I see that ATI has a DVI to COMPONENT ADAPTER....it is a connector with DVI pins on 1 side and the other side is component plugs.......the online seller says he believes it is strictly for use with ATI cards on a PC.....has anyone tried this for their TVs. I am looking for a way to hook up a dvd player that upscales via DVI to my HDTV that has no DVI, but 2 sets of components which can handle an external HD scource , such as an outboard HD tuner according to the owner's manual, my SONY xbr2 HDTV has a built in HD tuner

1. Up-converting DVDs to HD doesn’t make them look any better. (OK, maybe a tiny bit.)
2. There is no Fountain of Youth.
3. The working of these adapters is described at http://www.hdtvprimer.com/ISSUES/STBs.html .
4. There are electronic devices that will convert DVI to Component Video. But they don’t work when HDCP is enabled, so they will not work for encrypted DVDs. What percentage of current DVDs are encrypted, I don’t know, but all future high def DVDs will likely be encrypted.

>>1. Up-converting DVDs to HD doesn’t make them look any better. (OK, maybe a tiny bit.)

But it may make the display look better.

>>2. There is no Fountain of Youth.

The native scan rate is the Fountain of Youth.


Richard F. Fisher
Have you been calibrated? ISF and HAA Trained
Mastertech Repair Corporation, Lawrenceville, GA
770-513-3987 E-Mail - help@mastertechtv.com
Factory Authorized Service
Mitsubishi, Hitachi, Toshiba, Harman Kardon, Infinity, JBL
Lumagen Scaling and Bravo D1 Dealer

so is it worth it to purchase one of these player?........is there a dramatic difference in picture quality....or is it just a b.s. selling point

Genep...I am going to say this the only way I know how (without getting pounced on)...I am no expert on video performance...but I've never been afraid to spend money on what I want and I usually take a long time and do alot of research before buying...that said, I have owned 4 different dvd players, all of which I have hooked up (through component progressive scan) to My [1080i native scan rate] Toshiba. When I first hooked up my upscalable Pioneer Elite (set to 1080i)through HDMI to the DVI input on the Toshiba, there was a jaw dropping difference over progressive scan component...I do not have any experience with any other native scan rate tvs...(nor would I prefer to)...I personally like 1080i native scan rate tvs. So I will say this much...If you own a Hitachi or Toshiba rear projection tv with dvi in, you "WILL" see an amazing difference through dvi with a Pioneer Elite 59AVi player.

Genep,

What display do you have and does it have a DVI/HDCP jack?

Richard F. Fisher
Have you been calibrated? ISF and HAA Trained
Mastertech Repair Corporation, Lawrenceville, GA
770-513-3987 E-Mail - help@mastertechtv.com
Factory Authorized Service
Mitsubishi, Hitachi, Toshiba, Harman Kardon, Infinity, JBL
Lumagen Scaling and Bravo D1 Dealer

Genep: In theory, there is no reason to expect a dramatic improvement from what you are proposing. A 1080i monitor might eliminate some flicker (compared to 480i), and it might hide the scan lines (compared to 480p). DVI might eliminate a redundant digital-to-analog-to-digital conversion (though not for your monitor). But in theory, all of these improvements should be minor.

In practice, some units are designed better than other units, and some units work better in some modes than in other modes. Thus a hardware replacement could result in anything from a dramatic improvement to a dramatic decline.

Ken...all good points. >bottom line...no one will ever know until they try right?...If I was afraid to make the plunge and buy my pioneer I would never know the improvement I could have had...right? As it stands you would have to pry my dead clenched fingers from around my Pioneer player after you killed me to ever take it away!

A rule of thumb for this market is “Newer designs are usually better than older designs”. I suspect that is the biggest reason for the “jaw-dropping improvement” that you see with the Pioneer.

>>If I was afraid to make the plunge and buy my pioneer I would never know the improvement I could have had...right?

The point is you did not have to buy it to know it would improve it. You are matching the native scan rate.

Richard...you are missing my point...I am an average Joe. So I "had" to buy a new player to know...(get it?)... BTW...Genep told us what type of tv he has in his opening post...it's a SONY xbr2 HDTV he also mentioned that is has no dvi input.

this is my HDTV....it has a bulit in HD tuner...but no DVI....but the question that still needs to be answered is if there is a workable adapter to convert dvi output to component input.......if there is, then I can try one of these players and judge for myself.........if not...the only one I have seen is made by ATI....but will it work on a dvd player or just on a PC video card?

Genep,

Thanks for providing the complete model number.

Since you do not have DVI your only solution is an external scaler. While far more expensive it also has far more features and capability and it fixes all of your SD sources, not just DVD.

What could come in the future is a DVD player with an ATSC output and you would use it like a VCR, on channel 3.

Richard F. Fisher
Have you been calibrated? ISF and HAA Trained
Mastertech Repair Corporation, Lawrenceville, GA
770-513-3987 E-Mail - help@mastertechtv.com
Factory Authorized Service
Mitsubishi, Hitachi, Toshiba, Harman Kardon, Infinity, JBL
Lumagen Scaling and Bravo D1 Dealer

>>Richard...you are missing my point...I am an average Joe. So I "had" to buy a new player to know...(get it?)...

If you would have shown up here first then you would not have had to buy it to know. That is the point.

Genep: There is a $400 RAM Electronics unit that will convert DVI into VGA, and that can be followed by a $130 RCA unit that will convert VGA into Component Video. But I am puzzled by why you think this would be an improvement. The image resolutions are still going to be 640x480, even if the scanning rates are higher. You are still searching for the Fountain of Youth.

>>If you would have shown up here first then you would not have had to buy it to know. That is the point.<<

It is a moot point because I did show up here first, and that didn't help me decide to buy the Pioneer...You keep forgetting that I am an ignorant average Joe. My own research led me to the end result. You could have told me all about matching scan rates and I wouldn't have known what you were talking about...Trust me, I would never have seen the quality unless I dove in and bought it...I wouldn't have trusted anything I heard on a message board...and from what I've seen, niether do most posters on here.

I appreciate the responses that were posted to my question....here's to hoping that when blue ray products come out,they will work with all HDTVs

Genep...Don't worry, they will.. because by the time Hd blu-laser is up and running all component-in displays will be in the junk yard...we're talking years. Look how long HDTV has been out and it still hasn't made analog tv's obsolete yet...It'll be the same with dvd HD...