£500 DVD Player

[hifistudent]

Hi,

Looking to get a c£500 DVD player to compliment my new LCD (Sony KDL40W2000). Was originally thinking of the Denon 1930 but now thinking about the 2930. Does anyone have experience of either of these? Is it worth the extra £300?

Cheers

 

[Arfa]

Also check out the Marantz DV7600 or the new DV7001. Supposed to be very good for sounds reproduction.

 

[meninblack]

The Pioneer DV-989 is superb, and can now be had for £550 (original rrp £850).

 

[Nick]

the 989 is winner, we are selling one at the moment for £499. That said I would think about the Toshiba HD-XE1 with your screen the results are stunning.

 

[Lucifer]

I have a Denon 1930 and think it gives an excellent image and good sound (plays SACD and DVD-A too). Frankly I would buy it rather than the 2930 and spend the difference on DVDs, after all something with the same specs as the 2930 will probably be along soon for half the price.

Can you get a demo to compare the two?

 

[wolfgang]

My brother's housemate just got a PS3. After watching a single movie in Blueray we all came to the conclusion it is not worth throwing anymore money on yet another standard dvd player. I would suggest get the cheaper player if you don't have one.

 

[rulocal]

I would consider the Toshib HD-XE1 HD-DVD player. It apparently has SD performance equivalent to the Denon 2930 with HD DVD thrown in for nothing. You are effectively getting top drawer DVD performance with an option on one of the HD formats. This view is widely held on websites such as AVforums. The only concern is that it is also echoed in What Hi Fi

.

It can be found for 470 quid. tHe only downside as far as I can see is that it is region locked for DVDs, although HD-DVDs have no such restriction. I am considering a purchase myself.

 

[philb36]

Arcam dv79?

 

[Buckster]

I haven't seen better so far than my Toshiba SD-9500

It really is sublime through component and PAL Progressive.

I've seen them as cheap 2nd hand for £250-£300 - RRP was £2K !

I was always impressed by mine - but now I have a 42 inch Plasma I love it to bits, the picture is just superb.

Mark.

 

[Buckster]

re the SD-9500 there is one on AVforums for sale (not mine !)

you'd have to factor in another 60 pounds or so for a multi-region mod though - still good overall price for the quality though !

http://www.avforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=500940

here is a "review" in German with a load of internal photos - this is no cheaply made DVD player thats for sure !

http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.areadvd.de/images/images_01/toshiba_sd9500_inside.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.areadvd.de/hardware/toshiba_sd9500.shtml&h=388&w=500&sz=88&hl=en&start=9&um=1&tbnid=GwQlB2iA9kSjxM:&tbnh=101&tbnw=130&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dsd-9500%2B%26svnum%3D10%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DG

 

[cjr]

Buckster wrote:

I haven't seen better so far than my Toshiba SD-9500

It really is sublime through component and PAL Progressive.I've seen them as cheap 2nd hand for £250-£300 - RRP was £2K !

I was always impressed by mine - but now I have a 42 inch Plasma I love it to bits, the picture is just superb.

Mark.

Mark the only thing I have seen that beats the SD-9500 visually (again PAL PS Component)is a true HD 1080 picture from either HD-DVD or Bluray.It was one stunning DVD player through my olddearsPanny 42" Viera and easily beats thats screens HDMI connection with normal DVD.

Tis a lovely machine to have whilst the HD-DVD - Bluray format ware will rumble on.

 

[Alex A]

I haven't seen one cjr, but I'd like to see it on a latest generationHD plasma against a more modern premiumupscaling progressive player with HDMI (Such as an ArcamDV135 or a Denon 3930), because it's difficult to believe. DVD has really moved on in most ways, and the reasonthings like the 9500go so cheap is because they don't have those things which are now standard on £100 DVD players (which give generallyexcellent performance). The case for buying older premium models is that (to me) the tend to give richer and more vivid colours, but are often not quite as sharp, focused or good with panning that newer, cheaper more technologically advanced players are. At least not on a big HD screen.Great if you're sticking with CRT for a while though!

Also worth consideration is that the W series 40" is true HD (1920x1080), and pretty much any SD signal looks grainy and blurred. Upscaling and HDMI should help significantly in counteracting this (as far as possible). I think upscaling is much more critical on a DVD player for your TV than it is for'standard' resolution (1366x768)HD panels.

Nontheless, as a wise man said above, HD is the way to go if you're thinking of spending any seriousmoney.It's not like SACD vs CD where differences are often marginal and diffcult to demonstrate (withouta very serious setup):HDvideo isclearly anddemonstrably superior to SD videoin every sense. Personally I wouldn't spend more than £100 on a new standalone DVD player, even if my screen cost £6k and I had 1000 DVDs. Buying the Tosh HD-DVD player as recommended above would be a better buy for <£500 (which will play and upscale your normal DVDs well too!). Having said that, my choice would be the Panasonic Blu Ray (or a PS3).

 

[cjr]

Alex_A wrote:

I haven't seen one cjr, but I'd like to see it on a latest generationHD plasma against a more modern premiumupscaling progressive player with HDMI (Such as an ArcamDV135 or a Denon 3930), because it's difficult to believe. DVD has really moved on in most ways, and the reasonthings like the 9500go so cheap is because they don't have those things which are now standard on £100 DVD players (which give generallyexcellent performance). The case for buying older premium models is that (to me) the tend to give richer and more vivid colours, but are often not quite as sharp, focused or good with panning that newer, cheaper more technologically advanced players are. At least not on a big HD screen.Great if you're sticking with CRT for a while though!Also worth consideration is that the W series 40" is true HD (1920x1080), and pretty much any SD signal looks grainy and blurred. Upscaling and HDMI should help significantly in counteracting this (as far as possible). I think upscaling is much more critical on a DVD player for your TV than it is for'standard' resolution (1366x768)HD panels.

Alex we will have to disagree here then old chap, would help of course if you could see a SD-9500 in action of course into a Projector or 36" CRT or LCD/Plamsa doing PAL PS then it would not be so hard to believe. I have seen plenty of normal DVD-V from HFMI, also upscaled stuff to HDMI and I am not that impressed with it compared to my SD-9500 - looks jagged and pixellated. I would reccomend reading this forum here for many views that also disagree with what you are suggesting above :

http://www.avforums.com/forums/index.php

Do a search on the SD-9500 there and read the threads, you will get more than just my view on this particular DVD-V player. Guys with HDMI equipped players, PJs & Blurray & HD displays. Quite a few seem to think it slightly better than "now standard" £100 DVD-V players.

Regards

 

[philb36]

I'd rather have an arcam than the pioneer,just my opinion.

I know Arcam have no plans as yet for a hd/blu player.

Lovely denon 2900 for sale as well shameless plug but hey ho...