panasonic s-97, Denon 1920, Oppo????

[2 cents worth]

Nice site. Love the info and reviews. Here's my deal - It is time to go with an upconverting DVD player to dazzle my wife (she doesn't get it). I love the Panasonic DVD S97 review. I hear great things about the Denon. Oppo has had fantastic reviews. Side by side, what's a guy to do? Pricing seems to be pretty much a push all the way around. I view this purchase as a temp/disposable DVD player since new stuff will probably be a must have in a couple of years. It will be used primarily for movies. I believe these all use the same DCDi Faroudja thing. Some of the specs are confusing. We're going to be projecting the image on a nice 110" screen.

Firdt the Denon 1920. I have a Denon CD player with the Burr Browns, but this brings the first question. Since I pass audio digitally, I am not using the deck's Burr Brown's anyway, right? SACD nice, but I don't have any right now.

The Panasonic rated very high. What do we look for in the video D/A conversion? AH review states "features a 216MHz/11-bit Video D/A converter and is able to fully transmit the a 13.5MHz video signal". Huh?

Nice reviews from the Oppo. I am a little scared of it since it's made in China, new, and I thought I read reviews that its video performance was ok, not great.

I am using a Lexicon MC-8. The rest of my gear is inconsequential to my decision on the DVD player. What it really comes down to is which one is the best, even marginally.

Let the discussion begin!! I look forward to all comments.

Cornholio

 

[tedmjr2]

If your projector accepts either DVI or HDMI, I'd go for the Oppo. Don't worry about it's origin of manufacturing, it's been a proven player with exceptional customer service from northern California. Otherwise, get the Panny S97 or even the much more available S77.

I got the Oppo last year and have been surprisingly impressed with it while easily updating its firmware to make it a much better all-around performer. The DVD players you mentioned should perform at a reasonably high level without investing too much before the DVD High Def formats settle down in price.

 

[j_garcia]

What do you mean about the Oppo having marginal video quality? There may have been issues with the previous model, but the current model owns the top spot of all progressive players.

SACD and DVD-A would require you to use the analog outputs with the 1920. The S-97 does DVD-A, but not SACD, so you might get some of the benefit, though again, you will be using analog for that as well, while still using digital for normal DVDs; which is what I currently do.

I've owned a few Panasonics from the cheapest to the top of the line, and I've not been disappointed with one yet. I've converted to Denon though, and they are also excellent players.

 

[2 cents worth]

Well, we're rolling with the 1920. Pretty dang light weight, but I guess that's a different dymanic that might be completely irrelevant. Also noted that its is made in China. What pushed me over the cliff was that the Denon does SACD and DVD-A, incremental cost was insignificant, and it appeared that the video guts were very similar.

Tell me, do I need to read the manual? There are a lot of settings on these new devices.

Duce

 

[Buckeyefan 1]

Yes, read the manual. Nice choice BTW.

One spec I like about Denon players are their quick start up time. Some of the better rated, lower priced units (Oppo, Neu, Panny) have an agonizing start time. Most of the Denons are instantaneous. Picture quality on all are excellent. Some argue sound and build quality is better from Denon. Here's a great site for DVD player reviews:

http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/volume_7_3/dvd-benchmark-introduction-9-2000.html

http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/masterindex_video_players.html