What DVD player. Budget?

Rob M New member Username: Takhisos Post Number: 1 Registered: Aug-04	Posted on Monday, August 09, 2004 - 22:58 GMT Hi, I have £100 to spend on a DVD player. And a trip to Comet revealed how little I know about the media. I'm off to uni, and as home we just use a cheap job from Tescos... I have a Denon 3801 AV reciever and want something thats going to go with it. My needs are simple, its going to be mainly a CD player, but obviously it needs to play the odd DVD too. I would like to know know a few things, in comet, I noted on some of the DVD players details that they have specs for both Audio and Video, 10bits / 54khs for example, whats this all about? Also, what about decoders and outputs, whats the best to have? My amp has just about everything so i'm just looking for a player that I can plug in. The Amp has decoders etc but do I need a DVD player to do it too to recieve the surround sound on my system? So complicated! Anyway, some recomendations / advice would be grately appreciated. Rob M.
Rob M New member Username: Takhisos Post Number: 2 Registered: Aug-04	Posted on Monday, August 09, 2004 - 23:24 GMT Out of interest, would a Pioneer 737 do the trick? It would sit near my amp perfectly as its the same colour. Would I better off with something newer and slimer? One thing I think is missing from the 737 is that it is a little old and might not have some of the features of the newer, cheaper models. It would be around the same age as the Amp I have so would compliment it well I guess, and I probably wouldn't miss some of the newer features, what would I be missing? I'm guessing its a high quality player as it was £700 new... Thanks for any response.
KEGGER Gold Member Username: Kegger MICHIGAN Post Number: 1139 Registered: Dec-03	Posted on Tuesday, August 10, 2004 - 02:41 GMT the budget player i recomend is the 563a (565a in europe) pioneer universal player. sacd/dvd-a/cd/dvd plays them all. their are several threads hear for that player. heres a couple. https://www.ecoustics.com/electronics/forum/home-audio/68133.html https://www.ecoustics.com/electronics/forum/home-video/56777.html if you read those threads and want to ask questions someone should be able to help you.
John A. Gold Member Username: John_a Post Number: 1960 Registered: Dec-03	Posted on Tuesday, August 10, 2004 - 03:15 GMT Rob, I am not sure how much an NAD T513 is in £, but it might come down as close as you will get, maybe £150 or so. It is a quality DVD/CD player, but without DVD-A or SACD. I recommend you find a local NAD dealer (try dealers on www.nad.co.uk), and ask their advice, even if that is not the model or brand you eventually go for. In my experience, you won't find anyone who knows anything at Comet. Whereas NAD is careful with it dealerships, like a number of other speacialist hifi brands. There is also a Cambridge Audio model, I think the DV57, that is about the cheapest DVD-A player. The same goes for Cambridge Audio as for NAD. In UK, www.bada.co.uk dealers are usually pretty good. Also, if you click "Marketplace" you might find something good second hand, but with a warranty, which is what I would consider, seriously, in your place.
Arnold Layne Bronze Member Username: Arnold_layne MadridSpain Post Number: 67 Registered: Jun-04	Posted on Tuesday, August 10, 2004 - 16:24 GMT Rob, regarding specs: As far as I have understood, DVD Video (i.e. MPEG-2) requires 27MHz/10 bits video sampling. Inferior chips reads less info, a picture is presented but some details get lost when decompressing MPEG. Higher rates (54MHz/10 bits or even up to 108MHz/14 bits) permit oversampling to artificially improve image. On the audio side we have 48, 96, and 192 KHz/24 bits per channel technology. All these are superior to CD (44.1 KHz/16 bits). Finding out which technology in player is guessing. DAC spec gives some clues, hopefully the other chips are in line. (You don't use the DACs for Home Theatre, since digital out is employed, it's just an indicator). 96/24 per channel tech is sufficient to handle audio tracks on any DVD video material. DVD-A goes up to 192/24 per channel in stereo and 96/24 per ch. in multichannel. (The recommended Pioneer DV563/565A is up to this). Up to now we have discussed PCM (pulse code modulation) specs. SACD is a different story. To fully explore this format, player should be "true DSD" (direct stream digital). If not, DSD is converted to PCM. Not a catastrophy iff well perdormed, but... Manufacturers seldom speak up about this. Scubadiving on DAC providers website can give some hints (carry aspirin for headache...). Lastly, ordinary S/PDIF digital interconnect is good for Home Theatre and CD. But SACD and DVD-A is out of scope for this transfer protocol. That's the main reason for 5.1 analouge connections. Superior digital interfaces like HDMI on the way, but I'm not sure industry has reached conclusions on standards. Sorry for writing long and winding post. You're always welcome back with more questions. Cheers AL
Rob M New member Username: Takhisos Post Number: 3 Registered: Aug-04	Posted on Wednesday, August 11, 2004 - 17:17 GMT Hey thanks for that Arnold, great, that explination was exactly what I was looking for. I've been looking at 2 DVD players specifically, the older Pioneer 737 and 717 (simply because 2nd hand they are roughly the right price I want to pay and off a high quality) and also the newer Pioneer DV-575A-S. I'm split on my decision, the older systems in gold would match my present amp, and have the things I would use, the newer player, has the advantage of warrenty and the ability to play SVCD and DVD-A, which i'm not too bothered about as I most likely won't use, although the backup knowing that I can rather than can't would be good. At the moment I can get the 717 for £100, the 737 for £150 and the 575 for around £125.... The choices... Any shove in the right direction would be appreciated. Tar. Rob.
Arnold Layne Bronze Member Username: Arnold_layne MadridSpain Post Number: 69 Registered: Jun-04	Posted on Wednesday, August 11, 2004 - 17:57 GMT DV575 is not identical to previous DV565. In the threads mentioned by Kegger, there are some discussions on that. Basically, DV575 seems to me containing software improvements (bass management), but inferior hardware (DACs). I believe Pioneer 717 and 737 are quite old models. I had a look at specs: http://www.techtronics.com/uk/shop/50-pioneer-dv-717-multi-region-dvd-player.htm l ... where for the latter I find certain resemblance with DV575/595 specs, but no SACD nor DVD-A. Could be more robust construction though. Same size as old flagship 747, no slimline. Cheers AL
KEGGER Gold Member Username: Kegger MICHIGAN Post Number: 1156 Registered: Dec-03	Posted on Thursday, August 12, 2004 - 14:21 GMT good job arnold if that doesn't explain it nothing will.
Ruth Andrade New member Username: Ruthenry Woodhaven, New York USA Post Number: 2 Registered: Sep-04	Posted on Monday, September 06, 2004 - 23:34 GMT Hello... I would like to buy a HD DVD player.. My TV is a Sony Grand Wega KDF-70XBR950.... Which Samsung dvd player is the correct decision: HD841/HD931/HD941 or HD1000...Any suggestion?-- Please Help me...Ruth

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