Samsung's new line of high-def upconverting DVD players

Samsung is making a big push with their new line of DVD players that upconvert video to high definition formats (720p/768p/1080i) with the DVD-HD850 ($199), the DVD-HD950 ($249), and the DVD-V9500 ($249). There are many DVD players now that upconvert to hi-def, but only Samsung has models that upconvert to the 768p format, which is the native numbers of lines many plasmas have (1366x768 is a quite popular resolution for 50-inch models). The players all have HDMI outputs, with the DVD-HD950 also adding support for both DVD-Audio and Super Audio CD (SACD). All three should be available by the middle of the year.

[Joey Geraci @ Dec 19th 2005 1:47AM]

would these work with older hi defs that have plain jane dvi without the hdcp? I'm not sure, but I thing the dvi on the back of my older tube (two years +) is plain dvi.

[Marc @ Dec 19th 2005 1:47AM]

Everything I have heard so far about upconverted dvd players is that they are a joke. It's not the same as a true hi-def show. You're better off buying a high quality, non-upconverted player than you are buying a cheapy upconverted player. It's a gimmick for these manufacturers to get people to buy new gear so that they'll just have to replace it AGAIN when the actual Blu-ray/HD-DVD players come out later this year or early next.

[Tony @ Dec 19th 2005 1:47AM]

The Samsung upconverting DVD players suck. They have all sorts of problems. And they are NOT the only ones that offer resolutions outside of 720p and 1080i. There are many others, most of which allow you to set any resolution you want (e.g. 1400x788.

As for upconverting players being a gimmick in general, sorry - you're wrong, but not for the reason you may think. They do - DEFINITELY - provide better picture quality in general. Why? Because they send the video signal out in digital form (DVI or HDMI). With a fixed pixel digital display (e.g. DLP, LCD, etc) with a digital video input, the improvement in quality is easily noticeable. The bigger the screen, the more noticeable the improvement.

But it has little to do with upconverting to 720p (or 1080i or whatever resolution). After all - your 720p display HAS TO DO THIS ANYWAY with any incoming signal. The key is that these upconverting players send the signal digitally.

For more info visit the AVS forums.

[ECM @ Dec 19th 2005 1:47AM]

The Bravo D2 (by V, Inc.) does this and the picture is amazing, though it's fairly no-frills beyond that, e.g. crappy remote, etc.

[Eric Lampi @ Dec 19th 2005 1:47AM]

I have a Smasung HD-841, it has DVI out and it pairs perfectly with my new Samsung 50" DLP. I have always HATED projection sets, but these look amazing, and the have a 160 degree viewing angle. Picture is sharp and colors are incredible. It cost me $3000, which is cheaper than all of the similarly sized Plasmas.. I think it looks better than most too. Size wise, it's about as deep as 2 plasmas together, and it only weighs 85 Lbs... My old 40" Sony Wega was 300 Lbs!

I did have some problems recently with my DVD player, but check this, you can update your firmware. Download it, burning it to a CD-R and pop it into the unit, press a button to enable the update and it's done in about 1 minute. It solved my problem and it even seems to look a little better. Both being Samsung, the DVI out DVD picture up-resing really does look amazing. Not as good as HD, but much better than a regular component DVD.

[Bill D. @ Dec 19th 2005 1:47AM]

I just got a samsung HD-850 when I purchased my Toshiba DLP last week. I have had some problems with the HDMI output kicking out when changing output res, and once when I left the power on screen for about 15 mins or so. To fix it I had to shut the TV off and the DVD player off as well, wait a couple minutes and repower back on TV first then DVD. If anyone has any ideas about that, or if there is a firmware update that fixes this, please let me know.

[Joseph Belec @ Dec 19th 2005 1:47AM]

I picked one of the latest Sony 40" LCD XBR Bravias the other day and tried it out with my progressive scan player through component inputs. Frankly, the output on the TV was crap. There were alternating vertical bars about an inch wide an inch apart that had pixels that seemed to be shimmering. Tried different component cables and even S-video looked better. Then I went out and bought one of the Toshiba upconverting players using HDMI cable. Wow! What a difference. It's not as good as true HD programming but much better than progressive scan through component inputs.