Heresy for an HTPC nut- the Zenith DVB318

[Elmac]

Good post
Will this LG DVD player work well with my SONY TV-KF50WE610????
Will I see improvement over my old SONY DVD PLAYER-DVP-S7700????
THX for your help

[Elmac]

OK i got LG DV7832 it rocks
Got it at future shop for 249.99 CDN
This thing is amazing at 1080i
Its like looking at out the window.

[Kit]

Hi guys,

Sorry, complete newbie and totally new to the world of The Bigger And Better TV Viewing Experience. I'm looking for a decent player that I'd be happy with for my Sony KF42WE610 (G.Wega) - will this fit the bill?

Much thanks in advance,
Kit

[JonMarsh]

Your Sony is an LCD RPTV, with native panel resoultion of 1366X768. It will accept 1080i, and would work with the Zenith- if you watch much video source material, you'll find the Zenith does a very good job with that kind of stuff- TV shows on DVD, music video's, Anime, etc., where as the Pixelworks chip in the Sony is a bit more prone to combing errors with video source.

On Film source material, it may not make much difference- but for what it's worth, the Zenith played back on a Sony VPL-10HT produces a slightly nicer picture in the 1080i mode than the Sony does scaling up 480P. They probably use similar scaling chips, so again, the edge would go to the Zenith.

What are you using now with your Sony? Your Sony does have DVI, so you have more options for an upscaling DVD player than those only working with analog inputs. The Zenith does have a DVI output, also. But with the current firmware it has a slight white crush. Whether that would be visible on your set or not, is hard to say.

Considering the price of the Zenith, it's not much of a risk. I'm very happy with mine, and considering buying a second one before the firmware changes (when compoenent upscaling will be disabled), but I'm using it with a CRT front projection rig, which is a little more revaling of nuance than an LCD setup. The ideal thing would be for you to get it from a store and try it, but only a few Best Buy's and Circuit City seem to have it, and they charge a higher price than retailers like Wild West Electronics.

Regards,

Jon

[number17]

Hi Jon, have you ever had a chance to compare the Zenith / LG to the Samsung 931/841?

I have a CRT RPTV (Toshiba 57HX83) which does support DVI input, and 1080i / 540p. It does not support 720p.

I am trying to decide between the Samsung 931 and the Zenith / LG. They are going for the exact same price here in Toronto (C$250).

I do not believe DVI is superior to Component input any day of the week, but that said, I am running out of component inputs on my TV (only 2, where I have 3 devices that use it now - PS2, HD Cablebox and DVD player) and my amp doesn't support component video switching. If I can save a component port by using the DVI output of the DVD player, it'll be great.

I heard both Samsung and Zenith have white crush problems off the DVI output... I heard Samsung's are even worse that it has BOTH white crush and black crush problems. Both DVD players use the same Farujda chip. In terms of PQ, which one will you take? I'd most probably be using the 1080i mode off the DVI.

The Samsung 931 plays DVD Audio while the Zenith doesn't ... though I don't think it's a biggie. I have a pretty big DVD collection and I don't have 1 single DVD-A. Neither plays SACD if I'm not mistaken.

As for audio though, I heard the Samsung is better than the Zenith. Is that what you found?

I know the upcoming firmware upgrade on the Zenith may disable upconvert on the component output, but that's not a biggie to me since I'll be leaning towards the DVI output anyways. In fact, if they can fix the white crush problem on the DVI output I might prefer the newer firmware version.

For my TV which DVD player would you take?



Thanks,

[Leef DaLucky]

Heads Up -GTA

(forgive the plug, but i see some fellow toronto-nians are fence sitting)..
I was browsing around a certain 2001 store today (Woodbridge). Lo and Behold, my beautiful 7832 was on sale for $228. Needless to say, my wallet flinched just a little. It was a long drive home but i made up some excellent excuses for myself:

Honey, we needed it. It was INTEGRAL for the master HT plan.
Honey, I wasn't sure how much longer these would be around in its current state!
Honey, it was on sale; down from 299 @ futureshop!

She smiled graciously and gave me a kiss.
Then she laughed as she saw me write this.

"Couldn't wait to tell folks, could you?"
I love my honey. and my new DVD player.
you CAN do both you know.
heh heh

Build date is Feb '04 (Corresponds to the US Zen318 March '04 model).
They had a bunch left at woodbridge.
Sale is on until Sep 6th.

Cheers,
Mikey
P.S. I can now hear the shell casings hit the ground in Underworld. My old player was a Toshiba 2700 and this things just BLOWS it out of the water as far as DD5.1 goes. An incredibly Obvious difference. I wonder whats different.

[number17]

Yeah I noticed the LG's are on sale at Audio 2001 too ... $228 (or $175US) is a real deal.

I think I'll pick one up later today.

[number17]

I got another question for you guys ... apparently some Zenith 318 users in the states have got a firmware upgrade CD from LGUSA that fixes the white crush problem (but disables upconvert on component output). Meanwhile LG Canada doesn't even recognize this problem.

Can anybody verify if they've got the firmware upgrade CD? Is there anyway I can get the CD to fix this white crush problem?

It's not very obvious when watching movies but knowing this is a problem, and the fix is somewhere out there ... I just wanna get it fixed.

Thanks,

[Kit]

Jon, thanks very much for a pretty thorough reply - and in layman's language I can understand as well

I'm on the Canadian left coast, I see them now and then at Future Shop, been meaning to scout out there and see if I can find them at a lower pricepoint. But I might just wave the white flag and get it now!

<edit>OK, went and got it. Saw it @ Future Shop, they were having a sale and it had dropped down to $250. Plus the guy knocked off another 10% as I stood there trying to convince myself that The Wife wouldn't be too put out by yet another toy for the boy. Just popped in the animated Spiderman DVD to check out a scene or two - phew! Its nice! Looking forward to watching a few movies on this over the next few days...</edit>

[SHARpTAc]

Troubles with my new display and LG unit

Hey guys i am very new to this whole scene of players and tv's etc, but me and my family have made the investement and purchased the Sharp 37 inch lcg4u lcd screen. the display is absolutely lovely. i myself heard that dvi is the way to go in terms of PQ and since my display had the appropriate input i made the investement into the LG model dvi capable dvd player you guys are speaking of. so the dvi looks great, absolutely amazing, beautiful colours and everything, but ofcourse im not up to speed on the "white crush" issues that i have been reading about in this thread to report anything like that, however i am having a couple of issues. First off when im trying to watch a "dark" movie or a movie with alot of blacks on the screen, i notice that the black area will appear heavily pixelated, and i mean large pizels, this does not occur anytime else except whenever blacks appear. Secondly, when the screen is dark and i am jumping between menus screens i get what could best be described as "artificial burn ins", i am aware that lcd monitors cannot recieved burn in and these "artificial burn ins" do disappear when the next screen appears. Thirdly, i am having tremendous difficulties watching my burned dvd's through this LG player onto my tv, the same dvds will work on my cheaper sears brand progressive scan player but not on this LG which is currently being run through a a dvi connector, i am not sure if this has anything to do with it, but like i said, i am new to the scene and i am looking for the best possible picture for my new tv, if any of you guys/girls could provide me with any soloution/advice it would be much appreciated,

thanks

[number17]

First of all, on pixelation ... I'd make sure I've got the right setting on the computer and the DVD player first. If the native resolution of your LCD display is 1080i, then make sure you upconvert the DVD to 1080i from the LG DVD player (and remember, you have to stop the DVD before you can change the upconvert resolution). I think most LCD's native resolution is 720p, and if that's the case, change the DVD player's resolution to 720p.

If that still doesn't fix the problem, and you're sure your DVD is of good quality (i.e. not a pirate DVD that's been copied with high compression ratio) then you might have a defective unit.

As for the "artificial burn-in" problem you described, I have no clue. It sure sounds like your DVD player might be defective. You might want to reset it and see if that fixes the problem. To reset it, you can just unplug the device and leave it for 15 minutes before plugging it back in. Or, there's a way to reset it if you just check out the DVD player under www.videohelp.com and go from there.

Finally the LG7382 is supposed to read DVD +/- R/RW so it shouldn't be a problem. It isn't exactly uncommon for cheaper, low end DVD players to be able to read more media's though, so that shouldn't be a surprise at all.

[Elmac]

My LG7832 reads everything, but I have noticed that it likes the most/or should I say loads the quickest with Apple DVD-R, and it works fine with Memorex DVD+RW.

[DavidY]

*** W A T C H O U T F O R J U L Y 2 0 0 4 O R N E W E R B U I L D S ***

Last week, I bought a LG 7832 player, July 2004 build date, at a local LG dealer. I guess that I am unfortunately the first person at various HT forums to buy this player with the "new" firmware. Contrary to previously reports, the player upconverts to 1080i via component on only some DVDs....of the 15 or so DVDs that I tested to date, less than half would upconvert....the remaining downconverts back to 480p (eg. Star Wars I & II, Spiderman, Matrix, LOTR: FOTR, Army of Darkness to name a few which are problematic). I am using an Infocus X1 (3.6 firmware). I am hoping to exchange for another player that works properly....ie. an older build like Feb 2004 or Nov 2003.

Dave

[number17]

So the new firmware DOES upconvert on component, but only for some DVD's eh?

How about DVI? Does it support DVI upconvert on ALL DVD's? Or limited DVD's as well?

And does it get rid of the white crush problem?

[SHARpTAc]

Hey guys thanks for the response.
I switched to component on my setup instead of DVI and i was able to get rid of the black pixelization so im thinking of just not using the DVI from now on. The dvd that i was using to test the blacks was bram stoker's dracula (retail), it looked fine with component however. Also if i was going to be using component then would it be worth the money to purchase monster component cables and scrap the ones that come with the player?? As well I recently got setup with a hdtv terminal but I am currently using s-video to transmit the video signal. I was wondering if i would need to use component wires to transmit the true hd signal. I ask this because when i am trying to view an hdtv source (ie.HDTSN), i am not getting the picture to fill out my screen, i am required to stretch the picture to fit and in the process losing valuable quality. I have been told that this ocurrs because s-video cannot transmit the hi-def video and component cables would solve this.
I believe that im goin to return this player and go for a panasonic in the same price range and hope for the best as far as my copied dvds are concerned.
another quick comment: when trying to upconvert from 720p to 1080i in component setup i do not experience any errors, it simply displays a higher resolution image on my dvd default screen and i am able to play the movie after that. One issue that does ocurr is that the movie will flicker in some scenes. I am not sure however, whether this is due to the quality of the cables or the video itself.

Anyways,
thanks for ur time,
thanks for ur help,
anymore advice would great!!

[Bam!]

So the new firmware DOES upconvert on component, but only for some DVD's eh?

How about DVI? Does it support DVI upconvert on ALL DVD's? Or limited DVD's as well?

And does it get rid of the white crush problem?

I doubt he'd know....the X1 doesn't have a DVi entry......

[number17]

Also if i was going to be using component then would it be worth the money to purchase monster component cables and scrap the ones that come with the player??

You definitely should scrap the component cables that come with the player if you care about picture quality. Whether you go for Monster is another story (I always think Monster is over-rated and overpriced ... but that's just me) but definitely get better component cables.

As well I recently got setup with a hdtv terminal but I am currently using s-video to transmit the video signal. I was wondering if i would need to use component wires to transmit the true hd signal. I ask this because when i am trying to view an hdtv source (ie.HDTSN), i am not getting the picture to fill out my screen, i am required to stretch the picture to fit and in the process losing valuable quality. I have been told that this ocurrs because s-video cannot transmit the hi-def video and component cables would solve this.

Yes that is correct. You are currently 'wasting' your HDTV terminal and the monthly fee for the HD channels with the S-video cable. S-video cable does not output true HD (1080i for the SA HD3200) signal. You'll need component cables. Even if you put the cheap component cables that come with the LG player on the HD terminal you'll see a night and day difference on your TV.

BTW, HDTSN is a CRAPPY HD channel ... 95%+ of their program content is not HD ... you'll get the best HD program on the Rogers (assuming you're in Rogers region) HD demo channel (280). PBS and HD TMN are also good HD channels to showcase the picture quality. If you like hockey (I'm assuming you're Canadian) CBC will be broadcasting the semi-finals and finals of the WCH on channel 280. Once you've watched a hockey game (or any sports in general) in true HD form, you don't wanna go back.

I believe that im goin to return this player and go for a panasonic in the same price range and hope for the best as far as my copied dvds are concerned.

Again, LG should be able to read all media DVD's. I dunno if it's problem with your particular DVD player. Panny doesn't make an upconvert DVD player (yet ... but it's coming out).

another quick comment: when trying to upconvert from 720p to 1080i in component setup i do not experience any errors, it simply displays a higher resolution image on my dvd default screen and i am able to play the movie after that. One issue that does ocurr is that the movie will flicker in some scenes. I am not sure however, whether this is due to the quality of the cables or the video itself.

Not 100% sure what your question is ... most TV sets will downconvert the signal if it is higher than their native / set resolution. For example, my TV set does no display 720p signals but if I select that on the DVD player my TV will still show the movie. But the picture quality will be crappy as my TV is downconverting the 720p to the native resolution, which is 1080i.

The LG player is also known for poor quality in 720p mode.

[SHARpTAc]

thanks again,
Oh yea im Canadian and definitely a hockey fan, im the biggest habs fan living in toronto I have to make sure that i get the component before the 11th so i can watch the hockey. Anyways i did try to use the component cables that came with the LG to hook my new rogers hdpvr box and i was getting an awful picture that looked like i had mixed up the colour connections. I double checked that and reinserted them and i had the right connection all along but for some reason i was getting a bad picture. I was looking into the manual and it said that i may need a converter for the component cables because some tvs have RGB instead of real component. Something along those lines. i would love to keep the player but if i continue to have problems then i dont see what the use is, if i could find a good 720p dvd player for about the same price as the LG then i would be happy. maybe id have better luck if i just replaced my LG with the same one or maybe its my burning process, i am getting a little stressed here with all these problems i keep running into.
anyways im goin to get sum more component cables, try and hook it up nice and sweet, and we shall see what happens.

[Kit]

Quick question re: setting up my LG DVD player. I popped in the Hellboy DVD and noticed that the menu fonts were really jagged; just for a quick comparison, I popped them into my Playstation 2 and noticed that they were not jagged when playing there.

The TV's a Sony Grand Wega (KF42WE610).

How do I get rid of the jaggies? Appreciate any tips and pointers in advance,
CK

[number17]

What is the resolution setting of your LG player? Is it matching the native resolution of your TV (1080i / 720p / 480p)?

Most TV will upconvert and downconvert if the input signal is different from their native resolution. Most TV's also do a much better job of upconverting than downconverting though.

If, the resolution of your TV is 1080i, and you input a 720p signal into it with the LG DVD player, the TV will first have to downconvert the signal from 720p to 480i/p, then back up to 1080i. It is possible that would create the degradation. Not to mention, the LG's pretty crappy at 720p to begin with.

OTOH your PS2 most probably output the signal at 480i (if you're connected via composite video output). Your TV does not have to downconvert in that case.

Check the resolution of your LG player, and see if it fixes the problem in another resolution.

[Kit]

Reading the specs, my TV is 1080i - so I set the LG to the same. I think I tried it in different resolutions, I'll try again tonight when I get home from work. Thanks!

[SHARpTAc]

Hey Guys, the reason my component connection wasnt working at first with my hdbox was because i had originally configured it through s-video before using the component. so i just re-config'd it and it works great!!! beautiful picture!!!
However, im noticing as well when i try to play a dvd and upconvert it to 1080i i get many "scan lines" about 1/2 inch apart going throughout my screen, this happens with every movie it is just less noticeable with some than others. This sucks because it makes watching movies on 1080i not possible. Ofcourse i would rather watch on this resolution cause it makes the picture look a little crisper on my screen. Also i dont know if i posted about this but i bought some component video 3 cables and connected my LG through those and it seems to have eliminated the original problem of my blacks appearing pixelated and "artificial burn-ins", while using the supplied dvi cable. I guess the technology is just too new. Anyways if anyone has experienced this same problem with the dvd's on 1080i or anyone know of an explanation for this or solotion that would be terrrific.
Thanks again for listening.

ps-maybe this has something to do with the native resolution of my Sharp, how would i go about finding out my tv's native resolution?

[DavidY]

Update on my problematic July 2004 build player

The LG people are blaming my problem on regional coding of the DVDs....in other words, that I was using non-region 1 DVDs. Based on what I have read on the Net, this is not a surprise response from a manufacturer like LG Canada. All of the DVDs that I had tried were bought here at major online and B&M dealers within Canada. On a hunch, I did try to play a R2 Hong Kong Legend title, New Dragon Gate Inn....it was recognized as the wrong region....no picture whatsoever, just blue screen.

Anyways, the dealer will be bringing in another player (same model, but with an older build date...Feb 2004?) from another city.

Dave

[number17]

Does the new firmware at least get rid of the white crush problem on DVI?

[bamaredwingsfan]

I have a 47 inch panasonic widescreen, with component hookups, an i heard that the newest firmware for the zenith might disable the upconvert to 1080i on component for me. My question is around what time frame should i try to find a zenith dvb318 player from?

[JonMarsh]

There's a firmware patch in October, changed to the non upconversion; but SOME October units still upconvert, and have the paper in the box which says they do.

There is a LG firmware file running around the web which allows "downgrading" the firmware of a newer DVB318 to where it will behave as the older ones, even upconverting copy protected DVDs to 1080i. Thers is also one which fixes the white crush on DVI, but restricts upconverting DVDs to non-copy protected; this came out from Zenith around July 2004.

PM me if you need either of these.

[bamaredwingsfan]

Thanks JonMarsh, i probally will be asking u bout how to get that rolled back software update if i get a player that i might need it for. One last question, which would you recomend, the Zenith or the LG version of the dvd player, or does it even matter?

[JonMarsh]

It doesn't matter, unless you like the Zenith brand name better, or LG. They're the same thing, aside from brandname and part number. LG's are sold in Canada, Zenith in the US, though as you know, not very widely. I'm quite happy with my March 2004 Zenith; it's just so good on my NEC CRT projector in 1080i, that it's made it worrisome about how I would replace it if/when it dies of natural causes. So, once again, I'm looking for alternatives.

Maybe more on that a little after Xmax.

[Robbie]

Well I went out about a month ago and tried to find one of these. No luck, everyone was 'out of stock'. Got a notion to try again las weekend and Amazon had em for $149 US. Mine doesn't upconvert copy protected material on the component outputs. Pretty disappointing. Still a great picture. Now if I can get HDTV I'd be set.

Robbie

[HDjunkie]

Well I went out about a month ago and tried to find one of these. No luck, everyone was 'out of stock'. Got a notion to try again las weekend and Amazon had em for $149 US. Mine doesn't upconvert copy protected material on the component outputs. Pretty disappointing. Still a great picture. Now if I can get HDTV I'd be set.

Robbie

There are firmware updates available for making the component outputs or DVI output optimal depending on which you prefer to use.

The Component firmware restores the 318 to upconvert all discs (no matter what the encryption) through the component output.

Check the AVS forum DVB318 FAQ thread for links to the firmware DL and for tons of info on the 318.

[JonMarsh]

Well I went out about a month ago and tried to find one of these. No luck, everyone was 'out of stock'. Got a notion to try again las weekend and Amazon had em for $149 US. Mine doesn't upconvert copy protected material on the component outputs. Pretty disappointing. Still a great picture. Now if I can get HDTV I'd be set.

Robbie

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