Regular DVDs on 360/PS3 or Standalone DVD Player?

[Sparkz]

I'm interested to hear people's opinions/facts on viewing regular DVDs on an Xbox 360, a PS3, or their dedicated DVD player. I'm not intending for this to be a discussion on HD-DVD or BluRay. Any Google searches that I have done on the subjected have resulted in that flame war. I just want to know if either next gen console could be a sufficient replacement for my standalone player.

 

Some background, my TV is a Toshiba 46H84, and my DVD player is Pioneer 578A. I have been very happy with this Pioneer, and have it connected to my receiver via analogue outputs so that I can also listen to DVD-A and SACD. I don't have many of these discs but enjoy them on occasion. I wasn't able to listen to SACD on the PS3 becuase I don't have HDMI on my receiver.

 

The PS3 connects to the TV via HDMI, and 360 and the Pioneer are both via component through a pelican switcher. At the moment, I only have 2 toslink cables, but there's room on the pelican for a third. The main reason I started this thread was to figure out if I should still use the Pioneer as the dedicated DVD player, or just reserve it for SACD listening.

 

I am happy with how each one plays DVDs, but have not been able to do a side by side comparison. My feeling is the PS3 through HDMI would have the best picture but I don't know if that is true. Also, my understanding is that since my TV either displays 1080i or 540p, it is doing the upconversion, so I don't need that feature in a DVD player. I'm not sure if that is a true statement or not. I usually watch DVDs with the settings at 1080i/film mode on the TV.

 

I'll be using the 360 and PS3 for their respective HD-DVD and BluRay players, but would welcome any recommendations if either would be better with regular DVD than the Pioneer.

[Carlucci]

I can't speak to picture/audio quality, but I made a choice to quit using my 360 as my primary DVD player for one reason. Wear-and-tear.

 

Since any DVD drive is mechanical, it therefores has a finite life expectancy. So I weighed the wear-and-tear of using my 360 as primary DVD, versus a cheapy DVD player, and the answer became obvious.

 

 

Carlos.

[EnemaEms]

I compared the DVD playback of the 360 with my Panny-CP72 DVD Player last year, and the 360 could not touch the Panny in the visual or sound department. I haven't tried the PS3 for DVD Playback yet.

 

-Dean-

[GunnerX]

I think as of now, the 360 HD DVD add on plays DVDs quite nicely. I used the PS3 to watch a DVD that I recently got (An Evening with Kevin Smith 2 because I'm in it ) and was not pleased with the results. The picture seemed dark and was not sharp.

 

I watched Monsters Inc. with the 360 HD DVD add on and the picture was extremely crisp and clear. It definitely rivals my old Toshiba SD5109.

[ChrisBardon]

I don't think that the ps3 or 360 will upscale any SD-dvd to 1080i over component or HDMI, will they? Only option looks like it's the 360 on VGA if you want a scaled picture.

 

(An Evening with Kevin Smith 2 because I'm in it )

 

So you were the guy in the Jesus costume

[GunnerX]

So you were the guy in the Jesus costume

 

Haha, no, luckily. Unlike him, I actually have a life. My friend and I were in the audience and were shown briefly. My friend beside me actually got a full close up. I'm the guy wearing a black T Shirt with my chin resting on my hand at 1:34:06. It was great fun though, Kevin and Mews were hilarious.

 

The 360 upconverts to 1080 through VGA but I haven't tried out how it looks yet. The PS3 only outputs DVDs at 480p max.

[King of All Cosmos]

DVD on the PS3 is astonishingly good. My standalone player is the highly regarded Panasonic RP-82, and the PS3's image is every bit as good as it using either HDMI or component output. I have an Xbox 360 too, but have never bothered trying its DVD playback.

 

Also note that you can play 2-channel SACDs on the PS3 using the supplied composite cable. HDMI is only necessary for multi-channel playback on the PS3.

[Jordan_E]

I liked the PQ with SD DVDs on the PS3 (whew, lotta letters there), and since it isn't getting a lot of use as a gaming machine I don't mind spinning the occasional SD on it at the moment.

[iainl]

My 360 upscaling over VGA to my screen's native 1360x768 looks insultingly better than my standalone Sony's playback over component. I really should get an upscaling DVD player, if only I could afford one that I know is any good.

[Dave C]

I really should get an upscaling DVD player, if only I could afford one that I know is any good.

 

I've been eyeing this one but I can't find the iso for the hacked firmware allowing 720p/1080i upscaling over component.

 

http://www.oppodigital.com/dv970hd/dv970hd.html

[exile]

Beyond the Oppo being good(which it is), the HD DVD players are quite good upscalers

[Dave C]

Beyond the Oppo being good(which it is), the HD DVD players are quite good upscalers

 

Yeah, I was thinking for an extra two hundred I can go with a standalone HD-DVD player. Perhaps I'll sell my 360 add-on and go that route. ...But with Blu-Ray gaining steam, I'm not sure if I want to invest any further in HD-DVD.

 

What are my current options again for HD-DVD players that upscale via component? For those models, how are the load times for standard dvd?

[exile]

What are my current options again for HD-DVD players that upscale via component?

They don't upscale via component. It's DVI/HDMI only. Sorry for the confusion.

 

AFAIK, The 360 will upscale if you use VGA.

[iainl]

Yes, it's VGA only if you want to upscale. Or just generally get the best possible image out of your 360, in my experience.

[Dave C]

Yeah, I think I should try getting a VGA to DVI adapter and give the 360 add-on a try. My Tv is a Sony KP-57WV700.

 

Based upon images from the following sites, I think I have a DVI-I (digital & analog) dual link connection.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVI

http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/model-documents.pl?mdl=KP57WV700 (marketing specs)

[GreenMonkey]

I guess this depends on the size of your display, viewing distance, etc.

 

On my 2 different projectors I've been able to tolerate nothing but a Faroudja-equipped upscaling DVD player. Anything, Xbox, PS2, cheap DVD player, etc all look awful in some circumstances.

 

To be honest, the difference between DVD players is not so much a function of good DVDs, but badly authored ones. Where a good DVD player shines is handling deinterlacing of crappily authored DVDs.

 

I've JUST gotten the aforementioned Oppo 970HD in house. I've got a component video wiring problem and so I needed a player to output HDMI/DVI to the projector but also component video to my 37" LCD. I'm going to be testing it out more when my longer HDMI cables come in from monoprice.

 

I find these benchmarks absolutely essential. They are not subjective "it looks great" judgments, but objective measurements of error-handling.

 

 

This page explains the benchmark and shows pics of some errors you might see:

http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/volume_7_4/dvd-benchmark-part-5-progressive-10-2000.html

 

If you don't want to read that much, do a find and scroll down to where it says "What it looks like when things go wrong". Combing and the visual glitch where it shows Weaving vs single field interpolation drive me crazy. Especially combing.

 

Now a perfectly authored DVD should not have any of these problems, but there's a lot of imperfectly authored DVDs out there.

(here they show how some popular DVDs have problem spots in them and show some pics of the testing process: http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/volume_10_1/dvd-benchmark-guide-to-progressive-scan-shootout-1-2003.html )

 

Difference between a good DVD player and a bad one:

 

How often does a glitch like this occur? Does it matter to you when it does? That image is from a special feature on the Big Lebowski disc.

 

Anime/animation in particular is VERY tricky to get right (I hear MPEG2 + animation isn't a good combo inherently) and artifacts stick out like a sore thumb on anime.

 

 

(BTW: self plug - I'm selling a Faroudja DCDi player that upconverts over component in the FS forum if you decide you want one).

[secretvampire]

I am using my 360 HD-DVD drive over component and then upscaled through my external DVDO scaler and I am quite pleased with the results. The PS3 is not an option for me as I have the Japanese model which is of course region-locked for SD DVD.

[Dave C]

Looking at the hometheater Hi-fi benchmarks, it appears both the 360 and the 360 HD-DVD add-on are decent dvd players:

 

http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/cgi-bin/shootout.cgi?function=search&articles=all&type=&manufacturer=0&maxprice=0&deInt=0&mpeg=0#NeodigitsHelios%20X5000%20(HDMI)

[Dave C]

I am using my 360 HD-DVD drive over component and then upscaled through my external DVDO scaler and I am quite pleased with the results. The PS3 is not an option for me as I have the Japanese model which is of course region-locked for SD DVD.

 

What else are you using the scaler for? Aren't the external scalers pretty expensive? That would seem like a very expensive solution over purchasing a standalone player that upscales via component.

[secretvampire]

What else are you using the scaler for? Aren't the external scalers pretty expensive? That would seem like a very expensive solution over purchasing a standalone player that upscales via component.

Well, it was also to bypass the 720p game issue on the PS3 since my CRT HDTV doesn't take a 720p signal or do HDMI. I can now scale anything to 1080i to my heart's content. Yeah, it was pretty expensive, but man is it cool.

 

Also, I sure love all of the flexibility it provides...I have every device in my rack, both A/V gear and consoles, outputting through a single component output to my TV. I can adjust the overscan and aspect ratio for each very quickly and save presets for the most common ones. My overscan for all sources is now 0%, I can fit the picture perfectly to the screen! The upscaling of SD material is of a higher quality as well from SD DVD to laserdisc, to all of the older consoles, it is just awesome. I get a 1080i signal out of everything!

[Dave C]

Ahh, I see. Still quite expensive but it's providing you some nice conveniences. If I were in your shoes, I may have been tempted sell the TV and put the cash you spent on the scaler towards a new TV. That would take care of your primary reason but as you mentioned, it provided secondary solutions as well.

[secretvampire]

Ahh, I see. Still quite expensive but it's providing you some nice conveniences. If I were in your shoes, I may have been tempted sell the TV and put the cash you spent on the scaler towards a new TV. That would take care of your primary reason but as you mentioned, it provided secondary solutions as well.

Thought about it for a few minutes, but after consideration, it made no sense. My CRT is 56" and was ISFed by Gregg Lowen within a few months of purchase, it still puts out a fantastic picture. All of my friends and relatives are getting new DLPs, Plasmas, and LCDs and I haven't seen one yet that matches the colors and black levels I get out of my set. My only tradeoffs? The size of the set's cabinet which doesn't bother me and no HDMI. I'll live without HDMI just fine for a long time now. The scaler should be useful for many years to come no matter what TV or projector I wind up with next, it will almost always trump the internal scalers found on consumer display devices. And yeah, all the other features more than make up for it...I have very few complaints about my TV left with the overscan fixed to perfection.

[Dave C]

Thought about it for a few minutes, but after consideration, it made no sense. My CRT is 56" and was ISFed by Gregg Lowen within a few months of purchase, it still puts out a fantastic picture. All of my friends and relatives are getting new DLPs, Plasmas, and LCDs and I haven't seen one yet that matches the colors and black levels I get out of my set. My only tradeoffs? The size of the set's cabinet which doesn't bother me and no HDMI. I'll live without HDMI just fine for a long time now. The scaler should be useful for many years to come no matter what TV or projector I wind up with next, it will almost always trump the internal scalers found on consumer display devices. And yeah, all the other features more than make up for it...I have very few complaints about my TV left with the overscan fixed to perfection.

 

:rock Glad to hear that from someone else. My 57" HD-RPTV was also ISF'd and other than space being an issue, I always tell my friends and coworkers not to rule out a CRT set. Todays CRTs viewing angles and uniformity in screen brightness are much more improved and should not pose a problem for most viewers.

[GreenMonkey]

Also, vamp's got a pile of oldschool gaming consoles, and those scaling units are THE thing to get for the oldschool console lover.

 

Even when he eventually ditches the CRT TV the scaler will still be very useful device.

 

Without all those classic consoles it would be a lot less useful. I considered one myself a few times.

 

These days, though, I'm just phasing out some classic games. I'm down to a handful of mostly Squaresoft SNES games and my beloved NES games I can't give up (like Dragon Warrior IV).

[Sparkz]

This past weekend I did a lot of comparison tests between the 3 players, including SACD 2 channel, and decided that I liked the picture best from the PS3.

 

But I forgot a crucial test...it failed the wife friendly factor. Navigating through the XMB was not going to happen, so the DVD player is getting hooked back into the setup. She has a preference for when she wants to watch a DVD that she can push all the buttons labeled "DVD" on the remotes and it will work.