Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Universal player

In reply to:

---

Just don't go overboard or we'll ask you to submit hard evidence.

---

I actually resent the tone of your post a little but I'm honestly going to let most of it go............but, considering my post dealt with the 2900 and nothing else there is no need for me to submit evidence and more then enough people will post in this thread with similar views.

If the fact that I own an audio cable company in some way makes what I say questionable (to you anyway) you can search the net and read all the reviews from not only owners but third party reviewers. Apparently tangible differences are a hot commodity these days. Who would a thunk!

Before I purchased my Rotel RCD-1072 CD player I had one of those Sony universal cd/dvd/SACD players I purchased for usd 129 at jr.com. I can tell you that the difference in redbook CDs were huge!! I can hardly tell the difference between SACD layer of a SACD in my Sony with the regular CD layer played in my Rotel. However the difference in cost is huge as well (Msrp for RCD-1072 is USD 700)

I am by no means an audiophile or videophile. In fact, I am just putting together my first entertainment system of substance. I plan on a Denon AVR 3805 and axiom all the way around. Regarding the DVD/CD player I have had a harder time deciding. I had planned on sticking with Denon. However, someone mentioned that the "upconversion" to a HD format is worthwhile. Although I wonder how much difference it makes since the origional media is not HD. But here is the source of my quandry. A samsung of all things. The DVD HD941 has several interesting features.
1. Faroudja DCDi
2. SACD, DVD audio, plus all other expected formats
3. Upconverion of DVD to HD(with noted qualifiers)
4. Street price of $240

The only feature that I might wish for is the 5 disk changer.
Of course, I wonder how the video and audio quality really compare.
I'd love to hear any thoughts about this....or any ideas of which universal dvd really has it all including quality.

Here is another player you might want to check out. It's the OppoDigital OPDV971H. It's introductory price is $199.00. It got a score of 94 on the Secrets of Home Theater and High Fidelity DVD Benchmark Test which is second only to the $3500 MSRP Denon 5910 (the score only pertains to the DVI output). Not bad for a $200 DVD player. The results for all players can be found here. The list is long so it may take a while for the page to load.

The DVI video board in the player houses the Genesis FLI-2310 video processing chip, and offers the standard upscaling resolutions of 480p, 720p and 1080i. It features DCDi by Faroudja. The DVI output is not HDCP compliant, so consumers with older DVI monitors that don’t support HDCP are in luck! On top of that, the player is region free out of the box making it an excellent choice for fans of foreign cinema or foreign market DVDs. It does play DVD-A, but I don't think it plays SACD.

But no SACD.

Yeah, Ken. That's what I thought too. If it had SACD I'd be all over this puppy. But, I thought I'd mention it in case SACD wasn't important to mcs.

i just bought the samsung HD 841

i'm very happy with it. it plays all important formats and the picture with DVI and 720p is very, very smooth.

Hi,

I'm back. Yikes, well that post of mine certainly stimulated discussion. Perhaps "obsess" wasn't the best word choice, but I obsess over video differences as many of us do. What I was saying is that in terms of DVD picture quality, the differences between many good, inexpensive Universal and non-universal players (Sony, Toshiba, Samsung, V Inc., Panasonic), are a matter of nuances, sometimes only visible with test signals and not apparent with full-motion video.

It's also a question of adjectives. Using terms like "vastly better" is just silly with the current state of high-quality DVD playback. Yes, the Faroudja/Genesis chips ARE superior, but NOT "vastly" superior. If those nuances matter to you--and they do to me--then by all means spend the bucks on an expensive Universal model.

At the Toshiba prototype introduction of the original DVD format, which I attended, the term "vastly superior" would apply to comparisons of the DVD picture quality to existing VHS or Super VHS. But it's misleading to use such exaggeration to describe small improvements in DVD video playback quality.

Spending a lot will also get you better bass management and other video tweaks in a Universal player.

Regards,

Hey Alan,

Ah heck, you know me, I seem to post after a few of your posts going "No darn it I think your wrong"...(sorry about that by the way)

It's all good. I was just trying to make the point that with a higher priced player, you do for the most part, get what you pay for.

Boy did I get slapped!
But Alan, you are right, and I will happily admit that my enthiusiasm for my gear can get away from me sometimes.
"Vast" is a big difference, and there are not big differences between the players that I was speaking of.
But, there are differences, and they are differences that I am willing to pay for.
(The layer change is one of those, and until you have lived without it for some time, you may not have any idea how annoying it was in the first place!)
As to the audio side- I pointed out that the way I have my players set up is stilted (To My Ears) in favor of the 2900.
But I have taken the time to set the output levels to match, and put the same CD in both players, and gotten them perfectly synched, and done blind A/B comparisons, and the Denon always comes out in front.
Again, Denon- analog, Yamaha - digital.
So I guess I just like those Denon DACS, for whatever they are doing to the music.
Now gimmie a minute to go get my helmet...