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Help with Upconvert DVD Player

Hi there! We have a "Panasonic Viera TH-42PX80U 42-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV". We got our first upconvert DVD player 2 years ago (a Sony DVPNS75H Single Disc Upscaling DVD Player) and it gave a wonderful, crisp, clear picture. When it started dying, we bought the next model, Sony DVP-NS700H/B. It gave a beautiful picture, too. Then, last month it started dying as well.

So we trundled off to Best Buy and bought the newer Sony model ( the DVP-NS710H/B ). We plugged it right in (using an HDMI cable, just like the other two)expecting the same quality picture. Instead, the picture was awful! The colour is muddy and the whole picture is grainy - not out of focus though (it is perfectly "clear"). We tried a Samsung upconvert and it was the worst. So, we tried the Toshiba D-VR610 and the picture on it was even worse. Everything was really grainy and orange. So, not wanting to invest in more players without being sure of the PQ, we took our own movies to Best Buy and tried them on different players (hooked up to a newer version of our TV). We tried another Toshiba upconvert, a Sony, Toshiba, and Samsung Blu-Ray player and they did not give a good picture between them.

I have tried all the different upconvert settings ( 480p, 1080i, etc)and nothing really makes a difference. It can't be the TV because we just had a wonderful picture using the same movies, tv settings and HDMI cables.

So we are back to using a Toshiba SD-V296 Standard DVD Player using component cables. It gives a good standard picture, at least it is not grainy.

We have a huge collection (close to 1,000 titles) of DVDs and we do not watch many new movies, don't have television and are not interested in Blu-Ray. So, we are looking for a player that will play our current collection with the best quality picture.

What DVD upconvert players would anybody recommend? We are very sensative to picture quality (many would call us "videophiles"), so players are important to us. Thanks for any input.