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Upconverting & Region Free DVD Player Via Component?


Dave C

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Well, I was going to use my xbox 360 HD-DVD add-on via VGA to DVI for upconverting dvd but I also wanted a new region free player as well. So after much research, I've decided to go with the OPPO DV-970HD and reverting back to the 613AMOD.iso firmware.

 

http://www.lament.us/oppo/

 

Anybody using this player or have any other suggestions for a region free player that will upconvert via component?

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If you don't mind spending extra money for something more high-end and built like a tank, take a look at the Denon 2930ci, 3930ci, 5910, and 5910ci. I've been eyeballing these for the last couple of weeks.

 

I like "built like tank" players. I still have my Sony DVP S9000ES.

 

Can the Denons be made to do their upscaling via component?

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If you don't mind spending extra money for something more high-end and built like a tank, take a look at the Denon 2930ci, 3930ci, 5910, and 5910ci. I've been eyeballing these for the last couple of weeks.

They don't upconvert via component. HDMI only.

 

If you are considering HDMI upconverting at all..

The HD DVD players like the Toshiba A1 and A2 will upconvert via HDMI and as well as the Oppo and much less costly than the Denon's. They have the tank like quality at a bargain price and play HD movies to boot.

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The Toshibas aren't nearly as good as the Denons with their Realta chips, and there's not a single HD-DVD I'm interested in. I actually wouldn't be buying a new player for upscaling, since my Pioneer plasma does a superb job of that internally. I'd buy a Denon because they're great universal players, offering quality PAL, SACD, and DVD-A playback.

 

The Toshiba XA2 looks like a decent machine, I'd get one should any worthwhile exclusive HD-DVD discs come out.

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I placed an order for a refurb OPPO 970HD. $131 shipped. The refurb is direct from OPPO so I get the same return and warranty policy as a new unit.

 

Normally I won't do refurbs, but the feedback on AVS from those that did seems very positive. I'll report back with my experience once I do the component and region hack.

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Here's an example I hit this weekend of the weakness of the non-Faroudja deinterlacers. We watched the Rashomon Criterion collection DVD.

 

Afterwords I watched the special feature, an introduction to the film by Robert Altman.

 

Every time they cut from Altman to a scene from the film, the video from the film was combing like crazy. I was wondering what was up with it because it looked awful.

 

I checked and I had left the Oppo 970 on 720p (I had been playing around with the settings testing on my Olevia 337 LCD - the Oppo deinterlaces better than my Olevia). The deinterlacer in the Oppo couldn't handle it.

 

I switched it to 480i instead. This lets my projector handle the deinterlacing & scaling instead. This is why I bought the Oppo 970 - for 480i over HDMI (although I've still got it hooked up via component - haven't rewired yet). The Faroudja deinterlacer in my projector properly handled the video without ANY combing.

 

Note that the actual movie was fine. It was just the special features that were badly/incorrectly flagged.

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