nice thread, just wanna ask u guys, i planing to get a 29 incher sony crt, with 1080i,720p and 480p support,

which dvd players u guys recommends?

since its a cheap tv, the only HD connections choice are analog component in, so i dont think i need a hdmi players, just one tat can upscale to 1080i or 720p nicely...

thx in advance....

Sony NS76H does upscale to 720p and 1080i. You get to choose somore.



The cheapest one is the Samsung. You still need a HDMI player to help you upscale only that you can't us HDMI cable to help you.

Upscales while playing AVI files? As I read from quick search on google, it does upscale to only 720x576.

I think its pretty hard to find dvd player which upscales at 720p or 1080i. As i know Oppo's model can do it. Maybe got other brands, but I am not sure. However I have found a site which shown images of Sony DVP-NS76H in action on 576p on component and 720p on HDMI.
http://simon.oconnorlamb.com/sonyDVPNS76H_..._upscaling.html

This post has been edited by mikelee: Jan 8 2007, 02:33 PM

Sorry, my mistake. I didnt see the DVIx there... sorry. I thought normal upscaling.

The latest pricing from my friend's shop, Denon 2930 is RM3300, Denon 3930 is RM5600 and Pioneer 989 is only RM2700 (yup, the price dropped b'coz nobody wants it anymore since it can't do 1080i, it ended up like Toshiba's first generation HD-DVD player with the 1080i maximum resolution). The price is expected to drop further but for Denon, not a chance but if you do listen to DVD-Audios and SACDs, it sounded a lot better, highly recommended, now thinking of trading in my Pioneer 989 for a Denon 2930.

where did u brought it?

Thanks for the clarification. At least now I know how much it cost to invest for the big screen including HDMI DVD player.

Look like the pocket will get a big hole once steps into HD technology

Nah, think positively my friend, it's an investment and audiophile stuff are men's best friend after your wife or girlfriend.

It will cost a bomb but if you don't get a decent display and player, then you're missing a lot from the HD era. It will be most costly than buying an average display or player and selling them here or trading them for a better one, you'll loose more money in the long run so if you wanna buy, just get the best that you can get within our budget, get some advice and comments from the forumers here and you won't go wrong. Of course, alternatively, do read a few Hi-Fi magazines as a rough guidance too.

Lots of ppl have bad impression with Sharp 32BX due to its taiwanese panel. But after 3 months of intensive testing and calibrating, i am happy to say that its actually not bad depends on its source. The factory setting will have certain amount of red push so u may want to fine tune it in the advance setting. I tried with 1080P WMV, D9,D5, all kinds of media files and normal tv broadcast, here is what i think:

1) 1080P WMV- Superb! At least to my eye. But 1080P is too new for me so i really dont know how good it can be. The Magic Of Flight_1080.wmv downloded from Microsoft is simply awesome and there is no grain what so ever when u stare at the bright blue sky. And the smoke trail of the plane do not exibite any color patch as well.

2) D9- D9 looks fanstastic even without any upscale, with ffdshow, it is even better.

3) D5- Depends on the quality of the encoding, some "ahem" can look very grainy. But if its a re-code from D9, then i really cant tell the difference between the 2.

4) Media files- RMVB looks ok after upscale with ffdshow, but some times its may looks a bit too patchy and the grey scale is less than adequate, but this is the nature of RMVB and its more obvious when play on LCD. High bitrate AVI and other format looks good too.

5) Tv broadcast- This is the only thing that i am not sure. I got very bad picture quality on all channel except Channel 8 and TV3. I dont know if its because of my signal coming out from the wall antenna socket is bad, or its just the tv problem. Too bad i dont have a CRT with me, but i do know that LCD suffer from PQ when playing back analoge tv broadcast, but i just dont know how bad it could be.

Overall, i think Sharp 32BX6 is a good buy. Off course it cant compite with other hi-end model like Sharp GA/G7 series, Sony V/X series, and Samsung M/F series. But for those model within the same price range, its 1 of the best.

And i dont understand why Sharp keep using back the same "Violin" demo disc, that demo is just yellow yellow and full of yellow color. I bet 10 ppl who stand in front of Sharp will not give it a second look when they saw the demo nest to a Sony/Samsung. Just my 2 cents.

Well, The player is considered peanuts if compared to other investments on the AV.

But I never regret every single sen on my Home Theater. Everytime I watch a movie in the house, I feel like I need to buy ticket, then when finish, I feel like you go cinema and movie finish time. Ha! HA!...

I get the best seat, I get the best sound effect seat... But of course, my mom says it feels like watching movie in the class kambing (olden times, front rows are cheaper, they call it class kambing).

Bought it at TBM (Tan Boon Meng) and the price is valid fo cash term. Credit card +2.5%.

I was seriously considering the 42BX5M. I spent quite sometime on this unit at the neibourhood electrical shop that so happen has this on display and the owner (very niceguy) let me fiddled with it. it gives me a feeling of "still not there yet", perhaps is the effect after being psycho-ed by alamakLor....... Since it falls under leauge of entry series, i opted for value buy- LG. the other important factor is its ability of doing 1:1 pixel mapping on DVI-HDMI.

I would say there is not much diferrent playing 1080p or 720P on a 720p screen in term of PQ. well, it depends also type of connection from HTPC to the TV as well. as for my case, i can achieve 1:1 pixel maping hence the play back of any media is fully on the gfx card to do the scaling.

On upscaling via FFDShow, i have strange problem. I've set resize to "all supported" and it works well with all type of medias except RMVB. sometime it kicks in but some time it won't for RMVB. I'm really puzzled with this. Do you have any idea?

As i said u cant compare it to the higher end model, but i think its better than LG which for me is too bright and grainy. As for ffdshow, i put YV12 instead of all support, and i use media player classic for playing back. If u are using MPC also, try un-check the rmvb from MPC internal filetr so that ffdshow can load. Try that and let me know if it works.

thanks a lot.... will try it at home.

yup, LG is too bright and it has no back light control option on standard menu. i'm yet to try the service menu if there is an option to tune the back light. the grainy picture might due to it inferior XD Engine.... on PC mode XD is inactive and the PQ is just fabulous.....of course depending on the source file.

So yours is 32" or 37" and how much u get it for?

i got myself 42", little bit overkilled for viewing distance of ~10 feet........paid rm 6K for LG, Sharp will cost me RM7.5K. the saving might be enough to get me a cheapo 26" for the room leh.......

i have samsung, and love it

Wow they way you say it, its like you are having a Gold Class in your own house. Mind taking some pics of your cinema?

Imho, 42" is just nice for 6-8ft. I'd go 50" once the distance hit 10-12ft. So, no, not overkill at all.

I never looked at LG LCD, not a big fan of the brand (LG-Philips), but they tend to make pretty good budget stuff! No backlight control is a real PITA, especially if you are watching movies without light. Hope you can find it in the SM.

Ya agree with the LG, but Philips seems ok even if they use the same panel. And hi-end Philips use Sharp panel though, but their image processor is superior to both LG and Sharp, just the price is scary

Sharp's panels are horrible, I'd stick with Samsung's panels for minimum banding and dead pixels. I know Sony uses Samsung's panels as well..not sure about the Bravia line. The panel is just one factor affecting the quality anyway - mainly brightness uniformity, I think the image processor and circuit would make a bigger difference. Looking at their Aquos line really makes me