If money is limited....are $500-$1000 DVD players really worth it over $200 ones?

[Deathwish238]

If money is limited...are $500-$1000 DVD players really worth it? I have an Infocus 4805...480p native resolution. Is it worth getting a DVD player like the Denon DVD-3910 for about $700 instead of a DVD player like the $200 Oppo or S97? How much picture quality would I be gaining by dropping another $500? I watch 3-5 DVDs a week on average.

From what I recall the 4805 has a Faroudja deinterlacer so that's one advantage I imagine I really wouldn't be gaining.

I don't care about music playback...strictly for DVD playback....unless you all can convince me that I will really hear a difference in audio quality.

Any thoughts and/or opinions are greatly appreciated.

 

[Spiffyfast]

I'd say hold off on dropping that kind of cash (500 to 1000) until the HD/Blu Ray war is over and then spend the big money on those, if you're an early adopter. I personally don't think it is worth it at the present time to invest that much in a dvd player b/c you're exactly right the differences may be negligable to you. Go check out and test something like the 3910 and the S97 to see if you can even notice, but I wouldn't spend my money on anything big just yet, maybe in a few months

 

[Blundaar]

I have well over 200 DVD's... and a POS player to play them on. I owe it to them to pick up something good NOW (probably the S97). Even if the hi-def formats hit the market as promised, there's no guarantee that it will play all my other DVD's as well as what I'm looking to buy- at least not without paying some serious coin. I'm looking at 2 years minimum before I start turning my attention to a hi-def player.

 

[BTT917]

Since your projector is only 480p and has the Faroudja chip already, you could probably just get a player that has a good 480i output over component.

 

[Pyrrho]

If money is limited...are $500-$1000 DVD players really worth it? I have an Infocus 4805...480p native resolution. Is it worth getting a DVD player like the Denon DVD-3910 for about $700 instead of a DVD player like the $200 Oppo or S97? How much picture quality would I be gaining by dropping another $500? I watch 3-5 DVDs a week on average.

From what I recall the 4805 has a Faroudja deinterlacer so that's one advantage I imagine I really wouldn't be gaining.

I don't care about music playback...strictly for DVD playback....unless you all can convince me that I will really hear a difference in audio quality.

Any thoughts and/or opinions are greatly appreciated.

I certainly wouldn't spend $500 if I were in your situation. And the Oppo's main claim to fame is not going to be usable for you, since upconverting to HD is not useful for a 480p display. (But the Oppo can be region free and Panasonics often cannot, though I don't know about that particular model.) But as for sound, you can hear a difference between multichannel SACDs and CDs for the same reason you can hear a difference between surround sound and two-channel stereo. The same applies to multichannel DVD-Audio. If you are interested in such things, you may wish to consider the Yamaha DVD-C750, which retails for around $330 and can be had for less (much less if you are willing to buy refurbished off of ebay).

 

[Deathwish238]

Thanks for all the replies. I don't know too much about SACD...is it a safe assumption that the CD has to be encoded/recorded as an SACD? Or it it stimulated? I don't buy many CDs and I don't listen to many CDs either.

I don't really care about the player being regionfree...that has no use for me.

 

[Nick250]

...is it a safe assumption that the CD has to be encoded/recorded as an SACD?

Yes it is.

 

[djoxygen]

Or it it stimulated?

Can someone tell me what the best "stimulated" audio player is? I really need to find one!

 

[philh]

If money is limited...are $500-$1000 DVD players really worth it? I have an Infocus 4805...480p native resolution. Is it worth getting a DVD player like the Denon DVD-3910 for about $700 instead of a DVD player like the $200 Oppo or S97? How much picture quality would I be gaining by dropping another $500? I watch 3-5 DVDs a week on average.

From what I recall the 4805 has a Faroudja deinterlacer so that's one advantage I imagine I really wouldn't be gaining.

I don't care about music playback...strictly for DVD playback....unless you all can convince me that I will really hear a difference in audio quality.

Any thoughts and/or opinions are greatly appreciated.

IMH..uneducated...O, the question ought to be, is there any difference between the $50 DVD player and everything else? LOL

 

[NGL_BrSH]

hah.. well the 50 dolla players definitely seem to break alot, tosh, jvc, even sony. Seems we get alot broken in the under 100 range. Those ones come with 1 year on the parts and 90 days on the labor whereas if you spend a little more money $140 ish like yamaha or nad or something they give you full 1 year warranty's and they seem to never have problems. Then the next step is getting DVD-Audio and SACD compatibility. I will say that alot of the new cheap dvd players seem to be very fault-tolerable. Like they can play a very wide range of discs and also ones that are slightly scratched.

i did set up a little comparison against a few dvd players on our 60' SXRD sony and came to a few conclussions:

dvd players involved

Yamaha DVD-S1500 $499
Marantz DV7600 $699
Marantz DV9600 $1999
Integra DPS 6.5 $500
NAD T514 $299
Sony DVPNS50P $79


here's the summary:
compatibility
plays everything i throw at it - yamaha 1500, both marantz, integra (BUT with pauses between chapters and a BIG one during layer change) SONY (but doesn't do SACD or DVDA)
The NAD plays alot but really doesn't like burned DVD's or pretty much anything george lucas puts together.. (they have a firmware update to make it more "THX Films" tolerant". really doesn't have anything to do with THX but seems that the layout of most star wars movies have things that most dvd players overlook but the nad's seem to hang up on)

picture quality
yamaha looked great (hence i own one) deep blacks nice, dcdi image was nice
Marantz: I Really couldn't tell the difference between teh 7600 and 9600, my coworker said the 9600 was sharper but he's a sucker for things that are more expensive and believes in teh if it's more money it must be better.
the marantz's both had the best picture though. The blacks got the darkest without question and the movement vertically was the best. ( i found with the marantzs it was best viewed upscaling out on the HDMI at 720p)
The rest of the players were almost identical in picture however i found the yamaha just a tiny better with blacks and getting rid of sharp edges than the rest. But the picture was almost the same with the nad, sony and integra.

I wish i had a Denon to review because i hear they have a great bang for the buck too


Conclussion:
Well obviously i liked the yamaha cause i bought one however my tv doesn't have hdmi/dvi or else i'd buy the marantz 7600 in a heart beat. Great resume feature best picture Good control of sacd and bass management. You can find the 7600's for around $500-600 good deal and is as much as i'd ever spend on a reg DVD player

The yamaha was great and i got mine for $350 had a great picture and seems to NEVER have a problem. Only gripe is Bass management for sacd but otherwise i like it almost as much as the dv7600

Integra.. seems like the dog of the group.. not very fault tolerant and so many pauses between scences (new disc's or burned) drove me crazy so it's out. picture is par with the 79 sony. However this dvd player holds a 3 year warranty and i've yet to see one come back.

Nad is great but i didn't really see any diff between it and the sony besides the warranty. 2 year warranty vs sony's 90 day on the labor.

If you wanna be less than $150, don't care about sacd or dvd-a i'd get the yamaha dvd-s550, uber reliable same pic as the sony and a 1 year warranty.

Hope this helps.

 

[jcPanny]

Since you can use the DVI output . . .

. . . I would avoid the Oppo Digital. Its component video output doesn't have the same video processing and upscalling capabilities.

 

[AVPaul]

Denon DVD 2200 has great video

For the price, I bought a Denon DVD 2200 and liked it better than a $1000 more player I tried and it sounds pretty good too.

 

[billnchristy]

So the delay between layers varies with player? I had a panasonic about a year after DVD first came out that cost about 300 bucks and since then Sony 300 and 400 disc changers. Both of those are very sensitive to scratches and dust and have a noticable delay between layers. I like the capability to hold large volumes of discs though, but I am willing to switch to a single disc player if they work better.

 

[abboudc]

If money is limited...are $500-$1000 DVD players really worth it?

In my opinion, no.

 

[ChiefKeefe]

My humble opinion on DVD player choices...

I have had the Denon 1920 for about 6 months. It's a really good player for CDs and DVDs. I have it connected to my Pioneer Elite 84 receiver via HDMI, with the Pioneer connected via HDMI to my 60" Sony SXRD.

I also have been shopping for a new DVD player for about 2 months now. I need to move the Denon to another room to replace one that my 4 year old broke. I desperately wanted to "upgrade" from the Denon to something really nice (budget of up to $1500).

In summary, I looked hard at BluRay and HD-DVD. There is no way I'm supporting either until this idiotic, greedy format war shows a clear winner. I looked at several "high end" upconverting players as well. I decided to save some cash for the BR/HD winner and went with the Oppo 971H. It should arrive tomorrow and I hope that I won't be disappointed.

By the way, I have to continue my rant against the Pioneer Elite BluRay player is supposed to be released in a few weeks. Would anyone on Earth feel good about paying $1500-1800 for a BluRay player that won't even play CDs? That has got to be the most ridiculous thing I have ever seen in the entire world of home theater.

 

[jcPanny]

If money is limited...
I have an Infocus 4805...480p native resolution.

I think that the above statements answer your question. Since you have a 480p display, there is no point in an upscalling DVD player. Put the $700 in your projector upgrade fund and save for a 720P model like the Optima HD72. When you get an HD projector, an Oppo DVD player can give you great video performance for a fraction of the cost of a Denon . . . if money is limited.

 

[mike67]

If money is limited...are $500-$1000 DVD players really worth it? I have an Infocus 4805...480p native resolution. Is it worth getting a DVD player like the Denon DVD-3910 for about $700 instead of a DVD player like the $200 Oppo or S97? How much picture quality would I be gaining by dropping another $500? I watch 3-5 DVDs a week on average.

From what I recall the 4805 has a Faroudja deinterlacer so that's one advantage I imagine I really wouldn't be gaining.

I don't care about music playback...strictly for DVD playback....unless you all can convince me that I will really hear a difference in audio quality.

Any thoughts and/or opinions are greatly appreciated.

i had own a infocus 4805 with a pioneer elite dvd player, the pics was quite good with just component output to 4805. later i hook up using hdmi from pioneer to marantz s4 projector, pic was superb.
later i tested with marantz 7600 and 9600, the 9600 was the winner through hdmi output, the marantz has better audio than pioneer for both anolog and digital output (DVD). currently, i am using krell showcase dvd player to my marantz s4, pic was superb via HDMI, but the audio for stereo and DVD was a step up. i think well mastered dvd can look very good too b4 the hd dvd and blue ray become certain.