really really would if I could) so that is simply out of the picture.
 
I doubt those samsungs pass any 3:2 cadence tests, since their higher end models seem to have a problem with it, go with a ps3 or an toshiba HD-DVD player. The high end HD-dvd players make amazing progressive scan dvd players. A35, X2, X1. PS3 is right up there with the oppo, just fails the 3:2 cadence.
 
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