Arcam DV137 v Sony Blu Ray player

[leeed342]

I bought a new Sony flatscreen yesterday, which came with a free Sony BDPS300 Blu Ray player. Pah! I thought straight onto E-Bay with that!
However you know what its like, the little niggling voice. I dunno if I'm not brave enough, (or more likely scared of the result!) to try it in comparison to my beloved DV137, but how do you think it will compare in picture and sound? My new tv is a full 1080p panel.
Cheers

Lee

[martin purnell]

This is just the little voice that is so annoying......but it has to be done!!!!
I reckon that if you use a music based dvd, the arcam will claim gold in the standard dvd event. If you have the same movie but in both formats for a truer comparison (say using Casino Royale theme tune) Arcam may just claim Gold but only after the photofinish verdict!
when it comes to comparing pq using standard dvds, I would expect Arcam to still claim the Gold medal assuming that like for like was taken into consideration (ie same upscaling, cabling etc). I think Arcam will be pleased to receive the silver medal when standard dvd is compared though to a bluray version. However, it won't be like Rececca Adlington's 800m race where the competitors were still swinmming after she collected her 2nd Gold medal! The gap will be a lot closer between the 2 formats but I expect the Sony to win on PQ.
The test has to be done....and we expect a full report!!!
Martin

[shadow 8]

The Sony will EASILY best the Arcam on blu ray versus an identical DVD on the Arcam, no contest. To top it off, in the USA the Arcam is five times more expensive, which may explain why few if any are now being sold and sales prices of 137s are falling way down recently on Audiogon and ebay. The Arcam is a great dvd player, but DVD is no match for blu ray. I have a Sony 350 blu ray and just love it, but prefer my Cambridge Audio for DVD. I am waiting to see what Arcam does for blu ray next year before I buy again.

[PenguinHiFi]

Hi Leed,

This is something that I asked myself already and I made the tests. Here is my opinion.

The Arcam DV137 will probably be the best player for audio :
- CD playback
- DVD-A playback
- SACD playback (the Sony doesn't do that I think...)
- movie soundtrack ona DVD

Considering the picture quality, I prefered the natural aspect of the Arcam DVD player in standard DVD playback.

Of course, now comparing BRD against upscaled DVD's :
- on a display smaller than 40 inches, you won't see a real difference
- on a display from 40 inch up to 50 inch, there will be a difference, but it won't be too obvious. The Arcam does a good job and you might just notice more "image stability" in the backgrounds on the BRD.
- on a display from up to 50 inch, you will probably be at ease with the BRD

As far as I am concerned, after some extensive tests, I am not in a hurry to change my actual Arcam DV29. It does excellent job in the audio formats it supports (CD and DVD-A) and, without any upscaling and that kind of things, it has a marvelous picture quality : smooth and natural... as in a theater.

Regards.

PenguinHiFi

[Liam @ Prog AV]

It will do DVD, CD, SACD and DVD-A all better than the Sony will. The Sony will obviously play Blu-Rays which with decent material will always be better than the DVD equivalent.

At the moment we're all keeping our SD DVD players and adding a Blu-Ray player to handle Blu-Rays. No Blu-Ray players are out yet that can compare to SD DVD quality from the likes of the DV137 (they are also horribly slow and clunky to use!)

[NICMAC]

Originally Posted by Liam @ Prog AV

It will do DVD, CD, SACD and DVD-A all better than the Sony will. The Sony will obviously play Blu-Rays which with decent material will always be better than the DVD equivalent.

At the moment we're all keeping our SD DVD players and adding a Blu-Ray player to handle Blu-Rays. No Blu-Ray players are out yet that can compare to SD DVD quality from the likes of the DV137 (they are also horribly slow and clunky to use!)

Sorry to hijack the thread but LIAM can you tell me if you rate the dv35 as I am deciding between one of these and a Denon 2900 which I have previously owned to go with my Pioneer 507xd, i know the Arcam scales to 768p which matches my display but doesn't scale to 1080p which might be a factor when i get a 1080p projector.

Thanks Liam.

[Liam @ Prog AV]

You can't use the 768p output with Pioneer screens as they will only accept 480/576, 720p, 1080i and 1080p24.

The DV135 obviously gives you Arcam audio quality as well as HDMI (upscaled) output which the Denon does not. Although the Denon I must admit is an old favorite of mine! Not really sure which would best, I would think the Arcam clinches it but as I say I do have a soft spot for the 2900 and the Pioneer TV can upscale well enough on it's own (indeed the 507 will always have to rescale so the best thing to do is leave your DVD player in just SD progressive mode)

[leeed342]

Thanks for the replies chaps. My hdmi cable arrived today so I finally got to see what the dv137 looks like set to 1080p, using Toy Story, one is quite impressed The sound is without doubt fantastic, I think I will give the Sony a spin this weekend to see what I think. One question, what is the difference setting the Dv137 to 'hdmi' output as opposed to 'hdmi as dvi' output? Hdmi outputs are all new to me.

Cheers

Lee

[martin purnell]

Hi Leeed,
Over a month has gone by and the big question is......well actually 2 big questions....Did you do the test between the 137 and BRD and what were the results?
I'd love to know esp as I now have a 137 and am rapidly going off the idea of ever buying a BRD player (subject to change of course!)
Kind regards,

Martin

[killiefan]

Originally Posted by leeed342

what is the difference setting the Dv137 to 'hdmi' output as opposed to 'hdmi as dvi' output? Hdmi outputs are all new to me.

Cheers

Lee

I'm guessing, but HDMI to DVI will likely mean the 137 knows to only send video. If you want to hear anything you'll need to connect an audio output.