I'm not wanting to buy a Blu-Ray player right now mostly due to moola, so I've been thinking about an up-converting DVD player.  In looking around, the prices seem to be all over the place any where from about $50 from Wal Mart to $399 from Oppo Digital.

Anybody have one of the lesser priced offerings from Sony, Pansonic, Samsung, etc. around the $50 to $80 price range??  And if you do, would you mind sharing your experience?

TIA

Tom

Toshiba HD-A2 or A3 can be had for that price... does a great job at upscaling - better than the top Oppo.

do thses players have hdmi?

Yes find a Toshiba HD-A2 or A3. They are great upconverting players. I've had upconverting dvd players that are on the cheaper side and they just don't work all that well. I would put the Toshiba on par or close to the Oppo. I owned a 970(I think that was the model number) and it was pretty nice. The HD DVD worked just as well. Yes they do have HDMI and component. Although they limit component to 480p on sd discs. If you hook them up over HDMI they will output 1080i. The higher end Toshibas will do 1080p but most wouldn't notice the difference. 

heres a question, are there any blu-ray dvd's out now, that have the 7.1 sound?  if not then, if you can buy an upconversion dvd player, that will play regular dvds at the same quality that a blu-ray can, what is the purpose of having a blu-ray?  being that it's an hd player, will it still play the regular dvds?  is there any other brand out now that does a great job?  like the toshiba upconversion dvd player at best buy?

I was happy enough with my Sony to buy another one. It only goes to 720p/1080i though. I really like the multi disc aspect as well as the picture and sound. It holds 5 discs. 

does anyone have experience with this onkyo player?

Just a quick reply to say thanks for the replies and info - as well as some good follow-on questions from inventor.

The comment about the up-conversion to 1080i only through the HDMI interface was a good one in that I've typically just used component cables since I've not noticed any improvement using them over HDMI when going from my Denon 3910 DVD player to my former TV.  However, I recently purchased a Samsung 61" LED DLP and read in the manual that there may be picture quality issues with an HDMI 1.1 input which is what my 3910 is.  Hence the quest for an up-converter at this time and a Blu-Ray at a later date.

Kinda irritates me that there isn't a HDMI firmware update for my 3910 (at least that I'm aware of).  I paid ALOT of moola for it and it's one helluva transport with excellent audio.  (sigh....).

Anyway - thanks again.

Tom

InVeNtOR:

heres a question, are there any blu-ray dvd's out now, that have the 7.1 sound?  if not then, if you can buy an upconversion dvd player, that will play regular dvds at the same quality that a blu-ray can, what is the purpose of having a blu-ray?  being that it's an hd player, will it still play the regular dvds?  is there any other brand out now that does a great job?  like the toshiba upconversion dvd player at best buy?

A DVD disc being played in a blueray player simply can't match the picture or sound of a blueray disc in a blueray player.  There is more storage capacity for more information on a blueray disc than a standard DVD.

tigerdirect.com toshiba hd-dvd-69.00 

i understand that the blu-ray disk has more capasity.  i am just wondering what the actual difference is.  if the disk is in 7.1 then it's worth it.  i will have a 720p tv so the video should be very close, as long as i get a good up converter.  so far the suggestion is the toshiba hd-a3 player.  it might be a good cheap method untill blu-ray gets cheaper or even better....they just changed and now people that have blu-rays may go out and buy another.  luck are those with ps3's....

 My personal experience has been that audio is about the same quality. Video is better but not by a wide margin. On some particular scenes it is more noticeable. I didn't buy my Toshibas for the HD capability though. I bought them for their superior upconversion at the low price point. The only HD movies I have are the free ones they offered with the purchase of a player and I did buy 2 disks when I got the player. Otherwise I'm quite satisfied with the quality of movies on SD DVDs upconverted. Compared to what we had just 15 years ago it's incredible. I am like others and will wait for the format to get cheaper or see what else they come up with. They are now experimenting with resolutions higher than 1080p and who knows we may see another format come into play before it's all over and done with. 

bigdaddy:

 My personal experience has been that audio is about the same quality.

That's almost the opposite of what I've experienced.  I went HD mostly for the picture quality.  The first time I heard the lossless audio, I was absolutely floored.  To me, the difference was like going from 8 track to cassette! (Yes, I'm that old).