DVD player vs Computer

[Steven Sigel]

I'm curious to know if anyone has found a DVD player that can put out a picture comparable to a computer -- I've been running all of my DVDs (on my DLP projector) from my laptop computer because the picture is an order of magnitude sharper than running from a DVD player (via component outputs). I haven't tried a progressive scan player yet --- anyone had any luck with one of those?

I'm considering setting up a fixed computer to run movies from -- that is unless I can find a DVD player that can match the picture output... Any thoughts?

[Ken Horan]

I use an InFocus X-1 DLP projector which is driven via component output from a TEAC DV-H350 player and the resulting image is sharp, excellent contrast, detailed and bright without the motion artifacts and jagged edges I get when driving it with a computer. I've tried the latest Apple G-5 as well as my old Dell 1GHz and the results are similar. The TEAC player driving the InFocus results is a far greater 'film-like' image.

[Steven Sigel]

Hi Ken,

You don't find that you get a blurry image from the DVD player? I've tried several different players -- a Technics, a Pioneer, and a Sampo (multiregion) and they all look fuzzy to me compared with the computer.

Is the Teac progressive Scan?

What's the native resolution, contrast and light output of your Projector??

[Ken Horan]

I find a very sharp image is produced by the TEAC DV-H350 driving the InFocus X-1 projector. It is not blurry at all. My experience shows that a computer driving the InFocus X-1 produces a poor contrast image with 'jaggies' and noticable motion artifacts. The reason is perhaps that the InFocus X-1 uses a Faroudja DCDi chip to process the video through the video inputs (component, S-video and composite) and not the computer input. The Faroudja DCDi chip produces a very wide contrast ratio (2000:1 claimed) and a 480p image from the 480i component outputs of the TEAC.

[Evan Chase]

Ken's right---I get the same results. When using the computer input, you have a different and more limited video menu. I've even given up on progressive scan, too--picture quality nowhere near as good as s-video. A local home theatre shop technician told me that some time ago as well.

[Steven Sigel]

Hi Evan --

With my Sharp PG-M20x, I'm seeing a very different reality than you are with the infocus --

1) The S-Video image is (to quote my british friends) "dire". Yuck -- if that is all I ever saw, I would never watch the DVDs at all...

2) Component output from my DVD player is o.k., but not spectacular -- slightly blurry to my eyes when compared to the computer

3) The computer image is razor sharp - although some DVDs (mainly TV show DVDs, not features, strangely) have some motion problems.... The other problems are that I don't have digital audio out from the Laptop -- and it's a bit of a nuissance to set up ever time I want to run a dvd...

What I have to decide is whether to get a new DVD player, or get a pc to set up permanently as a movie-pc... (Also has the benefit of being able to act as a music jukebox too!!) .

[Evan Chase]

Interesting--must be a difference in the projectors. Common sense would tell you that computer is better than s-video, but the Infocus must be designed so as to give the best results through the s-video input. I've tried every other setup to no good results: component, computer, composite.

[Xander van der Merwe]

Search on google for either of the following DVD players:

- Momitsu V880 (region-free and macrovision-free)
- Bravo D1

Either of these can output VGA and DVI and give resolutions like 480P, 720P, 1080i and probably even 800x600 and 1024x768. They are able to take custom settings as well.

Image is on par with PC output and either can be found for around $200.

[Steven Sigel]

Hi Xander --

Any idea on where to get one of these in the US? I looked through a number of pages on google and didn't see any US sellers for the Momitsu ....

[Xander van der Merwe]

I think you might be out of luck purchasing from a source inside the US. Most people in the US seem to purchase from HiViZone in Hong Kong - (I believe it even comes with correct powercord for US): https://www2.setssl.com/~hivizone/dvdplayer/main_frame.htm

I can vouch that they are pretty reliable (I purchased mine via them too)

The also have a forum there where they discuss the firmware updates (the greatest invention ever btw):
http://www1.hivizone%2ecom/forum/display_forum_topics.asp?ForumID=2

[Steven Sigel]

Hi Xander --

I also looked up the Bravo D-1 and it seems to have some pretty mixed reviews.

Do you know anything about the Samsung DVD-HD931 -- that seems to be another model with DVI output.

Do you find the DVI output on these players to be equal / better or worse than a computer?

I've got a Sharp PG-M20x which looks spectacular off a computer source, but lousy off a DVD player component output.....

[Steven Sigel]

Sounds like the samsung is out - it has some sort of ugly copy protection that stops it from working on many devices -- sounds like a no-no.... Do the other two have this problem?

[Xander van der Merwe]

From all my reading I found the Momitsu to be the front runner due to the region-free issue (paramount for me) and some like the macrovision disablement too. The Momitsu is also sold in Europe under a few other brand names.

I'd say the Momitsu when set up to do 1:1 pixel mapping (i.e. exact same resolution than the projector) gives exactly the same quality picture as the PC.

I have a Sony HS10 projector and it has this unfortunate limitation of only doing 1:1 mapping at 56Hz which causes micro jitter on film sources and even more so on video sources. Still, the picture is so good that I overlook this and it only really manifest during slow horizontal pans and only I can see it. I'm hoping that someone in future will find a way around this 56Hz and allow 50Hz or 60Hz, etc. If I play the Momitsu at 720P into the HS10 then everything is sweet (no jitter) but the image is slightly softer than the 1:1 mapping -- there is thus a tradeoff either way with the HS10 (and it looks like the HS20 as well).

The Momitsu will probably excel with the new crop of LCD projectors having a resolution of 1280x720 (e.g. Sanyo Z2, Panasonic L500U/AE500 or Epson TW200) since you can feed the projecgtor's native resolution with 720P over Component or DVI.

I know of one guy that used a Samsung DVD-HD931 for a while but there was also an issue with that one that I can't recall now.

Edit: Btw, the reason why the PC picture is so much better is that the PC does a better job at scaling the DVD picture to the correct resolution that what the projector does (this is the case with most, if not all, projectors). One should try and avoid doing double scaling where the PC (or DVD player) does scaling and then the projector does more scaling -- this is what happens when I feed the HS10 a 720P signal from the Momitsu (the Momitsu scales up from 480i or 575i to 720P and then the HS10 scales up from 720P to its own vertical resolution of 768 -- the same problem happens horizontally as well).