The Back Alley Archives

So now that we've moved into the 21st century and have our LCD HDTV, I need to know what kind of system I need for playing DVD's. I don't want a big ol' theater system or anything, just something that will play our DVD's on big TV with a good (not grainy) picture.

I found a bunch of DVD players that say the upconvert DVD's to 1080p etc. but what kind of cables do I need to buy to go with them?

BTW, I haven't been in this forum in a while and it looks like I have a lot to catch up on. If this question has been asked and answered on here already, just hit me with the link and I won't bother you again.

I don't know anything about this stuff. I still have a c1990 CRT TV with rabbit ears.

BUT if you're looking to get a DVD player and you can afford one, why not go with Blu-Ray instead of an "upconverting" normal DVD player? You can still play regular DVDs with Blu-Ray, I think.

2nd the opinion on blu-ray al.

blu-ray (sony), within the last year, has won the hi-def wars and soon DVDs will become betamax tapes...maybe not soon but eventually.

you should look into a playstation3...not only is it great for gaming but it plays dvds, AND blu-ray discs...in addition - you can surf the web on it, you can buy hi-def movies on it (saves it to it's hard drive and costs a dollar or so extra than having the hard copy of it (er disc i meant), and you can buy add-on contents for your games.

btw - rockband2 ROCKS!!! trust me.

Good suggestion Rad...I forgot you had told me about that before. I totally understand that regular DVD's will go the way of Beta but until they make ALL discs scratch and kid resistant I refuse to pay a lot for them. We have Guitar Hero for the Wii and really don't want another gaming system...we barely have time to use the Wii. I dunno...I'm sure Bill wouldn't mind having another Playstation 3 but I think he wants an Xbox more because he wants to get the Deadliest Catch game to play on it. I got him PC version of the game this Christmas and I think it gave his computer a bad case of the spywares...argh.

I have an upconverting DVD player. I assume you have an open HDMI port (or plug receptical) in the back of the new TV. The cable box is probably plugged into one. I bought a Sony upconverting DVD player from BJ's for like $70 and have enjoyed the movies on our TV. I think it's a little smaller than yours (52") but I would think it would work fine. I don't notice the DVD picture not being clear. To me it looks near as good as any other 1080 source. The Sony I got had the HDMI cable included so it was basically, plug the outlet into the wall and plug the DVD HDMI into the TV and off you go. If you get one without an HDMI cable don't pay a lot of money for a cable. You can get a great deal at monoprice.com.
Let me know if I can attempt to answer any other questions.

HDMI > coaxial cable

(also costs a shitload of money)

I have an upconverting DVD player. I assume you have an open HDMI port (or plug receptical) in the back of the new TV. The cable box is probably plugged into one. I bought a Sony upconverting DVD player from BJ's for like $70 and have enjoyed the movies on our TV. I think it's a little smaller than yours (52") but I would think it would work fine. I don't notice the DVD picture not being clear. To me it looks near as good as any other 1080 source. The Sony I got had the HDMI cable included so it was basically, plug the outlet into the wall and plug the DVD HDMI into the TV and off you go. If you get one without an HDMI cable don't pay a lot of money for a cable. You can get a great deal at monoprice.com.
Let me know if I can attempt to answer any other questions.

thanks 95...I wasn't sure if the DVD players come with the HDMI cable or not. We have at least 3 HDMI inputs in the TV...I think there is 4 though. I had thought (as Rad indicated) that the HDMI cables were really expensive and that is why I figured they weren't included with the DVD players I've looked at that were in the price range you said you got yours for.

i have to admit, i've upgraded my connections from coaxial to HDMI when i got my flat screens and i can't tell a damn difference.

HDMI cables are only expensive at the stores (BB, Circuit City, Radio Shack).  You can get a good HDMI cable for less than $15 at the monoprice.com site I mentioned above.  Unlike analog signal which really degraded over distance and by way of the amount of cable carrying the signal, digital is a signal that either gets there or it doesn't.  You should only need thicker, heavier more expensive cabling if you are putting the DVD player more than say 50' of cable distance from the TV (I know that's not likely).  So if you get one without a HDMI cable go here http://www.monoprice.com/products/subdepartment.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10240

and check out http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10240&cs_id=1024004&p_id=3658&seq=1&format=2

The notation that it is for in-wall use simply means that it is safety rated for fire and can therefore be installed inside of a wall. It does not need to be. If you click on the "Knowledge Base" tab down by the description it will explain more about HDMI cables. There is some real good info in there.

Being a woman and all, you'll also notice they offer the cables in various colors to "coordinate".

Can't help but of that word in relation to "Coming To America"....got the mushroom shirt and the mushroom belt...

we had all our tv's in-wall installed and the installer wouldn't use HDMI cables that weren't for in-wall use.

are you saying that that's a scam? i don't recall a significant cost differential between in-wall use or not for in wall use HDMIs...i just had to buy cables i already had...well - safe for in-wall install that is.

we had all our tv's in-wall installed and the installer wouldn't use HDMI cables that weren't for in-wall use.

are you saying that that's a scam? i don't recall a significant cost differential between in-wall use or not for in wall use HDMIs...i just had to buy cables i already had...well - safe for in-wall install that is.

If your installer used cables that weren't certified for in-wall use and there was a fire, he could be sued. That's why he insisted on using the in-wall cables.

good point.

my point was more that it was actually an increase in safety rating. In other words don't let "rated for in-wall use" deter you from using it not enclosed in a wall.

Just FYI for M7....I bought a 6' hdmi cable for our dvd-r to connect to our tv. I bought it at Target for $39.99. Same one was $59.00 at Best Buy, I think. I didn't know about monoprice.com. I'll check that out if there's a next time.

I know that before I got the hdmi cable, the picture from the dvd-r was not sharp at all when trying to watch an older dvd movie. After I got the hdmi cable...huge difference for us. I think it was because I could set the thing to the 1080p setting with the hdmi cable, and without it it was only in the 4?? setting. I can't remember that 4??p setting.

My dvd-r also upconverts older dvd's, and the hdmi cable did help that.

That would be 480p.

Thanks for the info, 95.