A problem with my Denon DVD-5910?

[astrodon]

To any owners of the Denon DVD-5910:

I recently bought this universal player marked down at Tweeter who were trying to close out their stock. I bought this player for my home theater and it has some peculiarities to it that has me a bit concerned, especially for the price that I paid for this unit. When I insert a CD or DVD into the player, a "clicking" noise is heard whenever one of the front panel display lights come on (for instance, the track number, time indicator, etc). Once the disk starts playing, the click sounds are no longer heard whenever these display lights change their values -- the sound is only heard when they first light up. In addition to this, it takes a few seconds for a new menu to appear from a DVD when a "link" is selected (for instances, chapter selection from the main menu). I also have a Denon DVD-2900 in my living room which does not behave this way -- it neither clicks when the display lights come on nor delays before going to a new screen on a DVD menu (that is, it is virually instantaneous).

Do all the DVD-5910s have these characteristics, or do I have a defective model? By the way, I use the HDMI cable for video and Denon-Link 3 for the audio and both the video and audio are performing admirably.

Don

 

[Daz3d&Confus3d]

Do you have a local retailer that has a 5910 you can demo to compare? That may be the easiest route for you since you know exactly how its behaving...

 

[pikers]

To any owners of the Denon DVD-5910:

I recently bought this universal player marked down at Tweeter who were trying to close out their stock. I bought this player for my home theater and it has some peculiarities to it that has me a bit concerned, especially for the price that I paid for this unit. When I insert a CD or DVD into the player, a "clicking" noise is heard whenever one of the front panel display lights come on (for instance, the track number, time indicator, etc). Once the disk starts playing, the click sounds are no longer heard whenever these display lights change their values -- the sound is only heard when they first light up. In addition to this, it takes a few seconds for a new menu to appear from a DVD when a "link" is selected (for instances, chapter selection from the main menu). I also have a Denon DVD-2900 in my living room which does not behave this way -- it neither clicks when the display lights come on nor delays before going to a new screen on a DVD menu (that is, it is virually instantaneous).

Do all the DVD-5910s have these characteristics, or do I have a defective model? By the way, I use the HDMI cable for video and Denon-Link 3 for the audio and both the video and audio are performing admirably.

Don

Does it sound like a relay clicking? My Panasonic H1000 does that when the display changes brightness, just before a disc starts playing. You should only hear one or two clicks, if it's doing the same thing. If that's the case, it sounds quite normal.

 

[astrodon]

Denon DVD-5910 problem follow-up

Do you have a local retailer that has a 5910 you can demo to compare? That may be the easiest route for you since you know exactly how its behaving...

Living in a small city, I bought this DVD player from a larger city that is a 2.5 hour drive. Also, I got the player marked down since Tweeter was closing out their stock and I believe I bought the last one the chain had in their possession (they had it shipped from an Atlanta store, note that the box was unopened, so it wasn't a return). I do have a local audio store that carries Denon, but unfortunately, they only have the 2910 and 3910 on display and had no experience using the 5910. I tried these players and didn't hear the clicking noise nor noticed a delay when playing material from the main menu of a DVD (as I have been experiencing on my 5910). I'm calling Denon this week to ask them if I have a defective player (assuming I'm able to actually talk to somebody). If I'm unsuccessful in contacting a technician at Denon or if the player is indeed defective, I'll take it back. After having such a great experience with my Denon DVD-2900 for the past 3 years, I am a bit surprised by this problem with the 5910, along with a problem I had with a Denon AVR-3805 receiver last year (I replaced it with the 3806). I'm starting to have some doubts about the quality of Denon products despite the great reviews I have always read of their components. I really like the idea of playing all audio (CD, DVD-V, DVD-A, and SACD) through one digital line (the DenonLink III line). If I do take it back, I'll try the DVD-3910.

 

[Jim M]

You don't have a problem. The 5910 uses lots of relays for isolation of signal and control paths. Isolation is the key word here. The Denon takes great pains to ensure that signals do not interfere with each other at all. This will frequently be noticeable as the disk is first accessed or the menu is entered, etc. Denon should be able to confirm this for you if you are still worried. My 5910 clicks, it's nothing at all to worry about. You probably hear a similar click when you first turn on your amp at low volume and hear the relay click that unmutes the speakers, for example.

 

[Jim M]

I forgot to mention that the 5910 is slow, at times, in navigating some menus. Not that it is really bad, but if you are coming from a player that happened to be faster this can seem like the player has stalled in the menu. It's just slow. I like to think that it's just careful. I believe that your 5910 is working just fine based on the symptoms you reported.

 

[astrodon]

Denon DVD-5910 is not malfunctioning

Thanks Jim!

I just got off the phone with a service tech from Denon. He had me reset the player and check for the clicking noise and 5 second play delay again (see original posting in this thread). After the player re-initialized itself, I had to reset the video out to HDMI. Upon playing a DVD after reset, the clicking sounds were still there (note that the Denon tech told me that some of their units do this and it is nothing to worry about), but the 5 second pause when selecting "play" on a DVD no longer occurred -- the disk responded immediately after selecting "play movie" on the DVD main menu. Getting no sound through my Denon receiver, I stopped the movie and reset the audio out to DenonLink 3rd and started the movie again. Once again, the 5 second delay after selecting "play movie" returned. It seems that the DenonLink 3 software/hardware has some latency in it. However, I am no longer concerned that my player is defective, hence will keep it and enjoy the fantastic video and audio that this player is giving me. Since I have seen some people list their systems, I thought I would list mine (to date).
Don


<P>-----------------------------------------------------------------<BR>
Home Theater System:

• Sony KDF-60XS955 60" LCD Rear Projection HDTV
• Denon AVR-3806 7.1 A/V Receiver
• Denon DVD-5910 Player
• DirecTV H10 HD Receiver
• Advent Loudspeakers (2 front, 2 rear) -- to be replaced soon
• Klipsch Synergy Surround Speaker (serving as center for time being)
• Klipsch 10KSW Subwoofer
• Monster Power HTS 3500 Reference Power Center

<P>Living Room System:

• Sony 27" Trinitron CRT TV
• Sony DA3ES 6.2 A/V Receiver
• Denon DVD-2900 Player
• Sony W2000ES MultiDisk CD Player/Recorder
• Thorens TD190 Turntable
• Panasonic DMR-E75V VCR/DVD Recorder
• RCA DirecTV Receiver
• TEAC V-300 Stereo Cassette Deck
• Klipsch Synergy Speakers (2 front, 1 center, 3 surround)
• Klipsch 12KSW Subwoofer

 

[Jim M]

You're welcome. Thanks for reporting what the tech said. Like you, I use DLink3 so I found that informative. These machines have to do so much processing, it is amazing the delays are not even longer. It's certainly worth the wait, though. The sound is absolutely fantastic.

 

[tlmacaddino]

Just to reinforce what's already been discussed. I'm running the DVD-5910 into a Denon AVR-5805 and my experience has been the same; but the final listening and viewing result is worth every extra second it takes to get there!

 

[LTQDustx]

I wonder if the noise has something to do with the macrovision copy protection (or something similiar). I noticed that when I put in a DVD with some sort of copy protection, it takes a while before something is displayed on my TV. The DVD player goes through some cycle to correct the "intentionally put" errors on the DVD before it can be displayed.

 

[astrodon]

I wonder if the noise has something to do with the macrovision copy protection (or something similiar). I noticed that when I put in a DVD with some sort of copy protection, it takes a while before something is displayed on my TV. The DVD player goes through some cycle to correct the "intentionally put" errors on the DVD before it can be displayed.

I have discussed this clicking characteristic with my brother who knows a lot more about audio than I do. He was wondering if the clicking noise at the beginning after a DVD/CD is loaded is due to the fact that this higher end model is using mechanical switches instead of electronic ones. Evidently, mechanical switches are considered to be better than electronic ones. This would explain the clicking noise. By the way, I just finished calibrating this DVD player with the DVE DVD and the picture looks even better (though slightly) than ever. Now, I have to save in order to replace my old Advents that I'm currently using, hopefully by the end of summer.