For those unfamiliar with the Sherwood Newcastle, I've posted
a direct link to the specific player I have.
Also,
here's one to the Harman Kardon.
The reason I posted this to begin with, is that I use an HK receiver as a preamp, and the look of the HK DVD player is similar to the receiver, so I was running it for quite a while.
The Newcastle sat in a corner of my bedroom, in it's box, for months. I decided one day to try it, and I noticed an improved picture over the HK.
They retail for the same.
The question came from, when viewing the THX setup on a DVD, the black level shows, I believe, 10 shades of black to help adjust the black level of the tv. There's a note that says "some dvd players can only display 7 distinct shades of black" or something to that effect. Well, I noticed that the Sherwood Newcastle, which I previously would have expected to show all shades of black, is one of the players that do not.
What this means to me is that there is information encoded on a dvd that is supposed to be displayed, that is simply not being shown on the screen. So, being the A/V freak that I am, it bugs me a little.
It is still the player I am using, though, because the Progressive Scan picture does look sharper than the Harman Kardon, which up until I hooked up the Newcastle, had the best picture I had seen on a non-HD player.
That's the scoop on the conundrum.
