DVDs Aren't Dead Yet
July 16, 2007
By John

With a battle raging inside stores between HD DVD and Blu-ray, the DVD format would like to mention that it is still the king of home entertainment. I was recently reminded of this when I was given an upscaling DVD player. And let me tell you, it makes DVDs look fantastic on my 1080p LCD HDTV. The DVD player to which I am referring is the RCA DRC290, which bills itself as "The perfect entertainment solution for your HDTV". This boasting might not be 100% accurate, but it is close as this is one great DVD player. As opposed to most of the upscaling DVD players out there, this DVD player can upscale to 1080p as well as the usual 1080i and 720p. The picture quality on this unit is fantastic for viewing old DVDs on your HDTV, as it has very few, if any, artifacts. Another advantage of this DVD player is that it is a 5 disk changer, making it great for watching a boxset or a movie series. I plan on watching a Lord of the Rings marathon on it soon. You will, however, require an HDMI cable to get a high quality signal to your HDTV, but those can be found online at places like monoprice.com for around $10. Please, don't pay the rip off prices at your local Best Buy, Wal-mart, Circuit City, etc for these cables. The same exact cable can cost up to $150 at those stores. And don't be fooled by name brand either, as this is a digital signal cable as opposed to the analog cables most people are used to. Therefore, signal quality is not an issue, as it either works or it doesn't. Even with the additional cost of the HDMI cable, this player still comes in at less than $100, making this a great, if not perfect solution for your HDTV.

Links:

HDMI Cable
www.monoprice.com

DVD Player
www.walmart.com