Ok, I confess I dont know how to tell good upconversion from bad upconversion. HELP!

[MerrickG]

Ok,

Most of my movie collection is still on dvd and I am very interested in getting the most out of that and one of the things I wanted was a bluray with good dvd upconversion technology.

It seems to be unaninmous that the Oppo player is the player that delivers this, but it was too expensive for me so I bought the LG 390 instead. I already own a Panasonic BD30 (which I will donate to my dad) and BD35 and a PS3 which I use only for gaming.

I own a 40 inch 1080p LCD and 50 inch plasma both by Samsung.

My question is:

How the heck do I tell good upconversion from bad upconversion or NO upconversion?

I have come to conclusion that NONE of the current bluray players seem to offer any difference in my DVD viewing experience. I have played with my old dvd player which had an option to turn off Progressive scan and I couldnt tell any difference with it on or off, nor could I tell any difference between 1080p or 480p. DVD just looked the same.

I have posted this same question on other forums, because I want a wide variety of answers.

If there is SOME way someone can prove that the Oppo offers dramatically better DVD upconversion, I will spend the extra $$$.

So far my view is upconversion is overrated and nothing more than a marketing gimmick.

Show me the error of my ways!

[Kris Deering]

merrick,

I will resort to the old saying, "IGNORANCE IS BLISS!!"

I have found that for most people's general entertainment that things like the subtleties of video processing and trying to identify what is or isn't good performance stand in the way of the general experience.

In other words, sit back and watch the show. Once you delve into the hair pulling nitpicky world of videophiles (or audiophiles for that matter), the whole point of why we love home theater so much seems to get lost in the never ending battle to simply find something wrong. One shouldn't invest their money in a home theater simply to nitpick the products on the market, one should invest to enjoy the experience of the movie. And if you can do that with your current system and honestly don't have any issues with your current presentation, by all means, enjoy the ride!!!

The Oppo is an outstanding player with exceptional video processing, but your Panasonic is no slouch either. With most content you will probably not see much of a difference. For the videophile, you almost go out of your way to find the content that seperates the two, even if this is simply a few choice titles that you wouldn't normally watch anyways! That is how ridiculous we are about these things, rather than just sitting back and enjoying a presentation that would literally blow the socks off of 99.99999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999 99999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999 999999999999999999999999% of the world's population. It is a sickness, please don't catch it.

[Jeff Kleist]

What Kris said

The reason why you weren't seeing a difference with your DVD player is because your TV's internal scaler was taking over

[MerrickG]

Originally Posted by Kris Deering

merrick,

I will resort to the old saying, "IGNORANCE IS BLISS!!"

I have found that for most people's general entertainment that things like the subtleties of video processing and trying to identify what is or isn't good performance stand in the way of the general experience.

In other words, sit back and watch the show. Once you delve into the hair pulling nitpicky world of videophiles (or audiophiles for that matter), the whole point of why we love home theater so much seems to get lost in the never ending battle to simply find something wrong. One shouldn't invest their money in a home theater simply to nitpick the products on the market, one should invest to enjoy the experience of the movie. And if you can do that with your current system and honestly don't have any issues with your current presentation, by all means, enjoy the ride!!!

The Oppo is an outstanding player with exceptional video processing, but your Panasonic is no slouch either. With most content you will probably not see much of a difference. For the videophile, you almost go out of your way to find the content that seperates the two, even if this is simply a few choice titles that you wouldn't normally watch anyways! That is how ridiculous we are about these things, rather than just sitting back and enjoying a presentation that would literally blow the socks off of 99.99999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999 99999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999 999999999999999999999999% of the world's population. It is a sickness, please don't catch it.

Do you feel the LG 390 delivers good performance for DVD? Dave said it was "average" at best.

[TenaciousDHo]

I agree with Kris... It's probably better if you can't tell the difference. I don't watch my SDVD's much anymore, but when I do, I tell myself "This is a regular DVD, it's not going to look that great, just watch the movie." Sometimes it works, sometimes... not so much. Watched the 1984 "The Killing Fields" last night on SDVD and it was an uncomfortable 2 hours of poor PQ/AQ.

Originally Posted by Kris Deering

For the videophile, you almost go out of your way to find the content that seperates the two, even if this is simply a few choice titles that you wouldn't normally watch anyways! That is how ridiculous we are

SO TRUE! I've got a few BD's that I wouldn't normally watch, but if it has really good PQ, I'll watch just about anything. I really want to get Baraka soon. As far as I'm concerned, there's no need to ever watch a movie like that if its not HD.

[Kris Deering]

Originally Posted by merrick97

Do you feel the LG 390 delivers good performance for DVD? Dave said it was "average" at best.

Haven't looked at one. The real question is, are YOU satisfied with its DVD performance. The only person that needs to be satisfied with the equipment you own is you, don't worry about what me, Dave or the members of any forum think. We aren't watching your system, so we certainly shouldn't be controlling your wallet.

Find reviewers you trust and narrow down your options when you are looking for new equipment. But make sure the decision to buy something is because YOU like it, not the masses or the reviewers.

[MerrickG]

Originally Posted by Kris Deering

Haven't looked at one. The real question is, are YOU satisfied with its DVD performance. The only person that needs to be satisfied with the equipment you own is you, don't worry about what me, Dave or the members of any forum think. We aren't watching your system, so we certainly shouldn't be controlling your wallet.

Find reviewers you trust and narrow down your options when you are looking for new equipment. But make sure the decision to buy something is because YOU like it, not the masses or the reviewers.

Ive never been satisfied with DVD performance. thats why I own bluray :-)
But I would like to know if what Im seeing is pretty close to the best I will see.
Ill be back later when I actually get the chance to "review" my LG390.

I got it today and had it shipped to my work.

[Johnny Vinyl]

I'm like you merrick. I don't really know if my PS3 or my Oppo 980H is the better DVD upscaler, but then I don't really care. I accept the fact it's DVD I'm watching, and if it's a movie I really enjoy then I will overlook the video experience for now. Like with Braveheart and Gladiator for instance. I've seen them many times (like most of us have) and I've enjoyed them each and every time. I thought the video for DVD was fine. I can tell you though that when it gets a Blu-ray release.......it'll be a quick buy!

John

[callas01]

I find that my panasonic 35 does a decent job of the upconversion process. I too have a sammy 40 lcd. What I notice is that some of the fuzzyness of the PQ is eleminated, and the picture looks a little sharper. Upconversion is not going to take a SD DVD and make it into blu-ray quality, so if that is what you are looking for, then I think yes you will be disappointed. I have gone back and forth with my Sony upconverter and my Panny BD10 when I first got it and the difference in upconversion was nil. Maybe the Toshibas and Oppos do a better job, but I still cant see having BD quality from a DVD, just isn't gonna happen.

I can say that when I watched Star Wars Empire Strikes Back at my neighbors on his old standard DVD player I was like wow, this is lousy, then I wen't home just to see how big of a difference there was and yes it is better overall.

[BluRoo98]

At the risk of being crucified - the one thing I REALY loved about my HD DVD player was the upconversion was INCREDIBLE! Now I dont claim to be an expert at what the equipment differences are techinically but my eyes thought it was incredible - I put in SD DVD version of POTC Deadman's chest and honestly it looked just as good as I see on my new blu-ray player on blu-ray format.

I am okay with someone who has more knowledge than me explaining why the HD DVD player is not good a good upconverter(I'm sure someone will say too much edge enchancment- but I dont know why that is bad)

Because I liked the HD DVD so much I considered buying the toshiba XDE - it even makes the colors richer - but I only have 2 HDMI port unfortunatley and I need to watch cable in HD also.

Any thoughts?

[callas01]

Originally Posted by HD2Blu

At the risk of being crucified - the one thing I REALY loved about my HD DVD player was the upconversion was INCREDIBLE! Now I dont claim to be an expert at what the equipment differences are techinically but my eyes thought it was incredible - I put in SD DVD version of POTC Deadman's chest and honestly it looked just as good as I see on my new blu-ray player on blu-ray format.

I am okay with someone who has more knowledge than me explaining why the HD DVD player is not good a good upconverter(I'm sure someone will say too much edge enchancment- but I dont know why that is bad)

Because I liked the HD DVD so much I considered buying the toshiba XDE - it even makes the colors richer - but I only have 2 HDMI port unfortunatley and I need to watch cable in HD also.

Any thoughts?

there were a few people on here that bought HD DVD players just for upconversion, I have heard they are very good at that, plus that is why I mentioned Toshiba in my post above. Their Reon(?) chips are supposed to be excellent...

[Clark Kent]

The Oppo will upconvert as good as any BD machine out there, but most users report very good upconversion by the LG 390. It is probably above average in that department while not being the best.

[syncguy]

Originally Posted by merrick97

Ok,

How the heck do I tell good upconversion from bad upconversion or NO upconversion?

I have come to conclusion that NONE of the current bluray players seem to offer any difference in my DVD viewing experience. I have played with my old dvd player which had an option to turn off Progressive scan and I couldnt tell any difference with it on or off, nor could I tell any difference between 1080p or 480p. DVD just looked the same.

Trust your eyes. If you cannot see any difference, probably there is no difference. Since you could appreciate blu-ray, you should see the difference of upscalers if there is any difference, I expect.

I can see that my PC is somewhat better in upscaling in comparison to PS3. Oppo should have a good upscaler. Probably they are using the same upscaler for both blu-ray and dvd players – so both Oppo blu-ray and dvd players could be the same for dvd upscaling..

I can see a huge jump in quality for blu-rays all and above any dvd upscaler.

Sit back and enjoy....

[MerrickG]

After looking at it and observing it. I think I might go ahead and order the Oppo from amazon and see for myself, cuz I did notice some instances of jaggies on my roomates Transformers dvd (I have the bluray!) and a lot of halos.

Would these things be present on the Oppo?

I am pretty obsessed with getting the most out of my DVDs.

[MerrickG]

I think I am going to go ahead and buy the Oppo and see if its indeed better. If not I will return it. If so I will return the LG

[MerrickG]

I think I will keep the LG390 player. Ive played a few dvds and I came to the conclusion that its just not likely that I am going to get much better PQ for DVD that would be worth the additional $200 I would have to pay to get the Oppo.

Plus this player has wireless and the media streaming options do have potential.

[KJH6926]

Originally Posted by Kris Deering

merrick,

I will resort to the old saying, "IGNORANCE IS BLISS!!"

I have found that for most people's general entertainment that things like the subtleties of video processing and trying to identify what is or isn't good performance stand in the way of the general experience.

In other words, sit back and watch the show. Once you delve into the hair pulling nitpicky world of videophiles (or audiophiles for that matter), the whole point of why we love home theater so much seems to get lost in the never ending battle to simply find something wrong. One shouldn't invest their money in a home theater simply to nitpick the products on the market, one should invest to enjoy the experience of the movie. And if you can do that with your current system and honestly don't have any issues with your current presentation, by all means, enjoy the ride!!!

The Oppo is an outstanding player with exceptional video processing, but your Panasonic is no slouch either. With most content you will probably not see much of a difference. For the videophile, you almost go out of your way to find the content that seperates the two, even if this is simply a few choice titles that you wouldn't normally watch anyways! That is how ridiculous we are about these things, rather than just sitting back and enjoying a presentation that would literally blow the socks off of 99.99999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999 99999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999 999999999999999999999999% of the world's population. It is a sickness, please don't catch it.

well said

[syncguy]

Originally Posted by merrick97

I think I will keep the LG390 player. Ive played a few dvds and I came to the conclusion that its just not likely that I am going to get much better PQ for DVD that would be worth the additional $200 I would have to pay to get the Oppo.

Plus this player has wireless and the media streaming options do have potential.

Good decision. Saved $200 that can be invested on blu-rays - definitely can see an increase in quality.

[bkbluray]

Originally Posted by merrick97

Ok,

Most of my movie collection is still on dvd and I am very interested in getting the most out of that and one of the things I wanted was a bluray with good dvd upconversion technology.

It seems to be unaninmous that the Oppo player is the player that delivers this, but it was too expensive for me so I bought the LG 390 instead. I already own a Panasonic BD30 (which I will donate to my dad) and BD35 and a PS3 which I use only for gaming.

I own a 40 inch 1080p LCD and 50 inch plasma both by Samsung.

My question is:

How the heck do I tell good upconversion from bad upconversion or NO upconversion?

I have come to conclusion that NONE of the current bluray players seem to offer any difference in my DVD viewing experience. I have played with my old dvd player which had an option to turn off Progressive scan and I couldnt tell any difference with it on or off, nor could I tell any difference between 1080p or 480p. DVD just looked the same.

I have posted this same question on other forums, because I want a wide variety of answers.

If there is SOME way someone can prove that the Oppo offers dramatically better DVD upconversion, I will spend the extra $$$.

So far my view is upconversion is overrated and nothing more than a marketing gimmick.

Show me the error of my ways!

I wanted the best DVD upconversion (I can tell the difference) so I bought the OPPO-980 on Craigslist for $100. The guy had barely used it, and it works perfectly! But really, it's only worth it if you can tell a difference.

[Grand Bob]

Originally Posted by TenaciousDHo

I don't watch my SDVD's much anymore, but when I do, I tell myself "This is a regular DVD, it's not going to look that great, just watch the movie." Sometimes it works, sometimes... not so much. Watched the 1984 "The Killing Fields" last night on SDVD and it was an uncomfortable 2 hours of poor PQ/AQ.

That's pretty much where I am. Having become used to the superior PQ and AQ of Blu-ray, I have a tough time watching standard DVD's anymore, upconverted or not. I realize many people have no problem with them, but I just can't enjoy them anymore, nor do I waste much time on extra features included with BD's that are presented in SD.