Buy highend DVD or wait for HD

T

Tiagoss

Guest
Hi all,

As an early adopter, I've buy in 2000:
- Sony AV Receiver STR-DB925
- Sony DVD Player DVP-S725D
- Sony CD Player CDP-XB920
- Monitor Audio Silver 2x 5i, 10i, 2x 3i

Now, my DVD player is failing again, because already in 2003 went for repair.

With this trigger I though of going more high-end equipment, because now I have wife authorization and it probably would be:
- Denon DVD-A1XV
- Denon AVC-A1XV AV

As we all know HD is coming, it's not my concern to have a discussion on who will win the HD world, either BluRay/HD-DVD/HVD.

My doubts are in fact related to should I buy this new Denon kit with a High End Player and Amp/Receiver, or should I buy a "slim dvd player" to survive during the next times and wait for HD dust to settle? :confused:

Thanks,
Tiago
 
Well it looks like about a year and a half at the most before they will have the machines ready of either format. But of course there will be little use for them if your display doesnt take 720p. So i would say wait till this comes out so you will buy the display as well. Lot of money though
 
Tiagoss said:
...because now I have wife authorization and it probably would be:
- Denon DVD-A1XV
- Denon AVC-A1XV AV

Does she have any sisters? :D
 
I think it also depends if you will have a use for say the DVD A1XV post HD. If say you have a large DVD collection, which won't be replaced by HD versions, then it may be worthwhile; additionally, I've read that the DVD A1XV is especially good at improving poor quality DVD's. But, if it's going to become obsolete & unused the minute HD is in full flow it's quite an expensive short term buy, & perhaps a DVD player around £800 - £1000 might do you well enough.

I dare say the reciever may stand the test of time better, although the HDMI sides of it may get updated sooner than the audio.

When HD players do come in they will be asked to do a lot, i.e. HD, DVD, CD, SACD, DVD-A, DiVX, CD etc... The question is how good will they be at doing all of these?


T.
 
But can it be that the HD for Video follows the same path as the "HD for Audio", in such case for DVD-A and SA-CD that exist both in terms of players but in terms of people buying content, it's still an audiophile above the sky choice.

Do you all think this is the case, and so CD it's still the major playground for all listeners, is this going to happen also with video that DVD will still be the format of choice in many years to come (even after HD exists)?

Thanks,
Tiago
 
Tiagoss said:
But can it be that the HD for Video follows the same path as the "HD for Audio", in such case for DVD-A and SA-CD that exist both in terms of players but in terms of people buying content, it's still an audiophile above the sky choice.

Do you all think this is the case, and so CD it's still the major playground for all listeners, is this going to happen also with video that DVD will still be the format of choice in many years to come (even after HD exists)?

Thanks,
Tiago

Personally, I think HD for video will take off. Especially, when you think that digital broadcast TV is taking over, & at the moment everyone with plasmas & LCD are saying how bad Sky etc. looks on their TV's. Additionally, sound is always harder for average people to evaluate. It's more of a learned sense. Whereas, video people 'see' the difference. Also, people seem to be happy to go to lower resolutions of sound than cd, i.e. ipod :(

Aside from all that, apparently all the Hollywood studios aren't making much money from DVD anymore, and so they need a new format so they can flog it all again, or with HD copy protection over HDMI & DVI they can at least try & control piracy a bit better.

Record companies never embraced Hi Res audio. I work in music audio mastering and the record companies just haven't bothered. It bumps the cost of everything by a huge amount & people don't want to pay for it. HD video, however is being embraced by all the studios and they will probably only release certain titles on HD in order to make people buy!

Personally, I'd try a cheaper player, as mentioned, & see if you think the extra £1000 - £1500 extra is worth it. One thing the DVD A1XV does really have going for it is it doesn't have a faroudja processor so less macro blocking, although some combinations of display with the faroudja are fine.

If I had lots of money I would buy it tho, and then I would get whatever HD player also :D
 
Also, I think these expensive DVD players, i.e. £200+, are only worth getting if you've got a really big TV screen (42" or over), or if you have a projector. That's my opinion.

T.
 
Timbo21 said:
Also, I think these expensive DVD players, i.e. £200+, are only worth getting if you've got a really big TV screen (42" or over), or if you have a projector. That's my opinion.

T.

( That's my case, I was one of the crazy guys that bought a Plasma 42 in 2002 :eek: )

If I had a lot of money, I wouldn't start this thread :cool:

But thanks for all the advice, it's becoming more "illuminated" the path to go.

Any more opinions are welcome from other members,
Tiago
 
I have a 106 inch screen and a Panasonic AE700 Projector, my dvd player is a Toshiba SD 220-E, cheap inexpensive and outperforms the majority of dvd players on the market no matter what they cost, the fact is if you are going to upgrade to HD then buy a cheap quality dvd player.

I read a thread on these forums which talked about Denon and macroblocking and how in Star Wars - Attack of the Clones you can see macroblocking on the walls of Palpatines office, well on my so called cheap player there is simply NO macroblocking in that scene at all, it doesn't exist on the dvd and if you see it then its your dvd players fault, expensive players generally will improve sound quality but they do not always improve picture quality.

My advice is do not spend more than £250 on a standard dvd player if you intend to upgrade within a couple of years to one of the new HD formats.
 
I would buy a good quality player now.

In the past we have vinyl and CD, and people still recommend you buy high quality versions of these and how many years are we on now? DVD is no difference with the top players producing something different from the masses.

HD DVD / Blue ray is a lottery that is yet to happen. They will be likely be optimised to show off HD and not DVD quality per se.
 
Nic Rhodes said:
DVD is no difference with the top players producing something different from the masses.

The top players as in more expensive players only advantage is better sound quality, the picture quality is not significantly better than cheaper players like the ones Toshiba produce and can be worse ( macroblocking on high end Denon's is an example where cheaper Toshiba players exhibit none )
 
FoxyMulder said:
...my dvd player is a Toshiba SD 220-E, cheap inexpensive and outperforms the majority of dvd players on the market no matter what they cost

It may be good for the money, but I seriously doubt this ;)
 
How about going for a less expensive dvd player and spending the remainder on a scaler, or should i say spending the bulk on a scaler and spending the remainder on the source, just a thought.
 
FoxyMulder said:
The top players as in more expensive players only advantage is better sound quality, the picture quality is not significantly better than cheaper players like the ones Toshiba produce and can be worse ( macroblocking on high end Denon's is an example where cheaper Toshiba players exhibit none )

I disagee, with most it anyway :). Firstly it isn't about money. The picture quality can be much better with the better players. Have a look at my Arcam DV29 SDI and tell me I'm wrong :) Sound quality is definately MUCH better (the 29 REALLY surprized me here). Or also try the 963 SDI at the other end of the scale. We won't talk Tag here ;)

Denons having problems with pictures, wow I wish I had said that :eek: :rotfl: :rotfl: Oh I did !! and I think I was one of the first to 'buck the trend' here, if not the first.

I am glad you like you Toshiba. I agree it is a fine player. If you look back MANY years here you will also find me as the first champion of the 2109, then the 200, 210, 220 here....all the way through 9000 and 9500, both of which I still own and still promote here regularly advising people to think twice about so called 'upgrades' when they own these players. Look at the post this week alone and you will have me defending their still good performance against the desire for so called upgrades ;).

A closer look will find me promoting £99 players for their better performance over £899 3910s, regardless of money. so I don't think it about money.... :clap:

The Toshiba 220 is very good, but it will not compete on sound or video quality with top players.

SDI would be an interesting route however....or just a scaler / video processor.
 
tiago

I bought a q50 philips 2 years ago and it is wonderful quality, the picture is so sharp even on old films. i bought it from Hivizone.com which many have bought from this forum. They are quite reliable and it is worth checking their site out for dvd players that are good value until something new comes round the corner. last time i looked on their site they had players that do 720 lines progressive scan. the prices are extremely cheap.

The blue ray and or HD dvd players will take more than a year to come out and when they do the price will be unbelievable. :rotfl:
 
Personaly if i was going to blow say £2500 on the Denon A1xv, then i would be looking to get a decent scaler/deinterlacer instead and let it do wonders to all my video based equipment and more than likly do a better job. I had the A1xv on home demo for a tad over 1 week and while it is very very good its not perfect and still needs a couple of firmware tweaks (which may be done now).
I dont think it was worth the high price tag though as it was not £1000 + better than some of its nearest rivals.

I have personaly decided to get a cheaper DVD player (probaly the pioneer 989) and send its interlaced HDMI signal to a new HQV or Gennum based scaler/deinterlacer.
That way at least i will have 1080i deinterlacing ready for the new HD formats when its worth moving into the HiDdef DVD market.
 
HD for the first year or so will be limited some films and sports broadcasts on Sky, and a couple dozen releases on disc, with a few players available.....mebbe in 1.5 to 2.5 years it will pick up a lot more, more disc released, more broadcast material.....plus a lot of online content......

personally i would get a player thats gonna keep you happy, as someone said, if you have a large DVD collection that you are not looking to replace too quickly other than some top titles, then its worth buying a good DVD player (whether its cheap or expensive).....

If you like the sound as much as the picture (in my case) the high end denons are good, especially with Denonlink avail from multichannel audio etc.......and you have Monitor Audio speakers, they seem to fare very well with Denon equipment.....

simple answer, go to a shop, get them to set up the denons on a similar display to yours and see if you like it, if you do buy it, if you dont consider options, check out cheap players as well and see if you would be happy making do with them untill a decent mid-high end Blu-ray or HD-DVD player comes about.......

personally, i wouldnt want to wait, hence i bought my Denon 3910 and am quite happy with it :) watching Gladiator as we speak and damn thats a nice picture :)
 
FYI, I went and bought a Arcam DV27A (used), that will allow me to "survive" with a decent quality until HD comes around.

Thanks for all your valuable inputs,
Tiago
 
FoxyMulder said:
The top players as in more expensive players only advantage is better sound quality, the picture quality is not significantly better than cheaper players like the ones Toshiba produce and can be worse ( macroblocking on high end Denon's is an example where cheaper Toshiba players exhibit none )

I can assure you my Arcam DV27A produces a noticably better picture than most if not all cheaper players if you're using the component progressive output. I'm not sure who's been giving you demos but I would suggest you shop elswhere in future!

Can't really comment on Denon stuff in general but I thought my 2900 was excellent and didn't have any problems at all with it. I know this wasn't the same for everyone though!
 
If you do want a machine that delivers top notch audio as well as amazing PQ, add the Meridian G98 to your shopping list. If you are less bothered about the sound, go for the Denon. The High-end Arcam machines give you a big slice of both worlds for comparatively reasonable money. The DV27A is a fine player.
In the same price bracket as the top Denon, the new Townshend player had Hifi Choice in raptures.
 

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