Do they really work? Right now i just have a regular DVD player but I do have a full HDTV. My girlfriend is going crazy because I won't give her any ideas for xmas gifts and i don't want her spending $200-$300 on a HD-DVD so if their worth it i was thinking of having her get me an up-converting one?
All HDTVs upconvert to their native resolution. So the only question is will a player do a better job than the TV? For me, the TVs I've had did a better job of upconversion than my recorder. YMMV
I tried out an up-converting DVD player using an HDMI cable and honestly could not see any difference from my progressive scan DVD player using component video cables. I took the player back.
Tell your girlfriend to buy you a gift card at an electronics store, and use that towards an HD-DVD player instead
No upconverting LOW_DEF DVD player can convert a low def source into HD. Some do a decent job on improving the image of low def DVDs, but no player is capable of adding picture detail that isn't in the source.
If anything, well made upscaling DVD players make the image smoother and cleaner in appearance, but no detail is added.
Yes " they" really work. The quality of the upconversion is dependent on the video processing. Better upconverting players use the Reon or Realta chipsets. Examples include top of the line Denons and top of the line Toshiba HD-DVD players.
