About.com’s Robert Silva reviews the Samsung DVD-HD931 and comes away very impressed, especially with its Faroudja de-interlacer scaler that up-scales lower-than-HDTV signals (like every DVD you own, for example) up to 720p/1080i. Not only that, but the HD921 has a DVI out, meaning it can drop a clean digital signal direct out to your TV or projector instead of the usual digital->analog->digital mess that messes up the clarity of your picture. There are some definitely limitations in the device, like the upscaling only working on widescreen material and not 4×3 video, and the fact that the DVI interface is the Macrovision-esque DVI-HDCP standard, but all in all it seems like a very nice unit for around $250.
Read [Hometheater.About]
Update: Reader Austin Cooley chimes in:
Actually the scaling does work with 4×3 content. I tested this player on my Sony widescreen set with DVI. The DCDI deinterlacing implementation is very poor. It introduces noticeable edge enhancement which degrades pictures quality. Also, Samsung made this player with the wrong DVI spec. They used the PC spec instead of that untended for home electronics. The result, red push and no black detail. Watch Dark City on this player and you will see what I mean. Unless this is mated with a digital VESA compliant set I would steer clear. The Bravo D1 from V Inc is around $200 and offers much better picture quality. Its downside, sometimes not as reliable and looks like a $30 Apex.
