‘If you’re buying a High-Def set, you have to buy an upconverting DVD to go along with it.”
So the salesman at the now-defunct Tweeter told me when I bought my 40-inch LCD TV three years ago. So I did as told. When you’re spending way more than you should on a TV, what’s another $100 or so added onto the bill?
Did it help? Hard to say. Looking back, my money’s on “no.”
Flash forward three years, and one of the alleged perks of buying a Blu-ray player is that it really upconverts your old DVDs, almost up to Blu-ray levels. Or so they say.
But does it work?
I’ve owned my new Blu-ray player for about two weeks, and I must say my old DVDs do look a tad better playing in the Blu-ray machine.
It’s not a night and day thing. But I tend to watch my TV set up close, and I’m noticing less grain and sharper images now than before.
Granted, my set is 720p and not 1080p, the industry’s gold standard. But after sitting through a few standard DVD viewings I do think there’s a difference.
Is that enough to make people buy a Blu-ray player, especially since many of the available Blu-ray titles are far more expensive than their DVD cousins? That’s up to you.
UPDATE: Dave on Film agrees … and he’s got better gadgets than I do!
Related posts:
on 
on 
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
I’ve been wanting a 1080p TV for awhile. I watched a house over a weekend (dogs) and enjoyed playing my xbox on a 72 inch television in High Def. Pretty cool. Watched movies on the smaller (not by much) tv in High Def and also tre cool. But I decided that since I’m not a movie buyer (love Netflix) and the cost is too much to invest in, I’m not ready. My real only preference in experiencing a High Def view is sports. You really haven’t experienced it until you watch a hockey game or football. I would love to experience that all year long. But everything is still so expensive. Until prices drop for everything, including TVs, DVD players and connectivity I’m staying with the tube.
I have two friends (honest) who, by coincidence, bought the same model 42-inch 1080P hi-def TV. One has an up-converting DVD player, the other does not. I can see the difference between the up-converted film and the regular. Whether a BD player does as well, I can’t say (my son is unimpressed with his BD setup, but he used a Sony PS/3 as his Blu-Ray player). A decent up-converting DVD player (the one here is from Yamaha) can make a difference, least near as I can see.
i have seen several upconverting dvd players and blu-ray players i mainly use a PS/3 and it works better than most stand alone blu-ray players that i have seen. not sure if Bob’s son has the optimum set up but with my 1080p set and hdmi cables it looks great.
To fill up all the pixels on a flat panel TV (or a modern projector for that matter) one piece of equipment or another has to do some manipulation of the pixel count. Where it is done – on the TV/Monitor or the player – means less than how well it is done. Here not all devices are equal. A good upscaling player or a better Blu-Ray may be better than what is in a particular monitor, but not necessarily. But as is often the case, newer – even if less expensive – is typically better than units made even a year or two earlier.