Fix the DVD 32R, or give up and buy Blu-Ray?

targetrich

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I believe it will cost about £600 to fix my over heating DVD 32R (it will freeze after an hour's play), perhaps even more. I'm reliably told that Blu-Ray is significantly better (a PlayStation 3 is better quality than an Arcam player costing over £1000, apparently).

Is it better to give up on the DVD player? I'm reluctant as you can appreciate, it costapacket.:confused:
 
the ps3 drops frames so the movement is not going to be as smooth as your DVD32, it also depends if you use your DVD32 for cd play as the ps3 is a crap cd spinner:rolleyes:
but i see your dilemma, 600 quid is alot to pay for a repair on an old dvd player, even tho it is a cracker:thumbsup:
the second hand market value for these players seem to have dropped quite considerable also:(
if your after a game console firstly and will play only the odd dvd i would go for it :thumbsup:
if not i would wait until there are a few more choices of machines available.
 
Do you use your machine to play CDs as well as DVDs? For CDs the DVD32 is hard to beat.

Give Kevin Green a call or e-mail and see if he can fix it for less than the £600. It may also be useful to wait and see who wins the HD-DVD vs. BD battle
 
Be very careful, considering this.

PS3 is great for gaming and Blu-Ray, but its Standard Def DVD performance is reportedly quite bad. It sticks in video mode all the time, even a low budget DVD player beats the PS3 for SD DVD playback.

Check out the in-depth review (DVD Benchmark test) with regards to PS3 SD DVD playback here

the conclusion:

While I would still recommend it as a Blu-ray player, anyone considering adding the PS3 to their home theater rack should probably keep their standard DVD player as well.


It's terrific as Blu-Ray player, but as stated not good for SD DVD, especially not compared to the DVD32.

Maybe it's just a capacitor that needs changing. Anyway, the prime thing is that for CD and SD DVD playback, there are other better options out there. However, if Blu-Ray is what you're after then the PS3 is hard to beat price wise.


Cheers
 
Well, I have a large DVD collection already, and I do wonder just how much better blu-ray could be. Also, I have many CDs, although not as many as I have LPs.

Decision? Get the DVD32R fixed (dammit) I'll probably buy a PS3 (when my wallet has recovered) for gaming anyway. I hope the 32R will stay fixed and not prove a constant drain on my resources (I know there's a reasonable hance of this though). I am supposed to be saving for a wedding, after all!

Thanks for your help everyone:smashin:
 
Thanks Scoobs, sadly a perusal of the site reveals they don't support the DVD32R and are unlikely to do so in the future, which is a great disappointment to both me and my bank manager!

Off to Tag it goes... :(

'It's just going out. It may be some time...'
 
Having both the DVD 32R as well as a PS3 I can fully support what Bogi said.

The PS3 rocks for Blue-Ray movies, it's another world compared to "traditional" DVDs. For the latter however, as well as for CD playback, the DVD 32R is generations better. The PS3 also doesn't upsample standard DVDs, at least not yet (it may in future based on software upgrades). So if you are looking for a full-blown replacement, you may want to wait a while for more mature players to emerge (and prices to drop).
 
I expect the price of the PS3 to drop after about 6-9 months, and will probably buy one of those.

As an aside, my local dealer, who sells Naim, recently asked my what I prefered, the AV2 (which I now have) or the Tag AV32R.

I said I prefered the Tag. Easier to understand and I thought better overall sound.

'Oh'. He said.:rolleyes:
 
Interestingly, the features of the AV2 as specc'ed in NAim's webpage seem remarkably similar to those of the AV32R SP 7.1....

All the more interesting since the AV2 is a current product. Serves only to show how up to date the AV32R still is :clap:

Luís
 
Unfortunately, my AV32R DP 7.1 went belly up the other week and currently resides in the tender hands of Kevin Green.

I bought a Naim AV2 on the basis that the rest of my kit's Naim and thus it would have a good synergy with everything else.

Well, after a couple of weeks' hard use, in my opinion the AV2's much better than the Tag, and integrates well in my system, including its appearance!

Might be that the Tag will be better in other systems though.

My trusty DVD32R continues to provide excellent service with DVDs and its CD replay quality is superlative. It's an ideal player for listening to the PCM soundtracks on music DVDs, of which I have many!:thumbsup:
 
My AV2 exists in a Naim system.

It's been a long time since I switched, so perhaps my memory is playing tricks. I know it's not really a relevant consideration, but I did love to look of the 32R. I'm actually hoping that Naim will release a new model soon as I'd like a step up.:smashin:
 
The PS3 rocks for Blue-Ray movies, it's another world compared to "traditional" DVDs. For the latter however, as well as for CD playback, the DVD 32R is generations better. The PS3 also doesn't upsample standard DVDs, at least not yet (it may in future based on software upgrades).

FYI ... Sony has released firmware 1.80 today and it now support upsampling of DVDs to 1080p. :smashin: Pretty cool stuff ... now all that is left is a region-free hack ...
 
Although the new 1.80 firmware adds scaling for DVD, which is a nice addition, it does nothing to address some of the other failings for DVD like no functioning film mode deinterlacing, no BTB or WTW, incorrect SD/HD colorspace matrix and minor pixel cropping. The Toshiba HD-XE1 has somewhat better deinterlacing with (HQVs?) ReonVX which I think gives similar performance to ABT102D for material that I've watched to date. The PS3 DVD output is quite pleasant to watch as long as you aren't in a critical mood, audio is a different matter unfortunately.

edit -

I just finished running through DVE and firmware 1.80 fixed WTW and they've definately done something with the deinterlacing, the S&W zone plate test is way much better than it was, have to watch some DVDs to check on the film mode, maybe that's working too.

edit2 -

Now that it's dark enough to see, the Super White option does in fact fix both WTW and BTB, the upscaling seems to working quite nicely and film is working. The minor pixel cropping still happen with NTSC but PAL is pixel perfect. Currently eating my hat.
 
Casting a critical eye over the DVD32R vs PS3 with DVD playback on my 50" plasma, I was disapointingly surprised to see 4/5ths of bugger all difference between them, at least on the films I watched last night on PQ........Mind you this also depends on the processing inside the screen:D
Most blu-ray movies I have seen (on all sorts of players) offer better static detail but when things start moving it is little better than a decent DVD in fact the DVD may be slightly less jerky in the style of "be careful what you wish for", sharper images make you see the problems of motion more "sharply".......

CD's still sound lovely from the DVD32R but my vast music collection is all on storage servers these days so a decent pro soundcard and my "still" ongoing HTPC project serve most music duties these days despite a love for the DVD32R. The difference is still there but you really have to listen for it now and the quality of many modern disks is the limiting factor not the HTPC.....

Seeing as my DVD32R is one of the first ever sold, I suppose its had a good life and things are finally catching it up, still great for critical listening but DVD quality can be equalled or beaten these days with reducing effort.....
I have to conceed that the PS3 is a bit of a bargain even for its blu-ray/DVD playback, the games will surely folllow as "Motorstorm" can't be the only stunning game written for it!!! Interesting times ahead.....
 
Graham!

Nice to see you popping in! Interesting to read your findings on music and movies.

I recently bought an iMac and Apple TV :)eek: yes I'm the one) and have ripped a lot of my music in Apple Lossless format stored on a 500GB external HD. I find it very hard to tell the differnce on most CDs played on my FLR and the streamed album on the Apple TV
 
"Apple TV":rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: Its the future mate:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: Steve Jobs is the other one I believe!!

I still have trouble with the word "lossless" give me the format the things were put onto the disk in the first place for reference listening every time. I can still tell the difference when I'm all chilled out, can't wait for my new PMC EB1's to arrive to chill out with!
500Gb eh, once you get the bug you end up with 10Tb and a whole house full of 1000BaseT network....
 
Interestingly I just got my DVD32R back from IAG (the cable issue) and it is sooooooo nice to have it back in my system. I think I appreciate it more when I am forced to use other means to watch DVD's or listen to music.

One other point. Turnaround at IAG was 4 weeks (to and from Spain) so well impressed.:clap:
 
"Apple TV":rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: Its the future mate:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: Steve Jobs is the other one I believe!!

I still have trouble with the word "lossless" give me the format the things were put onto the disk in the first place for reference listening every time. I can still tell the difference when I'm all chilled out, can't wait for my new PMC EB1's to arrive to chill out with!
500Gb eh, once you get the bug you end up with 10Tb and a whole house full of 1000BaseT network....

Well maybe one day GMG! Still use the FLR for "SERIOUS" listening and for dts 96/24 discs

PMC EB1's :eek: Lucky bar steward, time you updated your pics in the members home cinema section
 

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