Questions about my tv and buying a dvd player?

sls.spec

I have a new big-screen HDTV that is capable of 1080p, on the way. Sony Bravia KDL-40V4100. My family is old-fashioned and way behind the times in technology. All that we have is a 4-head vcr and a ton of VHS movies. I got a huge discount on this tv through my employer (by the vendor), so I went ahead and got a flat screen 40" tv. It was $600 bucks after taxes. They probably never will get HDTV (at least not right now), but I wanted that option there if they ever do.

I'm planning on buying a combination 4-head vcr/dvd player. I figure that maybe I should just get a combo vcr/dvd burner while I'm at it (it's not much more in price). For one reason...just to save some space later on, I figured that we might want to record from VHS to DVD and ditch the clunky VHS tapes - while keeping the movies. I know that the quality from VHS will still be VHS - even if dubbed onto a DVD, of course. But I have a couple of questions: Can all DVD burners record onto a dvd directly from the tv? I know that many record from VHS to DVD and vice versa, but I've only seen one so far that said you could record directly to DVD from the tv.

Keep in mind that my family doesn't even have cable - they use regular tv reception with rabbit ears. I just wanted to get them a thinner tv that was larger and easier to see. A blu-ray player is definitely not something we'll be getting. So what is my best bet for a dvd player? Will 1080p 'upconversion' dvd players look better on this tv than the typical 480p or whatever it is that regular dvd players play? Or would getting an upconverting dvd player (to 1080p) be a waste of money?

Secondly...what exactly is 'upconverting'? Is it beneficial to have? I'm confused as to how one can see a "1080p" (or 1080i) picture from like a 480 (or whatever it is) picture quality from a regular dvd?

Answer
Upconverting dvd players just take the 480 and do a fill in the lines thing so when the picture is displayed on an HD tv it looks a little better. Any dvd player, when hooked into your new tv will be upconverted by the tv, as all HD tvs upconvert any signal received to their native resolution, in your case 1080p. Some regular dvds, newer ones, look pretty good if your dvd player has component (red/green/blue) cable output, if not, nothing will look good carried over analog cables. So you could get a new dvd player with component output if you don't already have one, but you don't need the upconverting ones as your tv will do that anyway.

Your VCR will look bad. Don't copy to dvds as it's a losing effort.

And when you get your tv, if you are close enuf to transmission towers, run a scan for available digital channels, you will come up with quite a few HD stations without cable. Check the owner's manual for the procedure, but many antenna people get some nice HD that way, for free. Someone else said you'd need a converter box, that is not right, you're getting a digital tv which should continue working without a box in Feb, and there should also be more free HD coming your way. (So maybe you guys may want to get a better antenna as you'll have better reception with a more powerful outdoor? antenna, or even an indoor antenna with power boost.)

I just bought a HD TV - Will my older DVD work well or do i also need to buy a HD DVD player?

Marc G

In other words will my current DVD player look good with my new HD flat screen LCD TV or do i also need to upgrade my DVD player? And if so what do you recommend? My new TV has 740P of resolution. (or something like that!)

Answer
Simple answer ... your old DVD player will probably work just fine, particularly if it can deliver a progressive rather than interlaced output (480p vs 480i).

Unless you have a really basic non-progressive DVD player (480i) and the HDTV is very large and has a poor scaler, the TV will upconvert the DVD output to HD (720p or 1080i) and the picture will look fine.

You don't state the size of your new HDTV, but if it is under at least 50" you are not likely to see significant benefit from an HD DVD or Blu-ray player.

My advice is to try it and only if you don't like the result then consider an upscaling progressive DVD player (about $150) or, if you WANT to spend a bit more, consider a basic HD DVD player (Toshiba HD-A2). The latter is an excellent upconverting DVD player for standard DVDs and also plays HD DVDs. You can currently buy the HD-A2 for $299 and the Matrix trilogy ($63) and get 7 free HD DVD movies (about a $200 value) if you buy from Amazon.com (US only).

Powered by Yahoo! Answers

How to modify my vcd player to be a dvd player ?

best buy dvd player tv image

Q. I have old vcd player and i do not have money to buy dvd player
So how to modify it ?

Answer
You can't. At least not without spending a great deal more money than it would cost to actually buy a DVD player. DVD players can be bought at yard sales for about $5.00, or at second-hand shops such as Goodwill for about $10.00. You can get new ones at Walmart for less than $50.00.

The optics for a VCD player are identical to a CD. DVD uses something different, so you would need to change these. The transport mechanism is also different, as is the CODEC. The computer would be controlling different mechanisms, and is a dedicated controller, so that would need to be changed.

About the only things you would be able to keep are the tray on which the disk is placed, the buttons in the front, the case for the player and the jacks to connect to your TV. Really, you would be building a DVD player from scratch.

Buy a DVD player, it's cheaper.

I need sound for my dvd player that only has yellow audio port?

Laura

I just bought a dvd player that has an hdmi port, coaxial port, and just the yellow audio port. My older tv only has the red, white, yellow ports or the coax port (which is not the same as the coaxial port on my dvd player). How can I get sound with only a yellow port? What is the cheapest option?

Answer
I agree, that sounds pretty unusual. Can you post a link to the dvd player's user manual or at least give the brand and model number? That might help someone see what's going on.

If this is actually a Blu-ray player, it's normal to have no red & white audio outputs but if that's the case, there shouldn't be a yellow port either. It's possible that's the digital coaxial audio port (which is usually orange). I don't know what the other "coaxial" port you mention would be...unless it's the optical audio connection (that doesn't match your description though).

In general, the cheapest option would be to return it to the store (unless you bought it online) and buy something you're sure has the outputs you need.

Powered by Yahoo! Answers

How to modify my vcd player to be a dvd player ?

best buy dvd player tv image

Q. I have old vcd player and i do not have money to buy dvd player
So how to modify it ?

Answer
You can't. At least not without spending a great deal more money than it would cost to actually buy a DVD player. DVD players can be bought at yard sales for about $5.00, or at second-hand shops such as Goodwill for about $10.00. You can get new ones at Walmart for less than $50.00.

The optics for a VCD player are identical to a CD. DVD uses something different, so you would need to change these. The transport mechanism is also different, as is the CODEC. The computer would be controlling different mechanisms, and is a dedicated controller, so that would need to be changed.

About the only things you would be able to keep are the tray on which the disk is placed, the buttons in the front, the case for the player and the jacks to connect to your TV. Really, you would be building a DVD player from scratch.

Buy a DVD player, it's cheaper.

I need sound for my dvd player that only has yellow audio port?

Laura

I just bought a dvd player that has an hdmi port, coaxial port, and just the yellow audio port. My older tv only has the red, white, yellow ports or the coax port (which is not the same as the coaxial port on my dvd player). How can I get sound with only a yellow port? What is the cheapest option?

Answer
I agree, that sounds pretty unusual. Can you post a link to the dvd player's user manual or at least give the brand and model number? That might help someone see what's going on.

If this is actually a Blu-ray player, it's normal to have no red & white audio outputs but if that's the case, there shouldn't be a yellow port either. It's possible that's the digital coaxial audio port (which is usually orange). I don't know what the other "coaxial" port you mention would be...unless it's the optical audio connection (that doesn't match your description though).

In general, the cheapest option would be to return it to the store (unless you bought it online) and buy something you're sure has the outputs you need.

Powered by Yahoo! Answers

What cable do I need to hook my computer to my dvd player?

best buy dvd player tv image

katwoman

My dvd player has only coaxial, s-video and av cable connectors. The laptop I'm buying has â¢3 x USB 2.0 ports, 1 x HDMI port, 1 x VGA port, 1 x RJ-45 Ethernet port.
Do I need to buy a newer dvd player? My tv is ancient having only a coaxial connector, so if I can connect to this dvd player it would be best.
Thanks for your help.

Answer
Laptops do not normally have A/V inputs the way TVs and monitors have (the HDMI and VGA on the laptop are for video output, not input), so if you were planning to watch DVDs from the DVD player on the laptop screen, that won't work.

Anyway, if the laptop has an optical drive that's DVD compatible, you can just put the DVDs in there and watch them, without needing any separate DVD player.

The only other thing you could try, but it won't work very well, is to get a USB video capture device, like this one: http://www.amazon.com/Diamond-VC500-Touch-Capture-Device/dp/B000VM60I8/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1301800999&sr=1-1

(But those are designed more for capturing/recording video to play back later, rather than watching it as it plays - so the video may be jerky, the sound may not be audible until you play it back later, etc.)

What type of dvd player would work best for a tv that is already a widescreen?

fajita_chi

I am looking to buy a dvd player for my parents and they purchase d a wide screen tv so when you play dvds or watch tv it tends to stretch out the picture. Is there a dvd player that takes this into account or does it matter?

Answer
There is a common misperception that the screen should be full. Not so. While it is nice when it happens only material at the same aspect aratio (width to height ratio) as the screen you are watching will fill the screen ... everything else will have black bars on the top and bottom or the sides (unless the image is stretched or zoomed ... but that distorts or throws away some of the picture).

The director of a film chooses the aspect ratio, and it can vary from 1.33:1 to over 2.7:1 in extreme wideangle films. The most common are 1.78:1 (so called "16:9" -- the aspect ratio of "widescreen" TVs), 1.85:1 and 2.35:1, but others exist too.

See the image at the link to see how these aspect ratios relate on a constant width screen.

TVs often have a control that allows images to be zoomed or stretched to fit the screen ... as stated above this is distortion and most people, after playing with the different settings for a while, return to a straight undistorted image setting.

A widescreen TV will "fit" more programming (particularly if they subscribe to HD programming, which is in widescreen (16:9) format) than their old style TV (Which was 4:3 or 1.33:1 format) BUT they will still see black bars on some movies, particularly on DVD (Note: TV broadcast stations sometimes crop widescreen movies to "fit" the 16:9 screen ... and you can't control this, but the same movie on DVD might have bars).

So ... no, you don't need to buy a different DVD player for widescreen since the basic aspect ratio is determined by the movie, not the player. Maybe the above explanation will help you explain it to your parents.

If buying a DVD player for a 720p or 1080p HDTV, consider a $100-$125 (less expensive ones won't provide any benefit) "upscaling DVD player" (with a HDMI connector) or if you want to go full out, consider the Venture HD DVD player from Walmart ($200) ... which is really a Toshiba HD-A3 player (a good upscaler and it plays HD DVDs).

Hope this helps.

Powered by Yahoo! Answers

How to prevent the DVD player remote to stop interfering with TV?

best buy dvd player tv image

PN

I bought a dvd player and connected it to a TV. The player is placed just a shelf below the TV in a cabinet. The problem is when I use the DVD player's remote, it causes some function to execute in the TV. Say I press the fwd button on the DVD remote it causes the TV to shut power off.

How can this problem be resolved of interfering remote control?

Answer
I would suggest buying a good Universal Remote, and program it to run both devices. That way, you can press a button to designate which device you wish to operate. If you need code numbers for your TV or DVD, post the question on this forum and some kind person will try to help. Hope this was helpful. P.S. Make sure we know the make of TV & DVD.

Should I buy a 720p dvd player to go with a 720p lcd tv or will my 420p dvd player work?

james

The quality of the picture is pretty important to me.

Also, I've heard that most lcd tvs can convert a 420p signal to a 720p.
Is this the same thing as buying a 720p dvd player?

Answer
By 720p dvd player I guess you are talking about a blu ray. A blu ray will look much better than a standard dvd disk. HD tvs do convert any signal they receive to their native resolution, but if you send your tv a 480 dvd pic, it will just convert a poor signal to a large screen. A blu ray will send you a full 720 lines of resolution and look much clearer. It can send a 1080p signal, but with a 720p tv, that's all you will see, 720p. Still an excellent pic.

Use HDMI or red/green/blue component cables to connect blu ray to your tv.

Powered by Yahoo! Answers