Toshiba DVD with HDMI & DIVX @ HBC $129.99 less 15%

[the dude abides]

I went to the HBC @ Erin Mills Town Centre and scored the Acer 32" LCD deal :lol: . I also picked up a Toshiba SD 4990 DVD player. It upconverts and plays DIVX for $129.99 less 15% for Boxing Week. Better than FS or BB.

Anyone have any experience with the Toshiba? epinions users complained about freezing.

[BB88]

I don't think a upconvert DVD player worths that much. At that price you can almost buy a upconvert DVD recorder

[cheap_guy]

should be around 100 on sale... I think I've seen it for 80 before, but I can't be 100% sure, it may have been the sd4980

[nextboy]

http://www.bestbuy.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?logon=&langid=EN&sku_id=0926INGFS10072568&catid=20208

[cl8ter]

You could pay $20 more for the DVD Recorder with DiVX & HDMI from BB. It also up-converts.
http://www.bestbuy.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?logon=&langid=EN&sku_id=0926INGFS10073084&catid=20210

[Beradon]

You could pay $20 more for the DVD Recorder with DiVX & HDMI from BB. It also up-converts.
http://www.bestbuy.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?logon=&langid=EN&sku_id=0926INGFS10073084&catid=20210This one is nice as it does play & record on dvd-ram but it can't record to dvd+r/rw. Only dvd-r/rw's.

[the dude abides]

I can't complain about $10 after the smoking hot deal I got on the Acer 32" from them. I'm more concerned that it is a wonky DVD player.

[Drew_W]

Almost better to buy an Oppo 970 at $169 and have the security of the best customer support in the industry and proven reliability. It just won Budget Component of the Year from The Absolute Sound.

[dP21]

Almost better to buy an Oppo 970 at $169 and have the security of the best customer support in the industry and proven reliability. It just won Budget Component of the Year from The Absolute Sound.

Where can you get the Oppo? I'm in the GTA.

[edsy2k]

Where can you get the Oppo? I'm in the GTA.

http://www.onlybestrated.com/

[Drew_W]

Where can you get the Oppo? I'm in the GTA.

Or from me, without having to pay a pickup fee like with OBR. See my signature.

[kud0s69]

for under 50 bucks you can get a RCA Upconverting HDMI Divx DVD with a built in card reader at RCSS. That actually looks really good. Probably very comparable quality to an Oppo 970 for 1/3 the price.

[RTM]

Is there a good place in Montreal to get the Oppo equipment ?

Rob

[Drew_W]

for under 50 bucks you can get a RCA Upconverting HDMI Divx DVD with a built in card reader at RCSS. That actually looks really good. Probably very comparable quality to an Oppo 970 for 1/3 the price.

Very comparable on what? A 13" kitchen TV? Anyone can make an 'upconverting' player, but it's another thing entirely to make a good one. I'll bet that any decent TV's internal scaler will be equivalent to or better than any of those cheapie players.

[Drew_W]

Is there a good place in Montreal to get the Oppo equipment ?

Rob

There are no Oppo dealers in Montreal. I offer $12 shipping to Montreal, so it's not all that expensive to get one to your door. Plus, no QST, so getting one shipped to you would actually be CHEAPER than you buying one locally.

[kud0s69]

Very comparable on what? A 13" kitchen TV? Anyone can make an 'upconverting' player, but it's another thing entirely to make a good one. I'll bet that any decent TV's internal scaler will be equivalent to or better than any of those cheapie players.


You sell Oppo dvd's right?

[Drew_W]

You sell Oppo dvd's right?

I sell them because I think they're excellent machines. They're the least expensive items I sell by far, and also by far have the smallest margins. If they were crap, I wouldn't bother to sell them.

You can buy your cheap $50 DVD player, but again, your TV's internal scaler is likely going to give you the same or a better picture, so the 'upconversion' then becomes a novelty. You cannot argue the Oppo's PROVEN video quality in benchmarks. You can see on the same benchmark how poorly other players fare, even some costing much more. If you're going to get an 'upconverting' player, make sure that upconversion process in the DVD is going to be better than what your TV already has to do.

If you spend the money for a decent HDTV, why on earth would you go out and skimp on another $100 for a proper DVD player?

[kud0s69]

I sell them because I think they're excellent machines. They're the least expensive items I sell by far, and also by far have the smallest margins. If they were crap, I wouldn't bother to sell them.

You can buy your cheap $50 DVD player, but again, your TV's internal scaler is likely going to give you the same or a better picture, so the 'upconversion' then becomes a novelty. You cannot argue the Oppo's PROVEN video quality in benchmarks. You can see on the same benchmark how poorly other players fare, even some costing much more. If you're going to get an 'upconverting' player, make sure that upconversion process in the DVD is going to be better than what your TV already has to do.

If you spend the money for a decent HDTV, why on earth would you go out and skimp on another $100 for a proper DVD player?

Wow you sure seem angry that I mentioned a 50$ Dvd player.

Obviously you have used the RCA DVD and know that it can not compete with the precious Oppo line.

I stand corrected.

And as for spending more? DVD is out of date. Why would you spend more on a DVD player is a better question. If your a true video file, you need HD or Blueray.

[Drew_W]

Wow you sure seem angry that I mentioned a 50$ Dvd player.

Obviously you have used the RCA DVD and know that it can not compete with the precious Oppo line.

I stand corrected.

And as for spending more? DVD is out of date. Why would you spend more on a DVD player is a better question. If your a true video file, you need HD or Blueray.

Are you looking for an argument? The inflammatory nature of your posts yields no gain to the general forum population. If you'd like to continue this conversation, you're welcome to e-mail me.

PS. DVD out of date? I don't think so.

[kud0s69]

Are you looking for an argument? The inflammatory nature of your posts yields no gain to the general forum population. If you'd like to continue this conversation, you're welcome to e-mail me.

PS. DVD out of date? I don't think so.


I said I was wrong, yet you take that as me being inflammatory in regards to my comments? Whats up with you?

I am sure you are right about the DVD as well. 5 years from now, I am sure there will be more DVD's than HD/Blue-ray dvd's.

So I have agreed with you on all points. Buy the Oppo! Better yet, buy it from Drew!

[daffod]

i dont understand if i have digital feed of low resolution will this dvd increase resolution to show me 1080i ??? when source is weak i dont think any thing can change quality of video.

[Drew_W]

So I have agreed with you on all points. Buy the Oppo! Better yet, buy it from Drew!

Let me ask you this - how is your patronizing me helping the situation?

[kud0s69]

Let me ask you this - how is your patronizing me helping the situation?

You quoted me first buddy.

Not to mention I supported your sales pitch of Oppo? I even asked people to buy em from you!

Geeze, whats a guy gotta do?

[Drew_W]

i dont understand if i have digital feed of low resolution will this dvd increase resolution to show me 1080i ??? when source is weak i dont think any thing can change quality of video.

You're absolutely right. Garbage in, garbage out, at least to some degree.

Say you have a 1080 television, that is a 1920x1080 resolution. A DVD has a resolution of 720x480. So now something has to fill in all the pixels to fill the TV's native resolution. You have two options - feed it a lower resolution signal, like 480p, and have the TV scale the picture up to resolution, or use your DVD player to output a resolution that matches that of your panel. All TVs have built in scalers, some (much) better than others. The reasoning behind a proper upconverting DVD player is to offer a better scaling and video processing solution than your TV has internally. This is why it's pointless to buy a crap 'upconverting' DVD as that 'upconversion' process contained in said crap DVD player is likely not superior to that of your TV, rendering the 'upconversion' process a novelty. The quality of your video dramatically depends on the video processing and scaling done to fit a panel's resolution. It's not a problem of a bad source, it's a problem of in many cases poor solutions to fill in the extra pixels. Done poorly, this makes a poor source even worse. Done properly, it might even improve a source (see an example of what DCDi does here: http://www.solutionsav.ca/images/DCDi_directionalcordei.jpg)

I hope this makes sense. All 'upconverting' DVD players are not made equal, and it's much more than just a marketing term (or sadly, it's only a marketing term in the case of many DVD players on the market).

[Drew_W]

You quoted me first buddy.

Not to mention I supported your sales pitch of Oppo? I even asked people to buy em from you!

Geeze, whats a guy gotta do?

I'm here to promote education, not make a continuous sales pitch. I'm going to end my conversation with you there.

[Beradon]

This is why it's pointless to buy a crap 'upconverting' DVD as that 'upconversion' process contained in said crap DVD player is likely not superior to that of your TV, rendering the 'upconversion' process a novelty. The quality of your video dramatically depends on the video processing and scaling done to fit a panel's resolution. It's not a problem of a bad source, it's a problem of in many cases poor solutions to fill in the extra pixels. Question: If I have an extra computer with dvd drive lying around (coupled with Dscaler software), would it not perform the same if not better than the best upconverting dvd player out there?

[kud0s69]

I'm here to promote education, not make a continuous sales pitch. I'm going to end my conversation with you there.


finally read my posts and saw they were supporting you, instead of bashing you?

Good! :)

[cannon_fodder]

Back on topic... this player is in the latest BB flyer (Jan 2 to Jan 4) for $79.99 final clearance.

Web code 10072568.

[Drew_W]

Question: If I have an extra computer with dvd drive lying around (coupled with Dscaler software), would it not perform the same if not better than the best upconverting dvd player out there?

What makes you think a computer is qualified to do the job better and that its scaling algorithm is better than any other solution? Not to say that's not the case, but I'm just asking....

[Beradon]

What makes you think a computer is qualified to do the job better and that its scaling algorithm is better than any other solution? Not to say that's not the case, but I'm just asking....Awhile back home theatre enthusiasts raved about HTPC and the combination of Dscaler software coupled with an appropriate DVI video card marvelled at the image quality that was produced. It was said to match or even rival the $10k Faroudja processors that were used in high end home theatre equipment. I wanted to know what your thoughts on that seeing as you do sell home theatre products.

[NG]

Very comparable on what? A 13" kitchen TV? Anyone can make an 'upconverting' player, but it's another thing entirely to make a good one. I'll bet that any decent TV's internal scaler will be equivalent to or better than any of those cheapie players.

It's actually not a cheap player - it's on sale at Superstore. Reg price is comparable to the Oppo iirc plus they've got a 14 day return policy so people can test it out.

As for why people would drop big coin on a HDTV but then look for a deal on a HDMI dvd player...well this is RFD...we're a bunch of cheapskates :D

I'm willing to bet that they also hunted around for a deal on the HDTV and didn't buy the "premium" lines like Sony either (not that Sony is that premium but that's another story).

[FTO]

Just a note, the Toshiba DVD player will be 79.99 at Bestbuy starting tomorrow (tuesday)...

[Akagi]

What makes you think a computer is qualified to do the job better and that its scaling algorithm is better than any other solution? Not to say that's not the case, but I'm just asking....

There have been quality comparisons between up-converting DVD players and computers, and the computers blew the DVD players out of the water if i recall..

It's a matter of post processing, and it's done (and updated in a continual way) in the well-developed and matured decoding software, enabling basically every computer to have a advantage over DVD players. If you don't believe me, open up the FFDSHOW post processing menu (the ultimate do it all codec in existence) and look at all of the options there.

The great news is that most of the crappy video cards (found on integrated VIA motherboards mostly) are likely to be filtered out of the equation anyways. HDMI sources (thru a DVI converter cable) bypasses the crappy RAMDAC that is usually the culprit, and Component sources means u have a decent video card anyways...

[cpoole]

here is a summary of tests on 2 of the Oppo dvd players...

http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/cgi-bin/shootout.cgi?function=search&articles=all&type=DVD+Player&manufacturer=68&maxprice=0&deInt=0&mpeg=0

& summary of software players...

http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/cgi-bin/shootout.cgi?function=search&articles=all&type=Software&manufacturer=0&maxprice=0&deInt=0&mpeg=0

here si the meaning of the various tests..

http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/volume_10_1/dvd-benchmark-guide-to-progressive-scan-shootout-1-2003.html


Unfortunatley the newest Oppo player and both the toshiba and rca mentioned here have not been tested yet..

[kud0s69]

here is a summary of tests on 2 of the Oppo dvd players...

http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/cgi-bin/shootout.cgi?function=search&articles=all&type=DVD+Player&manufacturer=68&maxprice=0&deInt=0&mpeg=0

& summary of software players...

http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/cgi-bin/shootout.cgi?function=search&articles=all&type=Software&manufacturer=0&maxprice=0&deInt=0&mpeg=0

here si the meaning of the various tests..

http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/volume_10_1/dvd-benchmark-guide-to-progressive-scan-shootout-1-2003.html


Unfortunatley the newest Oppo player and both the toshiba and rca mentioned here have not been tested yet..


Thats one extensive review. The problem is. It appears to be from 2003, which is obviously light years behind in terms of technology.

[cpoole]

Thats one extensive review. The problem is. It appears to be from 2003, which is obviously light years behind in terms of technology.

Yes - it is too bad that they cannot be totally up to date but they are still adding new players although not nearly the rate of players being released...

http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/cgi-bin/shootout.cgi?function=search&articles=132

search screen is here...

http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/cgi-bin/shootout.cgi


If anyone is interested in a test disk, the HQV disk seems to be used a lot...

http://www.hqv.com/benchmark.cfm

and there is a $10 discount code... smarthqv

[voided]

I picked up 3 Philips HDMI players DVP9500 from zellers at $49.00 each. Update the firmware and they are just as good as the 5960 which is this years.

Still some left although they seem to be scanning at $61 in some places. I called around.