Is this the easiest question yet.......... ?

New forum new question, how easy will it be to answer ?

Most of you know im keen to buy a new player but which one ? I want the best picture quality and sound qaulity when connected to my Sony 32" widescreen set and Denon A1D !!

Must be a simple question. So why can I not get a simple answer. All of HCC reviews just bomard you with technical jargon and figures but never actually tell you what the real world results are. Im considering the SONY 735 as from various reviews it sounds the best, so why is the SONY DVP-F11 the 2nd best player in HCC ???

No gimicks, no flashing lights and no not needed extras, just top picture and top sound with mult-region for about £500.

I will demo the 3 most recommended players, but of all the players I have seen so far, none match the quality of my 18 month ols Pioneer 919E. Its just this has a few lip sync problems and I feel like I wanna treat myself

 

There's one thing I alway's look for on review's, and thats chroma crosstalk to deliver fine detail.
The sony 735 got top mark's for this but the Pioneer dv-737 failed on this part.
If your set has a good quality digital comb filter this wont matter so much.
But if you have a sony, which I believe you do, the filters are not so good.
My set, the sony kp-41ds1 has a comb filter but still suffers from fine detail flicker.
When I get round to upgrading my dvd player I will probably go for the 735 or it's successor.

good luck
Timh

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I want a car, chick's dig the car.

[This message has been edited by Timh (edited 24-10-2000).]

 

Comb filters are for processing composite video signals not S-video. If the two signals of the S-video are contaminated then the comb filter won't help at all.

 

Don't know the price of these in the UK

Toshiba SD9000 - which I own
Marantz DV18 - which I would own
Loewe Xemix 5006 - which I would own

 

Just because the composite signal suffers from chroma crosstalk doesn't mean the s-video output will (in fact I'd be very surprised) and RGB/component certainly won't. Do you compare both in order to resolve the crosstalk figure? In which case all you can say it that composite sucks and who in their right mind would use it over s-video or RGB?

Terms like "contaminated" are a bit useless in reference to video engineering don't you think.

Getting back to the original post. The SONY is a fine player. I personally prefer the equivalent Panasonics as the Sonys strike me as artificial and over-processed. Pioneers are a bit lacklustre.Not really looked at any Toshibas.

 

What have I started here?
I always thought that a comb filter works all the time and it didnt matter what source or picture you were watching.
Does'nt the comb filter just help to make the picture more stable on fine detail.
For example some old guys tweed jacket can suffer badly on screen if you set does'nt have a filter.
Anybody out there with more knowledge on this subject would be great.
Cheers
Timh


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I want a car, chick's dig the car.

 

The purity measurement in HCC is of the S-video output. Simply put; how much the composite colour signal has bled into the luma signal and luma to chroma. The S-video signal is not processed using the comb filter therefore if either signals have been contaminated (sorry to use a 'useless' word)then that is how they will remain.

Crosstalk can exist between any signals, which includes YUV, RGB and digital. But in those cases it usually insignificant.

 

mis'jimmy
i see you have a loewe xemix.
tell me about it.
how good is it?
compare it to the best suff- sony 7700 etc
i havent had a chance to view it properly.
bye the bye i dont know if you know but metz do a dvd player with pro'scan,hard to get hold of

 

And where exactly does an Y/C signal generated from digital YUV info thats never been anywhere near being a composite signal pick up chroma/luma crosstalk? Noisy analogue internals aside but thats not exactly chroma crosstalk is it .

Incidentally "purity" is commonly used to refer to the quality of a CRT...best not use that one either.

 

and the anser to the question is .........
?
?

 

The word 'purity' is not exclusive. But never mind the semantics for a moment, I read your post again and get the impression that I have vexed you somehow and you think I work for HCC. The former is unintended and the latter not true.

I will state my point again. Many readers of magazines such as HCC have been misinformed. It has been implied many times that if a S-video signal has interference of any kind then the comb filter in a TV will clean it up. This is incorrect!

A comb filter will process only composite video signals. If a S-video signal has become contaminated somehow, then that is how it will most likely remain.

Consumer devices such as DVD players and DTV decoders us many analogue components, particularly in the latter stages of video encoding. This is the most likely area where distortions or cross contamination between signals can occur. Although poor design or manufacture can cause distortions even in the digital and integrated curcuit areas also.

 

fair enough but like I said thats not exactly chroma crosstalk is it so how accurate is the figure in the review? Its not as if the dvd player is generating a composite signal and seperating it into YC before it leaves the machine. (like laserdisc). Its generating th Y and C directly from the YUV info on the disc ergo the C and Y should never come into contact with each other. I accept that the signal path after this point is probably less than pristine but I think its wrong to refer to it as chroma crosstalk.

I am not having a pop at you I just fail to see the rationale behind some of the tests.Its a bit like the pure NTSC issue it just doesn't make a lot of sense from a technical point of view.

 

what about the answer to my question ??

 

Duncan,

I wouldn't mind hearing the answer to your question as well!

The Pioneer 737 is my front-runner so far, but I'm tempted by the new Arcam - easy upgrade to DVD-A. But that said Techtronics are doing the Sony 725's for a low £368 inc vat which is very tempting for the price
(component out!)

All I want to know is -
Is the picture top notch, the sound superb and it's gotta be build like a tank !!




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"Are you gonna bark all day little doggie, or are you gonna bite ?"

 

Go for a Tosh either 100e/200
They produce the best pictures.

 

in short i am fortunate to have been able to compare 8 or so players typically pioneer 717 sony 725 pioneer 626 etc etc on my panny widescreen and thx ultra (for what its worth) and can say honestly and without a shadow of a doubt that with a budget of £500 or so the best picture/sound has come from the tosh 100/200e (in my opinion the 200 had a "better" picture. I would not consider myself a novice and have a good technical knowledge of what i am looking at and listening too (being into esoteric hifi for some 15 years and working as an electronics technician my working life!) i too fancied a second player also with a budget of some £5/60 and feel absolutley delighted with both the price £350 and performance of the tosh particualy as i could of spent £300 more! i have watched [email protected] of dvd's on many decent set-ups over the last 3 or so years and since owning the tosh i have rediscovered that "wow look at that picture" feeling again , without doubt there is no match for the sheer resolution abilities of pretty much any tosh player and to my eye's it's the finest details that make up for alot of the wow factor give them a demo you certainly won't be disapointed particuly if you can compare players
hope this helps
SteveEX
P.S (as usual) the tosh's audio via co-axial output is just fantastic

 

At work we have:

Denon DVD 1500 £400

Loweo DVD (only one type, so model no. is insiginificant) £600(?) DD only

Nakamichi 10S £600

Arcam DV88 £900

IMHO the best is the Nak.

Simple Q answered simply!

Rick

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'I am just a figment of your imagination.'
MiB 1997

Work Site: The Sound Gallery
Home Site: WD A.V.

 

£500 aint going to get you much better than the 919, this is a top player, based on the 717i think, so unless, you are going to spend about a grand, its not really worth it, the 717 was a great player and the next generation of player technology is not worth spending £500 pounds on,unless you are very rich. Buy some dvds instead

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'This one's got a bad mmooooooooooooooooootivaaaaaaator (in a very camp voice)'

 

Pioneer 737, £495 at Richer Sounds which includes Multi-Region!!!

 

Duncan, just a thought (and bearing-in-mind that your Denon A1D has an 8 channel input): with the arrival of 6.1 matrix and discrete soundtracks, is it not just a matter of time before DVD players start appearing with in-built DD-EX and DTS-ES decoders.

If they do then you would be able to enjoy these extra channels without changing your A1D (but you would need a separate 2 channel power amp and another pair of speakers).

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This is a local shop for local people - there's nothing for you here!

 

My choice would be the Sony 735D (which I own). The new Harmon Kardon DVD 1 looks well worth a look though.

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