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Q I have a Samsung UN55HU7250F UHDTV that’s currently being fed by a DVD player. Here’s my question: Since the TV upscales signals to 4K, will there be a significant advantage in upgrading to a Blu-ray player if the discs I watch are all DVDs? —Patrick Tyler / Boulder, CO

A Absolutely. The visual benefits of Blu-ray over DVD are substantial. Even when a DVD is scaled to 4K by a UHDTV, the image won’t look nearly as good as it would with a Blu-ray source. That’s because DVD resolution is 345,600 pixels, while Blu-ray provides over 2 million pixels. And when it comes to scaling, where you create new pixels from existing ones, the more picture detail you start out with, the better. Also, most Blu-ray players at this point in the game are absurdly inexpensive.

Another option here would be to wait until new Blu-ray 4K players arrive—it’s anticipated that they will be available by the end of 2015. However, since your UHDTV is a 55-inch model (a relatively small screen size for a 4K set) that isn’t compatible with forthcoming Blu-ray 4K features such as High Dynamic Range, you’ll get the best image quality bang for your buck by simply ditching DVD for Blu-ray.