[balders]

Here's a question for all you Limit DVDA900 owners out there. I've been reading lots of good things about this player, but just need a bit of advice before ordering one.

I've currently got a Tosh SD220, which I've been using as my DVD/CD player for the past couple of years. The kid's DVD player has recently broken, so I want to replace the Tosh and pass it down. However, I want something that will give me better CD playback quality than the Tosh as well, and am trying to decide whether the Limit will give me this. The alternative is to buy a new DVD player (eg Tosh SD340) plus a new CD player (< £150, but don't know which one). I'd also prefer a 'combined' unit for space reasons, but it's not the main criteria.

So, in your opinions, what is the Limit "as good as" for DVD and CD playback. ie, does it play DVDs as good as a £80 DVD player, or £40, or £200? Does it play CDs as good as a £150 CD player. Get my drift?

Ta,

Balders.

[abnett26247]

I have one bought for £100 from play ,and it is very good for cd music and films good as a £200 cd player and more imho. it is heavy and built very well alloy front and easy to control, the remote is not that wonderfull to see /feel but no worse than average, thats my only niggle, i replaced a pioneer 575 with this as imho it plays cds much much better the only fault with the 575 imho was that cds are not so nice sounding as i wanted, and the limit is as good to watch in fact the picture is more stable through a rgb scart to my 36ins hitach tv.the pioneer picture moving slightly sometimes for some reason? for £100 the limit is a good cd plyer that also plays dvd i no longer use my marantz £ 480 cd player from 4 /5 years back, the limit 900se is that good go buy one you wont regret it imho.

[john59]

I agree with the above reply, I got mine on Tuesday and apart from the remote buttons sticking a bit, the sound from this player is very very good, and for £100 I dont think it can be beaten, (I odered mine from play.com on sunday and it arrived like I said on Tuesday) impressive or what.

[bonzobanana]

I'm not sure the picture would be as detailed as the Pioneer 575 but its a lovely clean image with no issues at all. The player is based on the highly regarded zoran vaddis 5 chipset as used in many arcams. The electronics have been reworked by cyrus in order to improve the audio quality immensively this basically involves component changes and upgrades in the psu and main pcb boards. The modification is performed by Limit as is individual adjustment of the video output to get the signal levels spot on and very sharp on tolerances.

Previously I was using a AMW P80L dvd player with some medusa 5.1 headphones. Now I'm using the Limit instead of the AMW and the transformation is remarkable. Music is much more detailed and certain sounds which may have sounded a bit raspy on the AMW playback much more smoothly on the Limit. I actually bought it expecting it to be a bit iffy with regards video output compared to later models. I.e. a little bit worse but to be honest its by far the best video output on any of my dvd players with the possible exception of the kiss DP-450 and that can only beat it because I use it with VGA output and it upscales to 1024x768 for use with my AE100 projector. The Limit is by far the best picture I've seen using component output on my AE100 projector.

I bought a cheap ebench dvd player from lidls a year or so back and that is zoran based too. I suppose because they haven't fine tuned the signal levels and tolerances the picture isn't as good and frankly the dvd drive on the ebench is rubbish. However for a while that gave me the best component output quality I'd seen even comparing it to Panasonic's and other good brand but mid to low level priced players. However the ebench was spoilt by its iffy dvd drive. The Limit is far more solid in operation and the picture is a noticable improvement over the ebench. Its a perfect match for the AE100 and probably any 858x484 resolution projector or plasma with component input.

I must admit due to my own experiences I've developed a bit of a loyalty to zoran chipsets. I've never seen a zoran based dvd player myself that disappointed with regards picture quality. Mediatek has always for me had more issues if its not in the picture quality itself its the smoothness of animation. However mediatek offer increased functionality like scanning through mp3s and many other minor little features. Mediatek players always seem to have issues with grain, or the progressive output being a bit selective on what titles it plays well or brightness/contrast problems.

[stripe]

Yes it that good, even more so now it's selling on Play for half price!

[Elephant Man]

There is no standby mode.

[weyland-yutani]

Originally Posted by Elephant Man

There is no standby mode.

yeah, what is the deal there? can someone explain how that even works, does the remote control have no "off" button?

[Elephant Man]

There is no standby/on-off button on remote. You have to use the on/off button on the player.

[balders]

Thanks very much, folks, that's all great information - exactly the kind of opinions I was after. Looks like Play will be getting another order soon ...

Balders.

[bonzobanana]

One other point about the limit is when you look at it, it looks like a real solid bit of AV equipment. I know its not important but it really looks quite expensive and a bit posh. I was in homeworks/mfi the other day and saw a plastic moulding meant to resemble a vcr which was used on their furniture display and realised a lot of newer actual dvd players are starting to look a lot more like those things. In Asda they now do a £20 dvd player which has no built in time display and has a flip up lid rather than tray. It would probably take fifteen of those to weigh the same as the Limit.

[john59]

As you know I have had the Limit A900se for almost a week now and I can't fault it yet. Bonzo ,am i right in saying that when you switch off the Limt, the settings that are chosen disappear when it is next fired up?.
Last night we watched Alien V predator using the Limit connected to a Denon avr2802 and new Beldon component cables from Mark Grant to my AE500 projected onto a 106 inch screen and the picture quality and sound seperation was stunning

[bonzobanana]

If your talking about the picture settings (brightness, contrast etc), yes sadly they do reset on mine too but thats the same for a lot of dvd players.

[john59]

Originally Posted by bonzobanana

If your talking about the picture settings (brightness, contrast etc), yes sadly they do reset on mine too but thats the same for a lot of dvd players.

Using the pj settings and the hoya fld filter I use I have not needed to alter the above settings on the Limit
I was refering to the settings regarding pcm/raw and so on the video/audio settings in setup.

I had set everything to raw the night before but when I fired the Limit up last night I had to reset them all, any thoughts ????

[abnett26247]

Originally Posted by bonzobanana

One other point about the limit is when you look at it, it looks like a real solid bit of AV equipment. I know its not important but it really looks quite expensive and a bit posh. I was in homeworks/mfi the other day and saw a plastic moulding meant to resemble a vcr which was used on their furniture display and realised a lot of newer actual dvd players are starting to look a lot more like those things. In Asda they now do a £20 dvd player which has no built in time display and has a flip up lid rather than tray. It would probably take fifteen of those to weigh the same as the Limit.

Am i correct in thinking the Limit is the most heavy cheap dvd player available ?it must be what is inside you know, that makes it so heavy ,ok its got a alloy front and is so well put together so your right it must wiegh at least 3 times as much as your average even brand name players ,thats my findings when looking at the £100/£300 players in the last few weeks. any way it must be why the Limit is so good all that heavy stuff the makers and cyrus have fitted in its wonderfully built case?.any one else know of a heavy well built player like the Limit 900 SE ? I found most to be very plastic and light of buld what a shame..

[bonzobanana]

One thing is it has the smoother old style transformer rather than a switchmode psu. Thats got to add a lot of weight and is probably the main reason after the heavy case.

[bonzobanana]

Originally Posted by john59

Using the pj settings and the hoya fld filter I use I have not needed to alter the above settings on the Limit
I was refering to the settings regarding pcm/raw and so on the video/audio settings in setup.

I had set everything to raw the night before but when I fired the Limit up last night I had to reset them all, any thoughts ????

You don't want to be using raw/pcm on the Limit you want to use its own built in decoders. While the smoother psu will be of some benefit to raw/pcm timing I'm sure the real benefit will be using the Limit's own decoders through its enhanced/improved audio circuitry.

[john59]

Originally Posted by bonzobanana

You don't want to be using raw/pcm on the Limit you want to use its own built in decoders. While the smoother psu will be of some benefit to raw/pcm timing I'm sure the real benefit will be using the Limit's own decoders through its enhanced/improved audio circuitry.

Hi Bonzo.
Sorry to pick your brains further but what are the settings you use on your Limit? and do you pump the signals from the Limit through coax to an av receiver/ amp (I use a Denon 2802 connected to 5 speakers plus sub ).
I also found that when I wanted to connect the component lead to my PJ I had to run an S. VID lead from the Limit to the TV so that I could change the settings (so that I could see the menu on screen) from S. VID to component. Am I missing something here .
Regards.
John

[bonzobanana]

I work a nightshift and find I'm often awake at wierd times at weekends so I use the Limit with some medusa 5.1 headphones which are surprisingly good quality. Enough quality anyway to notice the difference between poor sounding dvd players and good sounding anyway. The medusa headphones have their own 5.1 amplifier box which connect to the Limit via the 5.1 outputs phono outputs.

[balders]

My DVDA900SE arrived yesterday, so here's how I got on.

Taking it out of the box, I was quite suprised at how heavy it was. First impression was that it felt quite solid. The only thing I didn't like was the fiddly little buttons they just seemed a bit 'cheap'.

I then connected it all up, switched it on, and must admit I wasn't prepared for the rather tacky looking bright blue display and button illumination. I was quite disappointed that I couldn't find a way to reduce the intensity or just turn the display off. This was compounded by the lack of standby button. Having said that though, it did grow on me.

So, on to the first test - connected up via component and coax, the DVD picture and sound seemed pretty much on a par with my old Tosh 220. If anything, the picture of my Tosh was marginally better, or maybe I'm just used to it. Sound-wise, I didn't notice much difference.

Then, on to a CD, connected via analog RCA cables. This was were the Limit excelled . It did a far better job with a CD than the Tosh. The sound was a lot cleaner and crisper, with the left and right seperation much more pronounced. At this point I decided that I could live with the downsides due to the improved sound quality.

I then had a few difficulties getting my Kameleon remote to operate it, and despite downloading new codes form the One4All website, ended up learning all the buttons manually. Eventually though, it all worked ok.

BUT ...

Then I put some music on in the background, which I do quite frequently, and immediately noticed the 'whine' generated by the player. It wasn't especially loud, but loud enough for me to be quite aware of it while the music was on low. With the volume up higher, it wasn't noticeable. Some CD's were quieter, others the same, and DVDs did seem quieter in general. Putting the same discs in my Tosh, I heard virtually no noise from the player. For me, the noise was just unacceptable.

So, my final decision is the player is going back. Yes, it does have great sound quality and picture quality is OK too, but on reflection it doesn't fit (looks wise) with the rest of my kit due to the dazzling blue lights, looks quite cheap (imho), and I just can't live with the background noise. For £100, it just doesn't fulfill my criteria.

The Tosh is now back under the TV, and will probably get replaced by a 340 in the near future, and I'll save some pennies for a dedicated CD player to go with it.

Balders.

[gregmcquaid]

Well i received my limit today and i have been doing some testing and i really cant fault the machine.

The picture is of far better quality than my toshiba 220e and the sound quality is very good indeed. I cant comment on the sourround sound as i dont have a 5.1 receiver but i did wire it into my yamaha stero amp and the sound was fantastic.

Overall i think this is a very good player and was well worth the money.

Greg

[abnett26247]

I have used mine for some time now and find it great for music films and cd. no whine on mine and i feel its so better built than the pioneer575 i returned because of judders with my ctv and feeble cd play back ,have to say the limit is better in every way and seems so much better put together,all imho though.

[Ian C.]

I have the Limit 9900 at moment,would this be on a par
with the 900.The picture quality is great,only drawbacks
as before standby/unresponsive remote was thinking of
using as second string and replacing with the 575.As I
thought though did not think picture wise for price you could get
much better than a Limit

[bonzobanana]

I'm surprised by balders opinion of the player. However it was obviously tainted by the annoying whine that his example has. I disagree about the picture because on my setup it absolutely creams the Toshiba 330. I've never directly compared them but the Limit easily beats my ebench player and the ebench easily beat the Toshiba 330 when I compared them in the past so thats how I worked that out. Sound quality is fantastic and much better than other dvd players I've encountered. Of all the dvd players I have the Limit is by far the least cheap looking model I have, nothing even comes close to matching it for build quality.

However I must add that I use my Limit with a LCD AE100 projector and nothing else. I have a feeling the Toshiba dvd players may be better on crt sets.

The only Toshiba dvd player I've ever owned was a 330 and quite frankly it was pants. Its put me off ever buying a Toshiba dvd player again. When I investigated where my 330 was made it turned out it was made by a fairly low quality small chinese oem manufacturer called Goldyip. While the Limit players are indeed also chinese made they come from a higher quality chinese manufacturer as you can see from the over the top casing and are modified and fine tuned in belgium to exceed that performance level.

My understanding is the 340 is basically much the same as the 330 but has the Mediatek 1389 chipset instead of the 330's mediatek 1369 chipset. So in theory the 340 should have a marginal improvement over the 330 in picture detail and add divx functionality. They both seem to share the same slow and not very compatible dvd drive. Mine only lasted 2 months before becoming next to useless. My 330 was also rubbish for cds and mp3s and had audio sync problems with vcd/svcds. It also handled low bitrate dvds terribly. The layer change was also slow and messy. Admittedly though a lot of these things could have been caused by the very poor dvd drive fitted to my 330.

[balders]

To be honest, I was suprised by my opinion of the Limit as I really wanted to like it! On paper (and from other people's comments) it was great, so I was expecting good things.

My two main gripes were the CD whine (which I can accept may just afflict my player), and the bright-blue leds. Personally, I do think it's a shame that they decided to use the bright blue LEDs as I feel it does look a bit cheap, especially with the up/down/left/right buttons illuminated too. I prefer to have subtle illumination, with the option to switch it off. That's just my preference though.

I think if I was placing the player inside an enclosed unit, then neither of these would be an issue for me - the whine would probably be absorbed by the enclosure. It's not as if it was a really loud whine, I was just very aware of it at low volumes. And the lighting could be hidden.

As I mentioned before, I do think it is a very good player, but unfortunately there are just a couple of things I can't put up with.

Balders.

[abnett26247]

Originally Posted by balders

To be honest, I was suprised by my opinion of the Limit as I really wanted to like it! On paper (and from other people's comments) it was great, so I was expecting good things.

My two main gripes were the CD whine (which I can accept may just afflict my player), and the bright-blue leds. Personally, I do think it's a shame that they decided to use the bright blue LEDs as I feel it does look a bit cheap, especially with the up/down/left/right buttons illuminated too. I prefer to have subtle illumination, with the option to switch it off. That's just my preference though.

I think if I was placing the player inside an enclosed unit, then neither of these would be an issue for me - the whine would probably be absorbed by the enclosure. It's not as if it was a really loud whine, I was just very aware of it at low volumes. And the lighting could be hidden.

As I mentioned before, I do think it is a very good player, but unfortunately there are just a couple of things I can't put up with.

Balders.

duck tape,the blue light and listen to the fabulous cryus sound, imho. duk taped my wife sounds great.

[KoThreads]

Saw, and heard, the Limit 900 yesterday after a friend got one. Beats my 340e hands down, even a slight picture improvement, it just doesn't seem so overly bright. Build, as good as my old 220e, way better than my 340e, and especially CD quality sound, is very good thanks probably to the Cyrus tweaking. Remotes a bit poor but no worse than some others. Couldn't hear any audible drive noise, played DVD-R's that my 340e wouldn't, and I didn't think it looked cheap at all. It seems the extra £30 gets you quite a bit more. I doubt I'll buy any more budget Toshibas in future

[Dfour]

Ive had the 900se for almost a year. Got it off here on the power buy which left the price at £160. I got it to replace a tosh 22e as my main cd player and dvd player. Hooked up using RGB only scart to my panasonic tv it slaughtered the tosh on picture quality and sound. I even sold my Nad 541i as I didnt feel I needed it with the limit doing such excellant cd duties.

My player is almost silent playing cds at low volumes and is superb with dvd-audio The limit has now been superceeded by an Arcam Alpha 5 for cd duties but you should consider that the Arcam was £500 in its day

Balders you could always take the front of the limit and snip the offending led out or just cover it with parcel tape to reduce the brightness.

Over all a superb player especially for the £100 price tag.

[Dfour]

Originally Posted by bonzobanana

You don't want to be using raw/pcm on the Limit you want to use its own built in decoders. While the smoother psu will be of some benefit to raw/pcm timing I'm sure the real benefit will be using the Limit's own decoders through its enhanced/improved audio circuitry.

Actually the recommended setting are to use raw for all and and everything else should be set as PCM. you dont actually need the decoder unless you dont have an amp capable.
Also if I remember rightly the only signel path tuned my Cyrus is the analogue one.
Dont change the main use option from DVD-A to DVD. It is reconed to sound better as DVD-A priority.

Read the old thread called limit dvd800se
Limit DVD800SE

[john59]

"Dont change the main use option from DVD-A to DVD. It is reconed to sound better as DVD-A priority".

If I understand your comment above is the DVD A setting just for CDs ? or is this the setting for use without an external amp. The reason I ask is because if I don't change the audio setting to DVD Video when it is hooked up to my Denon the Denon doesn't get a signal from the Limit when playing a DVD film.

Regards.
John

[Dfour]

I have my limit hooked up to my 1400 to do all the processing with dvd's using a coax cable and have never changed the setting from dvd-a to dvd movie and have never had any problems.

The recomendation came from the guy who worked for Limit and was doing the power buy.