What to buy today: Upconverting DVD player or Blue-Ray?

[rick-l]

Is the S-video input a separate input form the one the Wii is attached to. Sometimes the two share a single input. Like AVI-1 s-video will be the same input as the three coax connectors.

If you have an up converting DVD will a composite video give you all the resolution you need?

[LeeH]

I think I'm going with a $60 Phillips upconverting DVD. My wife pointed out we've had about 2 years worth of use out of our last two DVD players before they died. By the time the new one dies there will be more Blu-Ray content and cheap players.

[einreb]

Originally Posted by legion

I can't get my old DVD player to work with my new receiver and TV.

I have HDMI running from the receiver output to the TV.

I have Svideo (no HDMI on DVD player) and fiber optic audio running from the DVD player to the receiver. No picture or sound.

That may be your problem. Receivers often need to have the output be the same as the input source.

Try running component (RGB) from the dvd directly to the TV if it has it. The only issue there is that you would likely need to change the video source on the tv when watching the dvd.

The sound has me confused. Did it work previously? On my Yamaha, I seem to recall needing to select a digital signal for the sound input from the dvd to get that to work.

[legion]

Receiver and TV are brand new. I'm wiring it all up for the first time.

I bought the receiver so that I could change everything at one source. (I had a very complicated system in place before...)

Oh, and the receiver does not mind Svideo from the Wii...

[CORNICE6]

Sony Playstation 3 (Blu-Ray) for $249.99 + shipping= $284 direct from Sony Rewards. Open a Playstation Visa then pay off.

http://www.sonyrewards.com/en/gateway/?offerlink=gbpsc150

[Gogar]

Originally Posted by legion

Receiver and TV are brand new. I'm wiring it all up for the first time.

I bought the receiver so that I could change everything at one source. (I had a very complicated system in place before...)

Oh, and the receiver does not mind Svideo from the Wii...

If you know the S-video connection is good all the way from the Wii, have you just tried plugging the DVD player into the Wii's S-video cable?

A LOT of those older DVD players have LOTS of 'either-or' menus. Like, composite OR s-vid, etc.

In your last system, was the DVD hooked up with s-video? If not, maybe you need to just hook it up really simply to a random TV and go through its menus and see what's up.

[Deschodt]

If you cannot tell the difference between blu-ray and upconverted DVDs, you need to make an appointment with your local LensCrafters ;-)

That said, I agree, Blu-ray are horribly expensive still, players and individual DVDs ! You're just now seing $150 units at Walmart (not that I'd go there) or $200 for brands elsewhere. Or pay $400 and get a free PS3 with it ;-)

The way to go is not to buy any DVD and rent from Netflix. Personally, after building a 400 DVD collection once, I'm not falling for it again with Blu-ray..who knows, they might have super-duper purple ray in 3 years... I'm renting from now on !

PS: in my experience, upconverting makes a DVD "tolerable" on a big screen HDTV. As good as it was on a non-HDTV, if you will (if not upconverted, it looks worse)... Not "great", just tolerable. But it's the safest bet for now !

[rammstein]

PS3. You get to play gran turismo.

[mean_in_green]

Just seen this exact comparison on a TV show here. Verdict?

BlueRay is significantly better: colour richness, definition etc.

The fancy DVD players fall short.