[creative-av]

Hi All,

I am looking to upgrade my Pioneer 575 and wondered if a 2nd hand 868 is worth pursuing. I know that HD machines are out next year but am not a fan of being an early adopter pluse I don't want to be paying £1k for a player!

I have a Pioneer MXE-1 panal which I am looking to add a HDMi card to and it seems that the 868 gets rave reviews for its HDMi output. So, is it worth upgrading or should I save up and wait for the new 969 to come down in price next year?

Thanks,

Steve

[sbowler]

I run the 668i via HDMI and paid over £450 for it. Its a cracking picture though, you can make more adjustments than any DVD player i have had, yum endless tweaking.

[creative-av]

Thanks Sbowler. I don't really want to pay more than £450 for a player and the 868 does seem to have a lot going for it as long as you don't use the scart output!!!!

[gandley]

I would wait for an 989, but if thats too much cash then if you can get a cheap 868i it should serve you well.

Downsides are

Chroma bug issues
Awfull layerchange

Upsides

very sharp picture.
HDMI can pass interlaced
plays all discs.
reasonable sound quality.

+ its going to be sometime late 2007 before its worth jumping on the HI DEF dvd bandwagon.

[creative-av]

Cheers gandley.

Will connect to the panel using HDMi and maybe use the component output to my amp so that I can connect my Z2 pj to it aswell.

My thinking was that if I can buy a 2nd hand 868 now for < £450, I can sell it on next year for around £100 less and go for a 969 when they have come down a bit. That way I get a good HDMi player now and can upgrade without losing too much in the near future.

[kumamoto]

late 2007 for Hi def!!
It's a shame as i was kind of keen. I had lots of guys on the forum telling me it's not worth buying marantz dv9500 as hidef is just round the corner, that was early this year. Glad i bought the dv9500 as hidef seems such a long way off.

Steve, get the 868 as its a cracking player and superfi are selling it for £499.00

[creative-av]

Superfi are all sold out at that price otherwise I would be tempted to get a new one.

The only way Hi-Def is coming in next year is with the PS3. I'm sure Sony will sell a lot of these and will get their foot in the door with Blu-Ray.

Steve

[gandley]

well considering there will be a format war, and the fact that PS3 may not get here till early 2007 i dont think its not worth getting a decent dvd player now. Who nows how long the format war will last and how many decent films will make it to which format etc etc.
1080p will be here next year for sure ie via projectors and rptvs etc but the content will be limited till 2007.

[gandley]

£500-550 new from fleebay

is this site slow for anybody else

[creative-av]

This site has been very slow over the last couple of days.

There is one on there at the mo that I have my eye on. Is there any difference in a model that was purchased originally last year or this i.e firmware? Also, if the firmware does need upgrading, does it strip the MR capability?

[s.morris]

Yes site is very slow over 1000 user on at the moment, think they are getting a new server soon

Steve

[gandley]

as long as its newer than a yr old i doubt you have to do anything with the firmware.
pioneer are a bit more stable with firmware than say denon are

[creative-av]

Cheers Dustin.

Have seen one from mid-last year. Do you think that would be ok?

Steve

[gandley]

should be fine, that was about the time i had mine, and that did have latest firmware already loaded

[Nic Rhodes]

2007 seems about right to me, but I have been saying that for years. £400 for 868 should get a low hours one

[creative-av]

The ones I wanted to bid for have now gone so will have to wait for the next one to appear

Steve

[creative-av]

Thought I'd ask another question on this topic:

As I own a MXE-1 and unless I go ahead with the KeyDigital HDCP card or take the risk with a HDCP stripper, I can only use the component output from the 868. So, would this outperform the Momitsu player which seems to be favoured by a lot of MXE owners? Just thinking that I can get the momitsu and hook it up via DVi, get 1:1 pixel mapping and a superb pic and it will cost not more that £160. Will the 868 be so much better via HDMi and be worth the extra cash for the player and the KD card?

If I go with the Momitsu i'm left with a lot of extra cash to either upgrade to the KD card in the future when HDMi inputs are a must(i.e. when Sky channels stop outputing HD via component) and/or get a scaler.

Opinions anyone???

Thanks,

Steve

Sorry for the probably dumb question but since I don't know the pioneer models well, does the 868 upscale (720p/1080i) through the HDMI out??

If not, which are the pioneer models that do upscale through HDMI?

Thank you very much in advance!

[Jack the lad]

[QUOTE=Spacedog]Sorry for the probably dumb question but since I don't know the pioneer models well, does the 868 upscale (720p/1080i) through the HDMI out??

QUOTE]
Yes

Thak you very much!

Can you please tell me which are current available Pioneer models that upscale through HDMI (720p/1080i) ???

I'm asking this because I was looking for alternatives to the Denon 2910 and I found the Pio 668 (not the 868) which I can get cheaper than the Denon. But first, I don't know if the Pio 668 upscales (so I'd like to know the Pio models that upscale) and second I don't know how the Pio's 668 and 868 compare to the Denon 2910...

Can you help?

Thank you!!

[gandley]

dont think the 668 upscales nor does it have the i-link feature.

There will be a new 989 which fixes a couple oif issues with the 868i such as the last remaing CUE errors.

[Jack the lad]

Originally Posted by Spacedog

Thak you very much!

Can you please tell me which are current available Pioneer models that upscale through HDMI (720p/1080i) ???

I'm asking this because I was looking for alternatives to the Denon 2910 and I found the Pio 668 (not the 868) which I can get cheaper than the Denon. But first, I don't know if the Pio 668 upscales (so I'd like to know the Pio models that upscale) and second I don't know how the Pio's 668 and 868 compare to the Denon 2910...

Can you help?

Thank you!!

Just out of interest why do you want a player that upscales?

Might be worth doing a search on here about the merits/problems with upscaling

I have had the denon 3910 and the Pioneer 868 both of which upscale via HDMI. However neither comes close to picture performence of my current player which doesnt upscale

[gandley]

well having seen the 868i and dv79 side by side i would take the 868 for its pic and extra features. The image they produce via HDMI is near identical and if anyone thinks otherwise then there tripping, if you feel otherwise perhaps its the need to justify the higher price tag but thats all.
Now component is another matter, there the DV79 is excellent.

[Jack the lad]

Originally Posted by gandley

well having seen the 868i and dv79 side by side i would take the 868 for its pic and extra features. The image they produce via HDMI is near identical and if anyone thinks otherwise then there tripping, if you feel otherwise perhaps its the need to justify the higher price tag but thats all.
Now component is another matter, there the DV79 is excellent.

Well won mine so no price involved

In fact I tried to sell the Arcam in the classifieds. But in the end I was that blown away with the quality of the picture that I ended up selling the Pioneer.

Unless I had my Denon AND Pioneer setup incorrectly then the Arcam really does shine IMHO. It as a much crisper picture and fine detail is awesome.

I cannot remember the Denon settings but the Pioneer was set to 720p via HDMI.

Again just my opinion