looking for a "dreadnought-class DVD player"

[ellipr97]

Well i am looking for a DVD player to get the best from a 42" PX70 Plasma, looking to spend a maximum of £900 (including delivery and cables!!) My inital searches lead me towards players like:

Denon 3930
Denon 2930
Sony DVPNS9100ES
Pioneer DV-989AVi

What would you guys reccomend in this price bracket, also what interconnects would you reccomend?

thanks, Paul

[spooney]

I'd go for the 2930. The 3930 is significantly more expensive but only a bit better.
As for the connects: HDMI for the picture and whatever your Plasma accepts for sound input.

[sdb123]

You could also consider other players such as Arcam's or Marantz. Check out the classifieds for some bargains too!

[ellipr97]

Originally Posted by spooney

I'd go for the 2930. The 3930 is significantly more expensive but only a bit better.
As for the connects: HDMI for the picture and whatever your Plasma accepts for sound input.

HDMI definatly better than component for the picture?

[sdb123]

Originally Posted by ellipr97

HDMI definatly better than component for the picture?

I wouldn't be so bold as to say that.

They are of a comparable (high) quality, in essence HDMI is in existance for copy protection. I ran a Denon 2900 by component and it was a fantastic performer and outshone a number of more recent HDMI equipped machines.

[Nic Rhodes]

With players at this level, assuming no processing faults (and there often are), then there really is little difference between component (analogue 3 RCA / BNC) and component (digital HDMI / DVI). There are much more important things to worry about.

[ellipr97]

Originally Posted by Nic Rhodes

With players at this level, assuming no processing faults (and there often are), then there really is little difference between component (analogue 3 RCA / BNC) and component (digital HDMI / DVI). There are much more important things to worry about.

what kind of other things are there to worry about, i'm a bit of a newbie when it comes to high end AV kit?

Cheers, Paul

[Nic Rhodes]

The MPEG2 decoder is the heart and sole of any DVD player. The 'secrets' test are excellent at pulling these appart. The following is a link to some 2007 tests. Have a look around on the site for explanations and older tests.

http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/cgi-b...7;20(Component

The Denons perform well as do the cheaper Toshiba HD DVD players and the even cheaper Oppo players. The latest PS3 is good as well (old firmware reviewed in that link not new). Now I know a few of those players are not the dreadnought eng we all love but they have an excellent performance never the less, which is probably what you are after.

Next is deinterlacing quality. Faroudja / SiI504 should be a minimum but the latest chip likes ABT102 (Arcam) and Reon (Denon, Toshiba, Samsung) are excellent. Be aware there are differences between film based material and video based material in 'how they are processed'. For my use, film is 99.5% of all discs.

Scaling does change between players and all of the above a good (Oppo weakest) but it is well down the list of things that matter. At the level you are looking at they are all good and better than the displays generally if you can use just one scaling operation which is the trick to good performance.

Finally we have engineering quality (analogue and digital) and firmwares. The former can be very variable. The latter can make or break a product. [This is why the cheap Oppos are so good is that they are well sorted out and supported players. The PS3 pre firmware 1.8 had a pretty iffy DVD performance, post 1.8 it is excellent. The only difference is the firmware but be aware not everyone is as good as PS3 team or Oppos in support / firmware upgrades, Denon in particular But if a product ships with no issues then there is no need for a firmware update!! Note the bold.].

Analogue eng is often the first to be compromised at the cheap end as this is more expensive however, in the dreadnought class, you should be fine. I use my 'dreadnaught' players all on component or SDI (modded) connection rather than HDMI just for quality reasons.

[ellipr97]

Originally Posted by Nic Rhodes

The MPEG2 decoder is the heart and sole of any DVD player. The 'secrets' test are excellent at pulling these appart. The following is a link to some 2007 tests. Have a look around on the site for explanations and older tests.

http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/cgi-b...2%20(Component

The Denons perform well as do the cheaper Toshiba HD DVD players and the even cheaper Oppo players. The latest PS3 is good as well (old firmware reviewed in that link not new). Now I know a few of those players are not the dreadnought eng we all love but they have an excellent performance never the less, which is probably what you are after.

Next is deinterlacing quality. Faroudja / SiI504 should be a minimum but the latest chip likes ABT102 (Arcam) and Reon (Denon, Toshiba, Samsung) are excellent. Be aware there are differences between film based material and video based material in 'how they are processed'. For my use, film is 99.5% of all discs.

Scaling does change between players and all of the above a good (Oppo weakest) but it is well down the list of things that matter. At the level you are looking at they are all good and better than the displays generally if you can use just one scaling operation which is the trick to good performance.

Finall we have engineering quality (analogue and digital) and firmwares. The former can be very variable. The latter can make or break a product. [This is why the cheap Oppos are so good is that they are well sorted out and supported players. The PS3 pre firmware 1.8 had a pretty iffy DVD performance, post 1.8 it is excellent. The only difference is the firmware but be aware not everyone is as good as PS3 team or Oppos in support / firmware upgrades, Denon in particular But if a product ships with no issues then there is no need for a firmware update!! Note the bold.].

Analogue eng is often the first to be compromised at the cheap end as this is more expensive however, in the dreadnought class, you should be fine. I use my 'dreadnaught' players all on component or SDI (modded) connection rather than HDMI just for quality reasons.

Very very helpful, thanks for taking the time to write all that!

[Liam @ Prog AV]

Add Arcam DV135 to that list. Not quite as good a deinterlacer as the higher up models, but still very good mpeg decoding, rock solid perfect HDMI and component outputs, and audio will be more impressive on the Arcam than on the players you have listed above.

[Mark@Velocity]

My 2930 is connected to the Fuji via Component, which seemed to give a better picture to HDMi as I first trialed. May not be the case with your PX70, but food for thought.

[CJROSS]

http://www.area-dvd.de/hardware/toshiba_sd9500.shtml

Not seen anything from HDMI and normal DVD-V that beats this BNC component output DVD player. Cables I use Thor BNC-RCA not bad, Mark Grant also does good BNC-RCA on the cable forum.

Battleship build it certainly is.

Nic - you write most intelligably and are always on the ball with your obersvations (well mostly )

[Liam @ Prog AV]

The 9500 most definitely fits the description "battleship". Was talking to a chap a couple weeks ago who had another battleship, one of the Onkoy Integras - built like brick outhouses those were.

[Nic Rhodes]

Thanks Colin, I think

I am happy that have the big Onkyo 1000 and the Toshiba 9500 here in my 'battleship' collection. Great machines and for not much money nowdays.