I have recently purchased the Samsung DVD HD-960 which upconverts standard DVD's to near 720 or 1080i quality but I have not been able to find any information on whether it will support the HD-DVD movies.

plz help oh knowledgful worthy ones

i figured this would be an easy question. does anyone know?

The answer is no.

no, but hd-dvd players will play dvd's

dangit! i find it funny that the picture from my satellite is 1080i and gorgeous but DVD movies even after upconvert is still subpar. seems to me that would be easier.
thanks for the input

Which channels transmit in 1080i actually???

In the USA HDNet...

Dave welcome to the forum! The first thing to remember, is with these new formats-HD-DVD and also Blu-ray, this system uses a different laser than your DVD player. They use a blue laser as this allows for a different writing approach, that can pack a lot more data on a same size disc that we are used to. Even your upconverting player still uses a red laser, so it will never be able to read a blue laser disc.

What allows your DVD player to "up-convert", is a chip inside that does some fancy things with a special algorithm, to attempt to provide information, that really isn't there on a DVD file. Your mileage will vary depending on the chip and also, the quality of the DVD movie to begin with. They can only do so much. Some people even say they are a gimmick, although, I think that the quality is improved. Especially on certain players such as the Oppo Digital, these are a real bargain IMHO.

As far as your picture quality or PQ for short, you really do not give enough information for anyone to comment. For instance, are you using a digital connection, such as DVI? Also, what type monitor and DVD player are you using? This information can really help. With a decent DVD player and a good monitor, you ought to have a heck of a nice picture from a DVD movie using pure digital connections. Even if the player is just a normal one without an upconverting chip.

For instance, I have a HTPC and also a Geforce7800 card to drive my 42" plasma monitor through a DVI connection. This setup provides a kickass picture, just as good as my Oppo Digital player. Now, ATI does an even better job with video than Nvidia from what I can gather on the net!

If you are using another type connection to send the signal from the DVD player to the Monitor, such as S-video or any one that is analog, then, you are limited to the monitors ability to handle the signal and change it back to digital and it trumps your player. Kind of a waste you see? I suspect that your satellite has been given your digital HDMI or DVI connection as many TV's may only have one. Is this the case?

By the way, another reason to avoid an analog connection from an upconverting DVD player to a display device, is due to the fact that quite a few DVDs are protected by Macrovision. This is an analog scheme that will thwart most upconverting players from outputting a signal greater than 480p. So, this could be the problem as well.

Fortunately, this Macrovision protection is a bit of a dinosaur and is unable to stop us from outputting an upconverted signal over a pure digital connection like DVI or HDMI. So, stay away from analog! The only upconverting player I know of that can output 720p or 1080i over an analog connection is the Momitsu and it is from China.

CBS
NBC
PBS
DISCOVERY HD
MOVIE CENTRAL HD
CTV HD
CITY TV HD
SPORTNET HD
HD NET
THE WB
UPN
PARAMOUNT HD ONE
STARZ! HD
HBO
SHOWTIME
NFL NETWORK
USA NETWORK
E! NETWORK
THE MOVIE HD
ENCORE HD
TNT HD
NBA HD
UNIVERSAL HD
SPICE CHANNEL
PLAYBOY CHANNEL
SCI FI NETWORK

Not bad, hehe.
Here in europe everything in case of HDTV is slooooooooooooooooooooooow...