Onkyo THX Ultra Certified DVD Player for $500

[Takeereasy]

Saw this and figured I'd throw it in here for anyone to peruse. The unit is from Sound City.DVSP800

 

[nibhaz]

Nice price.....but...

This is a nice player, but there are some flaws in its design!
Its video section is a little dated (it was pretty good for 2003), but the current offerings from Denon (2910 and up) and others provide a better video playback based on the all of reviews and benchmarks I’ve read. Secondly, with the base management for multi channel playback there are large/small options for the center and surround speakers (the fronts are fixed on large), and turning on the sub routes all low-frequency material its way. You also get channel-level and delay settings, although the delay settings apply only to DVD-Audio. Other than that it’s great! Not sure if I'd buy it again, even at the 500 dollar price point at least not in 2005.

 

[Takeereasy]

I just happened across it and figured I'd throw it in here to try and give another option to people looking for something similar. The specs on it seemed really impressive,the price looked pretty good, and it sure is pretty. Thanks for the info regarding concerns to note though. Are you not happy with your unit?

 

[nibhaz]

Actually, I love it! But then again I'm using an older Sony WEGA TV so I wouldn't really benefit much from having bleeding edge video technology. As far as the audio side goes...flawless...IMO. In real world applications I feel that most people would be happy with this unit at this price point, but what do I know?

 

[Buckeyefan 1]

Actually, I love it! But then again I'm using an older Sony WEGA TV so I wouldn't really benefit much from having bleeding edge video technology. As far as the audio side goes...flawless...IMO. In real world applications I feel that most people would be happy with this unit at this price point, but what do I know?

Nibhaz,

Do you prefer SACD over DVD-A? Can you tell a difference?

Also, does anyone make a DVD-A and SACD player under $200? Under $150? I was looking at Panasonic's website, but they seem to only offer the DVD-A player. Is that because SACD is fading out?

 

[nibhaz]

Don't know...

I'm not sure what's out there at the 150-200 price point. I imagine it would be harder to find a universal player at this price point because the manufacturer would have to pay for the rights to use each format's technology thus increasing the unit’s price, but that’s just speculation on my part.

I’m not sure where either format is headed these days…I wouldn’t be surprised if both failed. The general populace is more concerned with quantity rather than quality, thus the rise of the MP3….shiver…

As far as SACD or DVD-A…well I have 9 titles in SACD and 1 DVD-A. However, I would say that I prefer one over the other, it’s just that more titles that I prefer such as Bob Dylan and Floyd’s DSOTM have been released on SACD. In general I prefer the SACD version of a title over its Redbook counter part. With exception to DSOTM… in two channel I prefer the older Parson’s mix, but on the other hand I feel that the newer mulitchannel mix is worthy of its own place in my collection. My DVD-A title is from the flaming lips and it’s as about as far out there as you can get when it comes to a mulitchannel mix so I can’t really compare. Hope that helps.

 

[Buckeyefan 1]

It's amazing we'll spend all this cash on players, then only have so many titles to play. Too bad places like Blockbuster doesn't rent out DVD-A or SACD. Otherwise, that market would take off. I am so tired of listening to my cd collection in Pure Direct, than switching it to Denon's 7 channel stereo, only to lose all imaging because the processing slams two channels into 7 speakers. DSP modes do not impress me with audio imaging. I think the two channels do a better job bouncing sound off my walls than any matrixed 6 or 7 channel processor. I think the idea of DVD-A or SACD is great, but I'm so disappointed in the number of recording studios that actually use this technology. What a shame.