Sony DVP-NS70H HDMI Single Disc DVD Player
Big disappointment--not worth the extra money
I read all the reviews on Amazon before buying this DVD player, so I was surprised that I was so disappointed with it given all the positive reviews. To make a long story short, I wound up returning this player and exchanging it for the basic Sony DVD player that looks just like this one, has the same basic features, but no HDMI upconversion or optical digital output. <br /> <br />I hooked up this unit to my 50 inch Sony 3 LCD projection HDTV using both the component and HDMI cables into different inputs so I could flip back and forth between the two. I saw either no difference at all, or such a subtle difference that I couldn't justifiy the extra $70 on the player and $50 on the HDMI cable.  <br /> <br />I probably wouldn't have noticed the vertical shift on 1080i had I not read about it earlier and been looking for it, but it irritated me nonetheless. Why would I pay more for a player that squished the image, even if only slightly? The vertical shift (or squishing I should say) was anywhere between 1/2 inch to an inch on 16 x 9 images in 1080i mode and slightly less in 720p. (My TV has a resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels, so I imagine it's not meant to upconvert to 1080i). Even so, I still had a vertical image shift on 720p on some DVDs. <br /> <br />I'm glad others had better luck with this DVD player. Either that or they never bothered to compare the HDMI hookup with component video--component video with progressive scan (480p) looks pretty darn good on an HDTV if it's a high quality DVD. I'm going to wait for HD DVD before I really upgrade next time (and I'll wait until the technology becomes affordable and readibly available.)