Bought a new inexpensive Toshiba DVD player... one with HDMI output. (An SD-4990)$100 at Best Buy (Got a cheap HDMI cable at Walmart... $35 -- really cheap. Very. But Best Buy was out of the cheap ones they carry.) (Compared to my 6 year old Toshiba DVD player... this one looks/feels cheap. But it'll do for the next year (I hope) until the HD-DVD players come down in price.
It does progressive scan (Component output only) and "near-HD output" which are basically tricks (using software/DSP chips) to take the standard DVD format/resolution (which is ALWAYS 480i (480 scan lines/interlaced)) and "upscale it" so you get a better resolution that better matches your display.
Couldn't get it to work at first... I had sound but no video... the manual said to use HD mode you had to go to the setup menu. Too bad I couldn't see it
thought it was the cheap HDMI cable... so I tried component video like my old DVD player. That didn't work. No idea why but it looked like the signal was messed up (tried it both directly and thru my receiver with no luck). (After checking the specs... it's possible my TV (A Sharp Aquos) doesn't support progressive scan output on the component video input.)
Tried S-Video. That did work and I was able to get to the DVD player menu system and set it to HD output. Turned everything off and plugged the HDMI cable back in.
(And now... I see this issue being mentioned specifically on the AVS Forum. Among other issues inherent in the cheapness of the player.)
So now I had HDMI... but the sound was going thru the tv, not my receiver... so no fancy sound like I'm used to.
Finally figured it out... my TV uses PCM digital audio input. My receiver uses Bitstream digital audio. The DVD player can output either. But I had to "turn off" digital audio on my TV for that HDMI port. (Off actually means -- I told it to use analog audio input which is supported with only one HDMI port.)
Not sure how all that is going to work when I replace my receiver (a 3 year old Chinese thing) this summer with one that has actual HDMI pass-thru ports. (Best Buy has a decent one for $400 -- I'm hoping for a sale/coupon - or getting it somewhere else)
It was very frustrating getting this to work... and I actually have a small clue. What about people who can't even set the clocks on their VCR/microwave?
11:31:42 PM 
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