BruinsFan Posted September 15, 2004 Share Posted September 15, 2004 OK, maybe not the best but..... I've done a search and I know this has been talked to alot but I can't seem to find info the helps me. I don't care about SACD or DVD audio - in any format. I do want good sound from CDs and great picture/audio from movies. I'm thinking of a budget of $400-$600 - but would go a little higher if it was worth it. I'm leaning towards Rotel RDV 1040 or 1050 but that's mainly because the receiver will be a rotel and I don't know any better thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marksdad Posted September 15, 2004 Share Posted September 15, 2004 ive had the rotel gear in house, and it is or was a hair better than my current denon, but they have had issues with thier software that chased me any many others away, but to get to the level of the denon i had to go with the 1080, i am told that the chroma bug is gone from the new pioneers, if so they make a good unit either the 45 ar 47a1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrPyro Posted September 15, 2004 Share Posted September 15, 2004 Bruins- The main question is, what are you planning on hooking it up to? Plasma, Front Projector, Tube TV, what? Also, What kind of interface are you planning on using? DVI, HDMI, Component, S-Video..what? Our suggestions will depend on this. For fixed pixel displays with DVI or VGA, probably the best video quality will come from a computer and running at the native resolution of the display. For a HDTV ready TV with DVI, I would suggest the Bravo DVD player. All reports suggest an amazing digital output (but analog SUCKS) and it upsizes all DVDs to 720p and at $250...you can't beat the price. If you are determined to get CD playback too, i would strongly suggest a univeral player. Sooner or later SACD and/or DVD-A will gain in popularity.... I love classical music, so SACD is the better format to buy since most of the classical titles are on SACD. Of the 20 or so SACDs I have, most are amazing for sound quality. Also, you might think about a player that also includes Microsofts Audio and media, as their HD codec is very nice but requires alot of CPU power.... -Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilMays Posted September 15, 2004 Share Posted September 15, 2004 Drpyro, First time I have readyour DIY interconnects link. I found it excellent and informative, more so than I have seen before. Thanks for the effort. Oh yea, I second getting a universal player, you'll use it one day unless you think it is so far down the road that new technology will be out at a cheaper price. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Griffinator Posted September 15, 2004 Share Posted September 15, 2004 The best DVD player on the market? Bel Canto Player. $7000 list. Plays everything, has some of the finest DAC on the market. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frzninvt Posted September 15, 2004 Share Posted September 15, 2004 In the price range you are looking in you are going to be far away from the best DVD player as Griff obviously mentioned. I would focus on a DVD player that does movies and video soundtracks well and buy a used dedicated CD Player of substantial quality instead. I have yet to hear a DVD player that did both things extremely well, CD's & DVD's. CD's always seem to sound bright and unnatural played back on a DVD player. Yuk Go with the Denon 2200 or equivalent for your DVD's and then look into a used Nakamichi OMS-7AII, or Yamaha CDX-1110u or something in that league for your CD playback. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dkp Posted September 15, 2004 Share Posted September 15, 2004 ---------------- On 9/15/2004 11:46:02 AM Griffinator wrote: The best DVD player on the market? Bel Canto Player. $7000 list. Plays everything, has some of the finest DAC on the market. ---------------- Griff-have you checked out the new Integra 10.3? I never see their name mentioned anywhere, but my dealer has one running and it looks spectacular (through an Infocus 7705 on a 108" or so screen). Seems like they run about $2,500 MSRP. David Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BruinsFan Posted September 15, 2004 Author Share Posted September 15, 2004 ---------------- On 9/15/2004 11:40:45 AM PhilMays wrote: Oh yea, I second getting a universal player, you'll use it one day unless you think it is so far down the road that new technology will be out at a cheaper price. ---------------- Yes, exactly. I don't see it being used as a universal player for some time. I use to burn a lot of CD's - but now it's too easy to just hook in the iPod. So DVD movie quality is the most crucial point and I'd rather not pay for features I won't use. I'm hooking it using component outs to a Toshiba rear projection HDTV. I don't think I need it to do upconverting because I believe the new receiver will do that (a bit over my head on that statement). The Denon 2200 and the Rotel 1050 are on my list right now. More features then I need - but seem solid players with good DVD playback. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Griffinator Posted September 16, 2004 Share Posted September 16, 2004 ---------------- On 9/15/2004 1:58:21 PM dkp wrote: Griff-have you checked out the new Integra 10.3? I never see their name mentioned anywhere, but my dealer has one running and it looks spectacular (through an Infocus 7705 on a 108" or so screen). Seems like they run about $2,500 MSRP. David ---------------- I have not yet. The $9500 version of the Bel Canto unit is the mind-blower for video, and I'd be intrigued to see an A/B of the two. The $7000 unit leaves out the high-end scaling for the video, and is more a work of art from the audio perspective (which, after all, is really what Bel Canto is all about - impossibly good audio reproduction...) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Bagadonuts Posted September 16, 2004 Share Posted September 16, 2004 Yamaha is doing a surprisingly good job with their new DVD players just arriving. The long delayed DVD-S1500 is a universal player with Faroujda processing. I just got hold of one, and checked it out on our ISF-calibrated Elite CRT RPTV. Progressive video is excellent. Interlaced is also very good. One downer...progressive/interlaced switch is on back of unit. Have not checked DVD-A/SACD yet. MSRP $449. At CEDIA, they showed the new DVD-S2500 which adds i.Link and HDMI output. Not sure of price or date. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Griffinator Posted September 16, 2004 Share Posted September 16, 2004 On the cheaper units (<$1000), the "Faroudja DCDi processing" is nothing more than the low end Faroudja chips implemented whatever way the manufacturer sees fit. On top-shelf units like the Bel Canto, the Faroudja scaling is literally the complete video processing system from Faroudja - plugged directly into the unit. No monkey business - the real deal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IndyKlipschFan Posted September 17, 2004 Share Posted September 17, 2004 Look at Samsung with a DVI output to a DVI HDTV. Incredible IMO almost if not so close hard to tell to HDTV too. I am very pleased with mine below in the signature HD 931, if I remember right? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boomer9911 Posted September 17, 2004 Share Posted September 17, 2004 For the price, can be had for $300 CDN, Marantz DV4300, nice unit, basic and does the job well...now with the extra $500 KEGGER!! sorry, thought it wasa Friday....TGIF eh... 3 revisions, wow, thought I bought everyone out....sucks... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BruinsFan Posted September 17, 2004 Author Share Posted September 17, 2004 They're starting to blow out the Denon 2900 so I went with one of those. I don't think anyone would consider that a bad option. Broke down and got the silver because my wife said it matched the Rotel better..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Griffinator Posted September 17, 2004 Share Posted September 17, 2004 ---------------- On 9/17/2004 12:50:09 AM IndyKlipschFan wrote: Look at Samsung with a DVI output to a DVI HDTV. Incredible IMO almost if not so close hard to tell to HDTV too. I am very pleased with mine below in the signature HD 931, if I remember right? ---------------- If you don't mind the White Crush, I suppose that's a tolerable option... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wheelman Posted September 17, 2004 Share Posted September 17, 2004 Again cambridge audio for the money. It's impossible to say the best I would think unless you played everyone on your system, and good luck there is companies out there that probally none of us heard of. Keep in mind I'm like the best on a tight budget kind of guy. So most the stuff I refere to is for people with little money that want quality sound. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IndyKlipschFan Posted September 17, 2004 Share Posted September 17, 2004 If you don't mind the White Crush, I suppose that's a tolerable option... ------------------------------------------ ok griff I will bait... white crush meaning??? $500.00 or less I thought this is a home run. Seems like it to me. My only problem is it is a little slow to load up. But the picture and sound is incredible griff I am serious. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Griffinator Posted September 18, 2004 Share Posted September 18, 2004 White Crush is a major bugaboo in the DVI format. The stepping of the white levels in DVI are fixed digital bits (0 to 255) as opposed to analog transmission (RGB/Component) where they are natural intensities, not limited by bit depth. This stepping creates a phenomenon where, at a certain point, the intensity of white light transmission reaches saturation and one intensity of white cannot be differentiated from another intensity. Until such time as the bit depth is increased to a point where this differentiation is no longer visible to the human eye, DVI will suffer in quality vs. component or RGB transmission of similar signals. This was the big reason why people on the forum jumped when I was offering the Zenith HD-upscaling DVD players (that transmitted the upsampled signal via component) for sale, and why everyone was so disappointed at the announcement that Zenith was halting production of these players in order to "upgrade" the firmware to a fixed 1080i-through-DVI-only output, rendering them no better than the Samsung. My simple answer is to skip over this pile of DVD players with their upsampling capabilities and just employ an outboard scaler (I sell the Nextvision 6 for the budget-conscious at around $250) so you can use RGB or component out to your display instead of DVI. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BBB Posted September 18, 2004 Share Posted September 18, 2004 As usual Griff is right. Zenith blew it. An outboard scaler is the way to go. That way you can use the RGB or component inputs and plug them into whatever your display accommodates. Check out the shootout info on DVD players. Secrets shoootout Unfortunately the top 6 players that are on their list are hardly available except for the 5900(which they adore. Yeah right.) and the 2900. All Denon of course., Hmmmmm. Whats up with that? I have a Denon 1600 however, as many people know, it is actually a Panasonic in Denon clothing. Have fun. There's a big ole bunch of players to look at.BBB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
radiob Posted September 18, 2004 Share Posted September 18, 2004 ---------------- On 9/18/2004 5:42:17 PM Griffinator wrote: White Crush is a major bugaboo in the DVI format. The stepping of the white levels in DVI are fixed digital bits (0 to 255) as opposed to analog transmission (RGB/Component) where they are natural intensities, not limited by bit depth. This stepping creates a phenomenon where, at a certain point, the intensity of white light transmission reaches saturation and one intensity of white cannot be differentiated from another intensity. Until such time as the bit depth is increased to a point where this differentiation is no longer visible to the human eye, DVI will suffer in quality vs. component or RGB transmission of similar signals. This was the big reason why people on the forum jumped when I was offering the Zenith HD-upscaling DVD players (that transmitted the upsampled signal via component) for sale, and why everyone was so disappointed at the announcement that Zenith was halting production of these players in order to "upgrade" the firmware to a fixed 1080i-through-DVI-only output, rendering them no better than the Samsung. My simple answer is to skip over this pile of DVD players with their upsampling capabilities and just employ an outboard scaler (I sell the Nextvision 6 for the budget-conscious at around $250) so you can use RGB or component out to your display instead of DVI. ---------------- Damn, Griff your on the ball!! More technical data than Ive taken in a week! Carry on... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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