DVD or Blu-ray players

[Shu]

I'm asking you tech guys/girls here b/c when I was shopping for my tv they seem to only push what they want to sell and not help answer my questions...so

I just bought a HD TV(Samsung 40" 1080p 120hz 20k:1 contrast ratio LCD TV) and am looking into a surround system...I'm not looking to go big....$300-$500

I was looking at a DVD surround sound combo that has "up scaling" which from what I'm being told will take my dvd's that aren't HD and filter them to HD levels...

I know Blu-Ray is the "new" thing

Will Blu-Ray players play my dvd's that are already in my collection?If So will they "upscale" my current dvd's?

Will a dvd player play Blu-Ray disks?

This is the system I'm thinking of getting...
http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Samsu...il.do#proddesc


Thanks for the advice...

[Red Hot Sloth]

A Blue Ray player will play standard dvd's, but not HD dvd's.
A dvd player will not play Blue Ray or HD dvd's
The Blue Ray player will upscale your dvd's, but it will not be to the point of making them HD, but will improve the quiality.

If you like playing games and watching movies, you could geta PS3, it plays Blue Ray, and standard dvd's. Its actually fairly affordable as well, I think as low as $399 for the 40 gig unit.

[Shu]

I'm not a gamer...like watching sports and movies in surround sound...

[ShinKen]

remember one thing!! latelly HD-DvD is loosing big comanies support!! Well @ least one soo far in it was one of them big ones!! They may go out of style real soon is all I'm saying!~ but that's what I've heard!!


ahh yes in case u didnt get it go with blue ray!!

[Pato]

Blu-Ray has all but won the high def format war.

[Red Hot Sloth]

Well, you spent the money on a great 1080P screen.
A dvd player that upscales is not even going to get you to a 720P picture. It basically sharpens the resolution on a 480P or 480I player, so the improvement is marginal at best as far as upscaling goes.
To really make the screen pop, Blue Ray is really the way to go. I'm not a fan of the box systems, they always lack somewhere to be economical.

Is there a budget your working to stay within?

[garys]

I would go Blu-Ray, Warner Bros. Studios was the lastest to go to strictly Blu-Ray.

[TURNERob]

Yeah the upconvert is basically a waste. Blu-ray is the way to go for sure. Hopefully the movie prices will come down a bit in time, most newer releases are at least $30 so keep that in mind also. I went the PS3 route and a 1080p tv, gotta say it is pretty sweet. I can't get enough of HD

[foofighter]

You spent the money on 1080p spend the coin on a PS3 or (player to take advantage of the hidef movie even your old dvd's would benefit from the upscaling

[Red Hot Sloth]

When Sony developed the PS3 and sold 400,000 in less than a month when first introduced, I knew they would be more readily available than HD, just a matter of math really. And then I learned that the Blue Ray disks hold 10 times more information on them than dvd's, that means high rez images, and uncompressed audio...
Early last year LG started selling a player that played both formats, it was a little over $1,000. It was supposed to be a major step towards innovation, but I think something happened because I have not seen one around in any of the stores for several months, maybe longer. So, it might have been propietary laws jeopardized and systems employed without proper consent?

[Shu]

BluRay system
http://shop2.outpost.com/product/538...H:MAIN_RSLT_PG

DVD system
http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Samsu...il.do#proddesc

take a look at these two...this is the area I'm looking to spend and I need 2 components...sound and video...

currently my surround system is working but my dvd player is screwed up (everything on the screen is pink/red despite playing w/ the settings)...it is a cheap Lasonic surround that cost $99 5 years ago so I got my moneys worth...w/ the way technology changes and prices too....I don't want to dump a couple grand then next year it only be few hundred....so that is why I'm putting my budget $300-$500

and again I (no kids)don't play games so I'm not really interested in PS3

[Red Hot Sloth]

Originally Posted by TURNERob

Yeah the upconvert is basically a waste. Blu-ray is the way to go for sure. Hopefully the movie prices will come down a bit in time, most newer releases are at least $30 so keep that in mind also. I went the PS3 route and a 1080p tv, gotta say it is pretty sweet. I can't get enough of HD

I did the same thing. By the way...Fry's has the best selection of Blue Ray movies other than going online. And most of them are now around $24...with an decent amount for $19

[mazer75]

Though it's not officially over yet, it looks like BluRay is winning the war. The safest thing is to get a combo BluRay/HDDVD player, which are starting to come out now.

I haven't jumped into the HD ocean yet, still have my standard def CRT TV too! I'm waiting until I buy a house first to really get into it.

[Red Hot Sloth]

Originally Posted by Shu

BluRay system
http://shop2.outpost.com/product/538...H:MAIN_RSLT_PG

DVD system
http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Samsu...il.do#proddesc

take a look at these two...this is the area I'm looking to spend and I need 2 components...sound and video...

currently my surround system is working but my dvd player is screwed up (everything on the screen is pink/red despite playing w/ the settings)...it is a cheap Lasonic surround that cost $99 5 years ago so I got my moneys worth...w/ the way technology changes and prices too....I don't want to dump a couple grand then next year it only be few hundred....so that is why I'm putting my budget $300-$500

The first one has a rating of 10% THD (total harmonic distortion)
Thats a bad thing...what to look for is nothing over 1%THD.
Basically what it means is it isn't clean wattage. So if you get a little volume going things tend to get tinny, fuzzy, rattly...distorted, but probably better than the Samsung sound system, big reason is The Blue Ray capability.

[garys]

Shu, I have had that problem before with a progressive scan dvd player, for some reason when I pushed the progressive scan button everything cleared up....But it also could have been operator error

[Shu]

Originally Posted by Red Hot Sloth

The first one has a rating of 10% THD (total harmonic distortion)
Thats a bad thing...what to look for is nothing over 1%THD.
Basically what it means is it isn't clean wattage. So if you get a little volume going things tend to get tinny, fuzzy, rattly...distorted, but probably better than the Samsung sound system, big reason is The Blue Ray capability.

That is the problem I have...they don't all give the same info to compare or they do and call it something a little different....this shiat is soooo confusing...it was soo much easier to pick the tv b/c I could look at them and they all have the critical info listed(pixels/contrast ratio/refresh rates/hz)....

[Red Hot Sloth]

The ones that don't specify the THD I would stay away from, unless it's like Yamaha, Harmon Kardon, Onkyo.
I have a Yamaha, and it is rated at .07% THD. That means I can crank this thing up to 11 without getting distortion. If you have the money its best to piece the system together..like building a bike. If not, shop around, some of the box systems offer pretty decent quality at an affordable price.

[Shu]

Originally Posted by Red Hot Sloth

Well, you spent the money on a great 1080P screen.
A dvd player that upscales is not even going to get you to a 720P picture. It basically sharpens the resolution on a 480P or 480I player, so the improvement is marginal at best as far as upscaling goes.

Yes I bought a 1080p tv...but I can't tell the difference between 1080i or 1080p...the 1080p came w/ 120hz which I could tell the difference from the 60hz


the player that claim "upscales 480p(regular dvd) to 1080i"...is this not true? are they only going to 720i or p at best????

Originally Posted by Red Hot Sloth

..like building a bike. If not, shop around, some of the box systems offer pretty decent quality at an affordable price.

Thats what I'm looking for....so I can still spend money on the bikes

[TURNERob]

I agree about piecing the system together, that is what I did. Maybe just buy a Blu-ray player for now, then later on get a nice receiver, then some speakers....sub...etc. I bought my 5.1 receiver when 5.1 was fairly new and I still have no desire to upgrade it. 7.1 is overkill if you ask me. A good receiver, center channel and sub are probably the most important pieces.