Blu-ray may be the buzz word at the moment, but there are so few titles available that it's worth waiting a little longer. Yet, with the help of one of these players you may not even need to.
From budget to the high end, here is a selection of devices that will suit every pocket. All of them will increase DVD resolution to at least 1080i, and some to 1080p. Images aren't as impressive as true HD content but they come close. Of course, to take advantage of this you will need a TV with a HDMI input -- a component input won't do.
The star here is the Editors' Choice-winning Denon DVD-1930 which offers a solid build and audiophile performance. If you're looking at buying an upscaling player look to the ones which feature Faroudja processing -- such as the Denon and the Marantz 6001 and 7001. This is a dedicated processor which gives excellent pictures for the price, and is preferable to the no-name or software upscalers found on other models. But all of these players, in their own way, are capable of enhancing the quality of your DVDs when playing them on a big screen. One of them -- the Samsung DVD-1080P7 -- hasn't been reviewed yet, but it's at an intriguing price point.
Of course, Blu-ray players like the Sony BDP-S1E will upscale DVDs, but this model doesn't feature the Faroudja chipset. Even the PlayStation 3 will upscale, and while it makes PS2 games look fantastic, the DVD upscaler is currently awful. Apparently, Sony is undertaking to improve the quality by up to 40 per cent. Even still, we're sure it won't come close to the fantastic results offered by the best here.
