DVD A1XVA - What a awesome player!

Moviebuff

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This may seem like a strange decision to make, with the hidef formats all but here, but I have just bought John/Recruit's DVD A1XVA off of the forums. I couldn't believe just what an improvement it was over my previous player. From both a PQ & sound quality perspective (via DL III) it just blew me away - viewing the 1080P image through a Panny 65" PX600 - bloody superb! :thumbsup:

I will now sit back and be a late adopter when it comes to those shiny 5" Hidef disks, knowing that it won't be a hugely massive improvement on what I have now! :)
 
:thumbsup: I think you've made a wise choice. Anyone with a good DVD collection will want to make the best of them for some years to come. As far as I can see none of the next def players offer acceptable DVD playback at the moment, let alone SACD.


Just noticed that you got rather a small screen though, are you sure you will be getting the best out of the Denon with that?;)







:D
 
Just noticed that you got rather a small screen though, are you sure you will be getting the best out of the Denon with that?;) :D

If I can, I try not to do things by halfs! :D
 
just like to say they are an awesome player, but here in australia they are priced at $7000AUS.I would love to get one but at that price, it is just too much.
 
Congrats. What player were you using before?
 
Congrats. What player were you using before?


Had a Pio 868 & sold that in June to try a recoup some worth (had the idea of going either HDDVD or BR when it finally arrived), replaced it with a Sony NS76, and have in turn replaced that with the Denon.

Just couldn't be bothered to wait for the format wars to sort themselves out. I could have bought both formats for the cost of the Denon ... but I don't regret it one bit! :)
 
just like to say they are an awesome player, but here in australia they are priced at $7000AUS.I would love to get one but at that price, it is just too much.

They're not so cheap here either .... roughly 100 quid cheaper rrp in the UK, compared to down under. :thumbsdow

If this one hadn't have come up secondhand, then tbh, I wouldn't have bothered getting one. It still cost me $4355AUS.
 
I just e-mailed Denon explaining how they should release a DVD-recorder or at least PVR version, such that the Broadcast signals can be routed through the video processor and up-sclaer! As it stands all that technology can only be applied to DVD's in the player and not external sources such as Sky! It woul dmake the price much harder to swallow and stop people just getting a bog standard prog. out put DVD player and processing the signal through a third party external video processor - which may well workout cheaper. I think they are missing a trick here :eek:

Ed
 
Excellent Jerry :thumbsup: and just to put anyones mind at rest ref to the new 3930 dvd player, it does not even come close to the quality of the A1XVA in both Sound and Vision and i really miss it :( , but am hopeing once i pick up my Crystalio II i will get the PQ performance back :rolleyes:
 
You not happy with the 3930 then John? :eek:

Did the missus like the black one or did you replace it for the silver?

(ooh er - I read that last line back to myself, and it makes it sound like you've just bought her a prezzie from Ann Summers!!!!) :D
 
and just to put anyones mind at rest ref to the new 3930 dvd player, it does not even come close to the quality of the A1XVA in both Sound and Vision and i really miss it :( , but am hopeing once i pick up my Crystalio II i will get the PQ performance back :rolleyes:

If The A1XVA had had interlaced output over HDMI, would you have kept it John?

T.

ps. I wonder if anyone has done an SDI mod on an A1XVA :rotfl: . Now that really would be robbing Peter to pay Paul.
 
You not happy with the 3930 then John? :eek:

Did the missus like the black one or did you replace it for the silver?

(ooh er - I read that last line back to myself, and it makes it sound like you've just bought her a prezzie from Ann Summers!!!!) :D

:eek: that does sound alittle naughty :devil:

The 3930 is a good player but when you get used to the quality of something like the A1XVA it is a bit of a let down trying to settle for anything less :(

Hopefully Wednesday all that should change :D

Edit : forgot to answer ref to the colour doh...i will be keepin the black now Jerry and have changed the order for the Crystalio II to black aswell !
 
If The A1XVA had had interlaced output over HDMI, would you have kept it John?

T.

No i would not of Timbo i needed the money to justify the purchase of the Crystalio II and hopefully it will be worth it :rolleyes: and also tidy my system up a bit too.
 
cant say i noticed a huge difference between my A1xv, and the 3930. the A1XV is better for sure, but i manage to get the 3930 pretty dam close.

Banging it thru the crystillo will ease your pain, that is one mental video processor. I wouldnt be surprised if then you find the 3930 thru the C2 wipes the floor with any player seen to date. awesome upgrade:smashin:

please give update.
 
cant say i noticed a huge difference between my A1xv, and the 3930. the A1XV is better for sure, but i manage to get the 3930 pretty dam close.

Banging it thru the crystillo will ease your pain, that is one mental video processor. I wouldnt be surprised if then you find the 3930 thru the C2 wipes the floor with any player seen to date. awesome upgrade:smashin:

please give update.

Surely it makes sense to get a Crystalio II and a bog standard DVD player with HDMI prog. output for the same or less money than these top end Denon. As I have mentioned before in this thread, it is not possible to route a broadcast signal through these players is it?! therefore all that processing power you are paying for is restricted to DVD playback and cannot be applied to other sources such as Sky! How hard can it be to have a routing mechanism for external sources through these units. I put the case to denon... no answer yet. I'm sure they'd shift more units if it meant we didn't have to get another processor for other sources... kind of making most of the features of these players redundant ?! I mean why not stuff in a harddrive somewhere too if the broadcast start to come through the unit? These days it must be quite a cheap add on to accomplish this ? Is there some kudo to having a stand alone unit that i don't understand ? Beggers belief at £2.5K a pop. i suspect that they have ben given acces tpo this scaling technology conditional on NOT taking the business away from the stand alone processing industry. This is short sighted with sony and panosonic making in-house scalers combined with their DVD players/recorders, which while not as good will eventually catch up. Lumagen and iscan should be makign hay by combining properly with people like Denon now, NOT WAITING till blu ray is unbiquitous and kills all of this upscalling business.

Ed
 
I'd imagine that rather than incorporating video processing for external sources into their players (which could be done on a limited scale as Onkyo have done it) they'll drop the Silicon Optix chip into some of their Amps/Receivers. Would make more sense as you have way more inputs to play with.

Something like the current AVC-A1XVA with the Realta HQV for video processing and scaling combined with Audyssey's new Pro EQ system. Personally, I think they'd have the killer product then.
 
Banging it thru the crystillo will ease your pain, that is one mental video processor. I wouldnt be surprised if then you find the 3930 thru the C2 wipes the floor with any player seen to date. awesome upgrade:smashin:

please give update.

I certainly hope so dustin and will post my views in the VP forum :thumbsup:
 
Hey, Moviebuff, what settings do you use for your newly acquired A1XVA ?

Particularly the Enhancer and Noise Reduction settings.

I have a Pioneer 868 too and was looking at upgrading to the A1XVA.

Both Gandley and Jase were great help and very informative :smashin: . I borrowed a demo A1XVA from Sevenoaks Sound and Vision but sadly, Denon couldn't fulfill my pre-order for the A1XVA so I have now gone the HD-DVD route and kept the 868. Strangely, I don't miss the A1XVA as much as I thought I would.
 
From what I've heard, one of the great features on the A1XVA, courteousy of the HQV, and which sets it apart from the competition, is it's noise reduction abilities. Comparable deinterlacing, and scaling is available in rival models. But to get the HQV's NR facilities elsewhere is rather more expensive.
 
Having demo'd the 3930 and having had a 'look' at the PQ of the DVD-a1xva it strikes me that to gain just a little on video performance if you have a good screen to begin with costs an absoloute fortune. That is to say I did not consider the PQ difference between my pioneer 868 and the 3930 so great to think "I have to buy it now!" , same for the A1 xva it was good, but £2.8K good? Perhaps having SKY HD has raised expectations, I'm not sure. I just wonder whether in the search of perfection of all things AV, some of us (me included) get too carried away on 'spec'.

Where gains can be had IMO are sonically, small investments raise the game significantly. If you have a good system, buy a high quality mains conditioner - you notice it etc. etc. I just ordered a cheap by comparison (Rega) CD player and the performance is far better than any DVD player I have tested can offer - it just times better, sings music rather than forcing it, I felt the same way about my old Arcam Alpha 9, before it broke - just in my opinion of course. I just don't think Universal players do CD well. SACD and DVD-A is another matter.

Anyway excuse my ramblings I'm on Cava bottle no.2.5!
 
Hey, Moviebuff, what settings do you use for your newly acquired A1XVA ?

Particularly the Enhancer and Noise Reduction settings.

I have a Pioneer 868 too and was looking at upgrading to the A1XVA.

Both Gandley and Jase were great help and very informative :smashin: . I borrowed a demo A1XVA from Sevenoaks Sound and Vision but sadly, Denon couldn't fulfill my pre-order for the A1XVA so I have now gone the HD-DVD route and kept the 868. Strangely, I don't miss the A1XVA as much as I thought I would.


TBH - I havn't really touched the settings from when I collected it off of John, so I will endeavour to have a better play some when soon, time prevailing!
 
I'm afraid I just can't agree with any of you.I went to a demo recently done by Sim,utilising their new single chip 1080p PJ (£7K) with an anormorphic lens in front (£5k) on a 10ft Stewart screen.They used a tosh hd player(which I have) and the new Arcam dv137 for comparison utilising the same movies - result? the £500 tosh wiped the floor with the arcam.

I think the reality for hd is that it is hard to see massive improvement over upscale on a telly(and I have a 50" Pioneer as well as a PJ so I have studied it)but as soon as you go to a big screen there really is no comparison.I have owned Meridian,Arcam and Denon high end DVD and can understand your enthusiasm - it's a pride of ownership thing IMO - BUT it reminds me of when I owned a £4000 gold plated Laserdisc player and I had a side by side demo with the new Panasonic DVD player when DVD first launched.

I so wanted my beautiful solid piece of art to wipe the floor with this plastic lightweight piece of junk,that I went into denial,but the truth was that the new technology was appreciably better,because that's what new technology does (sometimes)

When Denon bring out their BR/HDVD player your lovely player(which it definitely is) will be worth nowt just like my LD player!
 
If you're comparing HD to upscaled SD then yes, HD should look way better. If it didn't then somethings seriously wrong somewhere. For SD this player is superb and it's audio is also superb. Until Denon release an HD player I'm quite happy with my purchase... ;)
 
If you're comparing HD to upscaled SD then yes, HD should look way better. If it didn't then somethings seriously wrong somewhere. For SD this player is superb and it's audio is also superb. Until Denon release an HD player I'm quite happy with my purchase... ;)

Agree with Jase and i have HD-DVD so yes the Tosh is good because it has the detail there that just is not with SD-DVD so it should be, but the Denon is easily the best source for DVD playback and a 1 box solution period.
 

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