Best Upscaling DVD Players - Sony DVP-NS7xxH Series Review
Sony Delivers
One of the best inexpensive upscaling DVD players on the market right now is the Sony DVP-NS7xxH series. These DVD players take the image and upscale it to full 1080p HDTV quality video, and the difference is amazing. If you are using an HDTV with a standard DVD player, then you are really missing out. With an upscaling DVD player like this, you will get the closest thing to Blu-Ray movie quality that you can get out of a DVD movie. It retails for around $60 to $70.
Upscale to 1080p
Prior to buying this upscaling DVD player, I had a standard player from Panasonic. It was a great machine, but I noticed the picture quality took a dive after I hooked it up to my 47” HDTV. The problem was that standard DVD players only have a max output of 480p, and my HDTV supports 1080p. Because of this, my television was taking that smaller 480p image and blowing it up to 1080p, so there is some image quality loss in the process. It’s just like how if you took a 3x5 photo and enlarged it to fit an 8x10 frame – the bigger photo wouldn’t look as good as the smaller one.
What makes this Sony DVD player so great is that it takes that 480p picture and upscales it to 1080p, and it does a good job at it. Some HDTV’s can do this one their own, but it is better to have the upgraded signal come from the source than make the TV do the processing. You just have to use an HDMI cable to connect this DVD player to your HDTV, and you are good to go.
Features
This is a no-frills DVD player, but simplicity is a big plus to some people. When it comes to movies, I just want to put in the disc and play it, and I want the picture and sound to be the best they can be. This DVD player only has four buttons up front: Power, Open/Close, Play, and Stop. It has a simple display that shows a timer or chapter info, but no titles or anything descriptive. It is also a very small DVD player that is less than two inches tall.
In addition to DVD movies, this thing will play pretty much anything but a Blu-Ray. You can play music CD’s or even a CD full of MP3’s or JPG picture files. It plays all kinds of burned DVD+/-R and RW discs, so there are no worries about it playing movies made on your computer. On the audio front, it supports DTS surround sound and optical output.
DVP-NS710H and DVP-NS700H
I actually own the DVP-NS700H series DVD player, but that model has since been retired and the new one out right now is the DVP-NS710H. There are only minor differences between the two models, but that means you might be able to get a good deal on the DVP-NS700H. I was so impressed with my Sony upscaling DVD player that I bought one for my parents to use with their new HDTV, and they have since been equally satisfied with this device.
You can find the Sony DVP-NS7xxH series upscaling DVD players at most any electronics retailer, from Best Buy to Amazon.com. Just remember that to get the 1080p picture, you will need an HDMI cable, but do not pay too much for one.
