This week I had the privilege of attending the Denon Line Show & Press Event in Dana Point, California. A top floor room that looked out over the Pacific Ocean from the Laguna Cliffs Marriott Resort & Spa was my home for a couple of nights while attending, and it proved to be a great trip full of demos and information. An idyllic setting by any measure, and it provided me a great evening of relaxation prior to my day of work - yeah, we call this work.
Discuss "Editorial: Denon Line Show 2008" here. Read the article.
The Denon DVD-1800BD, it looks somehow familier to me. Note how the upper end Blu-ray players that Denon sells currently don't have a nifty little SD card slot on the bottom right corner of the unit. Also note the location of the display and the stop/play/pause/eject buttons. It would be remarkably simple to configure the play/pause/stop buttons to another function (making it appear to be different from OEM). The power button is on the far left, instead of where it would be on the OEM (on the far right). The remote sensor is in the same location on the Denon as the OEM, but you can't tell from pictures (I have seen the OEM up close). The Denon seems to have the same physique as the OEM, which isn't the least bit surprising.
The Denon is profile 1.1, features HDMI 1.3 (bitstreams DTS-HD and Dolby TrueHD, stereo analog audio output, no internal processing for DTS-HD and Dolby TrueHD.
Enter the OEM, a Funai (which has made OEM video products for Denon in the past), it features profile 1.1, HDMI 1.3 (bitstreams DTS-HD and Dolby TrueHD, stereo analog audio output, no internal processing for DTS-HD and Dolby TrueHD. The Funai makes up a Philips Blu-ray player, a Magnavox Blu-ray player, a Sylvania Blu-ray player, and reportedly an Insignia Blu-ray player.
Now this comes as no surprise, it's just disappointing to catch companies like Denon playing so dirty. I guess if the Funai is alright for Denon, then the sub $300 Magnavox is alright for Joe Six pack.
Honestly when i saw this new denon blu-ray player i knew it was going to be crap.. I am not surprised to find out its a funai/magnobox/phoolips underneath
Personally it comes down to the Sony BDP-S550 or the Pioneer BD-51FD (pseudo elite) blu-ray players.
Is it me or is denon's face plates not as shiny black as they used to be and has more of flat (blah) look to it now.
__________________ HD Theater: Mitsubishi WD-65908 (Calibrated), Sony BDP-S500, Toshiba HD-XA2, Denon AVR-2807, Scientific Atlanta 8300 HD-DVR, Sony SCD-2000ES, Paradigm 6.1 System, SVS PB10-ISD, Monster Signature HTS7000MKII, Monster HTS-5100MKII
Digital Theater : Sony 40inch 1080P 120Hz LCD TV, Denon AVR-2809CI, Paradigm 5.1 System, SVS PB10-NSD(NEW), Sony BDP-S550, Toshiba HD-A35, Scientific Atlanta 8300 HD-DVR, Sony 5 Disc CD, Sony Dual Cassette Deck, Teac Dual CD Recorder, Monster HTS-3600MKII
This sux!! Still no word on a Pre/pro for Joe Microbrew! Marantz’s AV-8003 pre/pro seems a little lacking in features to compete with the Onkyo/Integra pre/pros.
__________________
Mitsubishi 60” CRT RPTV, Denon AVR-5800, Sony CDP-CX90ES CD Changer, Kenwood Sovereign DV-5900M DVD Changer Speakers: L/R - ESS AMT Monitor, Def Tech ProCenter C2, UIW BP In-wall, UIW 64 In-ceiling, Def Tech SuperCube I, Dual SVS PB12-PLUSes
Zone 2 (3 Areas through Niles HUB8 & Niles IM/VC w/IR sensor)
Carver Amp M1.5t, Paradigm CS60R In-ceiling 2 Pair
On Location: Denon Line Show 2008
Aaaaaargh!!!!!
Still no word on a Pre/pro for Joe Microbrew!
Marantz’s AV-8003 pre/pro seems a little lacking in features to compete with the Onkyo/Integra pre/pros.
Linear Mode
