Request Recommendation for Multi-Region Upscaling HDMI DVD Player

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cshwone

1070 posts

Uber Geek

#33251 4-May-2009 20:58

Hi,

My 9 year old panny DVD player, complete with multi-region chip, has finally died on me.

Would appreciate any recommendations for an upscaling DVD player, with HDMI. Multi-region is vital.

Thanks

jonathan18

7413 posts

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#212425 5-May-2009 11:04

cshwone: Hi,

My 9 year old panny DVD player, complete with multi-region chip, has finally died on me.

Would appreciate any recommendations for an upscaling DVD player, with HDMI. Multi-region is vital.

Thanks

I went through the same process to find such a player a year or so back, when my Pioneer player kicked the bucket.

After a decent amount of research, including asking questions on other forums, I ended up with an Oppo 980H - available here http://www.rapalloav.co.nz/products.php?viewproduct=130&cat=3&sub=&detailid=244

There's also a 981 model - see http://www.rapalloav.co.nz/products.php?viewproduct=70&cat=3&sub=&detailid=147

The guy behind this website also sometimes sells them on TradeMe.

For some relevant discussions on this see:
http://www.audioenz.co.nz/forums/showthread.php?t=6838&highlight=oppo
http://www.audioenz.co.nz/forums/showthread.php?t=5740&highlight=oppo

Oppos are not the cheapest players (and have clearly gone up a bit since I bought mine), but they are supposed to offer about the best bang for buck.

cshwone

1070 posts

Uber Geek

#212625 5-May-2009 19:27

Thanks for that, for some strange reason I didn't think Oppos were available here.

Cheers

tchart

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#212660 5-May-2009 20:59

If you are in Wellington go down to JB HiFi, pretty sure they had a Panasonic HDMI upscaling DVD player for $200 (or maybe it was just under) with USB (for Divx) too.

Personally if your going to pay $500 for an Oppo DVD player why not just buy a Blu Ray player?

jonathan18

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#212686 5-May-2009 21:40

tchart: Personally if your going to pay $500 for an Oppo DVD player why not just buy a Blu Ray player?

Perhaps because almost all older movies are currently only available on DVD, and only a relatively small proportion of new movies are released on Blu Ray? Perhaps because most people will own considerably more DVDs than blu ray discs?

Your retort may be that Blu Ray players can play DVDs. I have just been investigating this, looking at selling my Oppo to help fund the purchase of a Blu Ray player. I was told by many people that the playback of DVDs on a Blu Ray player will rarely match that of a good DVD player.

Just like few who care about audio reproduction would use a DVD player as their CD player, there appear to be a few compromises in treating blu ray players as a one-stop shop for all video discs.

cshwone

1070 posts

Uber Geek

#212743 6-May-2009 06:12

tchart,

I already have A/1 Panasonic BD30 and a B/4 PS3. What I don't have now is a player for the multitude of R2 DVDs I own and I wish the best possible reproduction of those.

tchart

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#212799 6-May-2009 11:02

All fair comments, personally I bought a S&V HDMI player from Countdown for $99 - this was over a year ago. No problems and it plays everything (DivX) and is multi zone. The have the same model at DSE for $89 I think.

I suspect a $500 Oppo would do a better job at upscaling but my kids are pretty rough with DVD players so I just buy the cheapest I can find.

PS I hadnt heard that Blu Ray players dont do a good job with DVD playback. I too have loads of DVDs (100's) and dont plan to replace them with Blu Ray versions!

cshwone

1070 posts

Uber Geek

#212826 6-May-2009 12:25

There are certain catalogue titles I will/have replaced with the Blu-ray version. The first of those was Blade Runner where, running a side by side comparison the Blu-ray had far more depth and dynamics in the colour palette in comparison to the DVD. It was as great a jump to Blu-ray for that disk as from VHS to DVD 10 years ago. However, much depends on the quality of the encode to Blu-ray to make it worthwhile (both audio and video).

Mind you there are only a few classics I will consider replacing from my DVD collection.

Both my Blu-ray players do a good job of upscaling - unfortunately Blu-ray region locking applies to DVD Regionalisation as well. Hence my search for something to play my R2 DVD's

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Malpaso

52 posts

Master Geek

#213283 7-May-2009 19:49

Personally I would go for an OPPO DVD player any day, I have had the 970 model for 2 1/2 years, best player I have ever had. Read the numerous online reviews from the Rapalloav.co.nz site, they speak for themselves. I am hanging out for their upcoming blue ray model which is currently going through testing. You may pay a bit more for them but their performance and versatility is outstanding.