Blue Ray vs HD DVD is a moot point with this unit!

So, you just bought a new HDTV. Odds are these days it's a big one and has a great looking picture. High Def video probably looks awesome. I know, I know me too. I can't believe I can actually see the reflection from the top of Eli Manning's helmet. And my wife loves that the Desperate Housewives actually have wrinkles in HD. Amazing! Now, what about that HUGE collection of DVD titles we've all built up over the years? Yup, I was a little disappointed with the standard definition output using my existing DVD player too. The progressive scan, 480p, output was just so so. It paled in comparison with all the HD stuff I have been watching lately. Off I went to find something better.

Need to know
Before we talk about how wonderful this upconvert DVD player is there are a few terms and a little history we should all be aware of. When we discuss picture quality we talk about Standard Definition or SD and High Definition or HD. Our TVs display these in lines of resolution. SD is 480i and 480p, or 480 lines of resolution. HD is 720p, 1080i and 1080p or up 1080 lines of resolution. What makes these two different in quality is how the picture is produced on your TV. There are two ways these signals can be produced. Either interlaced, where an image is produced randomly using odd and even lines, or progressive scan, where a picture is drawn in sequence. Interlaced is shown with an "i" at the end of a resolution number and progressive scan is designated by using a "p" at the end of the resolution and is typically the better picture quality.

The other thing to know when talking about picture quality with an HDTV and DVD is the war between Blue Ray and HD DVD. This fight parallels that of Beta vs. VHS and DVD vs. DivX . In those wars there were clear winners and there will be here too. These two technologies will produce High Def picture quality (1080i or 1080p) when playing on one of their proprietary players.

My thoughts on the subject
I think Blue Ray (BR from here on out) will win out on the High Def home theater war, but I still can't justify dropping $300 for any player that is media specific. There are three main reasons I went the way of DVD upconversion.
1.) I have a whole library of DVDs. I can't see myself rebuilding that collection in an HD format (either BR or HDDVD) at $30-$40 a disc. If I can get near HD quality with an upconvert DVD player and my regular old DVDs, I'm a happy dude.
2.) BR and HD DVDs are hard to find at rental stores. Because there is no one standard format, none of the movie rental stores have made the investment in offering a full selection of either HD DVD or BR. If I can't rent them, it means each time I want to watch a High Def movie at home I have to buy it. Not gonna happen here.
3.) Upconvert DVD players are cheap. I grabbed a unti for $89 that converts to 1080p! That's the highest quality video you can get! And it is still using my existing DVDs. NICE!

The Sony Player
Okay, back to the review. I chose the Sony unit for two reasons. I have Sony equipment already (HDTV, DVD player and speakers) and have been happy with them. The other reason, and really the main reason I chose this unit was that it will upconvert to 1080p. There weren't any other units at Best Buy that could claim to do that. The other upconvert players all maxed out at 1080i.

Outside the fact it has upconvert technology, the Sony player has a few nice features that make it a well rounded unit. It will play a myriad of disc types, CD-Rs, CD-RWs, DVD+RWs, DVD+Rs, DVD-RWs or DVD-Rs. This includes picture slide shows from CDs and even HD JPEG from digital cameras that have HD picture options. One of the features that stuck out was DTS decoding. This is a nice to have feature for those DVDs you want to take advantage of the DTS audio. You have to already have a receiver or audio device that will process the DTS sound though. My Yamaha receiver has DTS capability so this was an added bonus. This player also has a nice button on the front for you to change modes for output of progressive scan. This is nice because you don't have to go into a menu interface or pull the unit out and flip a switch on the back. You can choose from Off, Auto or On depending on what level of TV you have.

Connections
Sony didn't spare anything here. After I pulled this out of the box I was blown away with the flexibility Sony offered for Audio and Video options.

Video Output Options from the player:

Composite - Yellow Connector
-On a scale of 1-10 this is about a 3 or a 4 in terms of video quality.

S-Video - Four prong black connector
-On our 1-10 scale this is about a 5 or 6 for movies.

Component - Red Green and Blue
- This is an 8 on our 1-10 quality scale. It will produce up to 1080i.

HDMI - High Definition Multimedia Interface
- This connection is a 10 out of 10 for quality. It will produce 1080p video and digital audio in one cable.

Audio options from the player:

Analog - Red and White
-Stereo or pro logic surround. No digital option

Optical - Toslink, infrared cable
- Digital audio that allows for DTS, Dolby Digital and PCM. Good sound reproduction but uses light to transfer the audio and may have loss issues if bumped.

SPDIF - Coaxial, single RCA connector
- Digital signal for DTS, Dolby Digital and PCM. Sound reproduction is typically softer and requires you to turn up the volume more than normal.

You can see Sony covered all the bases here giving you every option available. Nice work Sony.

The Upconvert
After all this is the reason I bought the Sony after all. Most players will only upconvert using the HDMI cable connection. The Sony is no exception. This is okay because HDMI is a straight digital connection and requires less work from the video processor than if it was converting to component (analog video). I knew this going into it so I picked up an HDMI cable on the way home. A con here is Sony does not tell you this on the box. You find out from a sticker ON the unit to "Please use HDMI connectors" after you get home and take it out of the box. Shame on you Sony.

Set up was a breeze. Out of the box, HDMI from the player to the TV, plugged it in, turned it on and it was upconverting and ready to go. No menu to go through to turn anything on. There is even a little light on the front of the player to let you know it is outputting HDMI. I flipped on the TV and it showed me I was playing an HDMI source at 1080p. AWESOME! I threw in "What Dreams May Come" to test the vibrant color and depth of skin tones on a color saturated background. Holy Cow! Unreal. This sub $100 unit is producing a standard DVD with the picture quality of near High Definition. Sweet. I didn't stop my testing there. I quickly connected via component cables and flipped back and forth between HDMI (1080p) and Component(480p). The difference was staggering. I was expecting a nominal upgrade in picture quality and what I got was almost as dramatic as SDTV and HDTV. I went through a few different DVDs testing action and fast motion and the Sony reproduced everything flawlessly. I settled in an watched "Shooter" and had a big grin throughout the entire movie. Everything looked amazing. Do you remember the first time you saw HD? It looked almost 3D like.. this is a similar sensation. Movies look very close to HD without that over saturated cartoon-like look of HD movies. I've watched BR and HDDVD in the past and I would say this upconvert is not far behind in picture quality. If BR and HDDVD are a 10, I would rate this Sony upconvert to 1080p a 7 and SD 480p a 5.

Other stuff
A few other points about the player. The menu structure is a little weird. When you hit menu on the remote nothing happens. You have to hit display to get the menu to come up. There isn't much you can or really should do in operational menu for the player. Sony has taken care of most everything automatically. Some audio settings can be accessed an adjusted, but the video settings are already taken care of. I was somewhat disappointed with what Sony provided in the box. No batteries for the remote and no HDMI or component cables were provided. It really bothered me that you had to open the box before Sony told you you will need an HDMI cable for the upconvert. With no prior knowledge, that would have meant another trip to the store. Not cool.

Conclusion
If you have an HDTV and want the best picture available with your regular DVDs this is a phenomenal bargain. With the 1080p upconvert the war between Blue Ray and HDDVD can rage on as long as they want. I have near HD quality video with my existing DVD collection and I can still rent from my local video store too! SWEET!

Side note for Cables
HDMI cables are supre expensive at retail stores. You shouldn't have to limit your home theater experience because the cable costs twice as much as the Player. Big Box guys like BestBuy and Circuit City can charge upwards of $150 for a 6 foot HDMI cable. Look online for better prices that won't break your bank. I went to a vendor of mine ShowMeCables, www.showmecables.com, their 6 foot HDMI cable is only $11 and has a better quality rating than Monster Cables. Here is a video from a local News Channel talking about the markup on Home Theater cables in retail.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9n0QVPDMn38

You should be able to find similar prices on the web from other providers too.

Update
After a month and about 6 movies I'm going to attempt to swap out the unit for another. It plays new DVDs without a problem, however I've had a problem with playback of ever DVD I've rented so far. The discs played fine in our older Sony DVD player, but the laser would not read them in this new unit. I hope a new will fix the problem and I don't have to give up the upconvert dream just yet.

So far so good with the new unit through 2 rented DVDs. It also played the disc that was still around the house that the returned player would not.