The Denon 5910 seems a little overkill for to me … and my budget. There is a website (sorry, forget the name) where some a/v engineers did serious, deep evaluations, measuring what seems to be every technical aspect of the audio and the video quality of the 5910 and the 3910. Bottom line: there are a few more bells and whistles on the 5910, but the picture and sound of the 3910 was almost as good, and in some areas better. I figured the diff between the two resides somewhere in a realm I don’t occupy, so the 5910’s advantages would be lost on me.
Other things that helped me decide on the 3910, (a) there is software available that can be loaded into the 3910 and it becomes a multi-region DVD player. I watch far more foreign movies that Hollywood product, tho I yet to load the multi-region s/w. (b) The whole DVD medium is changing, $5k for a DVD player that is obsolete as far as playing the new Hi-Def/Hi-Density format(s) didn’t make sense to me. (c) The 3910’s are more common, more desirable to more people, so selling it later on when/if I venture into HD-DVD should be easier. (d) Denon products are some of the very few DVD players that fully comply with the entire HDMI spec for audio/video transfer. Could be important if you interface to a pre/pro that does scaling. (e) Getting the purchased approved by the woman/boss/CEO/dominatrix was easier at $1k than $5k.
Something else to think about if you are serious about the 5910, you are smack in the middle of the price range of other, esoteric brands of DVD players that cater only to the hi-end market. Couldn’t tell you where the 5910 fits into that crowd, but if it were me considering a 5910, I’d have a lot of shopping to do before deciding and buying. I forget the brand name but there is another DVD player that pops up as supposedly the crème de la crème of DVD picture/sound quality, the one all other DVD players aspire to. It was not reviewed by that website I mentioned above. It’s priced similar to the 5910, but I don’t think it is a universal player, won’t play all the disc formats a 5910/3910 will.
Fwiw, the picture quality of the 3910 exceeded my expectations. Sound quality, too! But then it’s not like the 3910 is sitting side-by-side with any other DVD hardware to compare it to. We use the 3910 to feed a hi-def (1080i) plasma display, not that DVD is hitting that resolution, but I can compare it to the hi-def sat images. No disappointments, no regrets…no going back. And I don’t utilize even a half of the features that are available with the 3910.
I have read only one, somewhat subjective, review of the new DenonLink’s performance. Thumbs down on quality when compared to the other, more common digital networking avenues. I don’t think I would make a decision based on that one review, but it is certainly something to be aware of if you are considering DenonLink to interface a Denon DVD to Denon pre/pro. You have other choices to make that interface so DenonLink's quality, if there is an issue, shouldn’t stop you.
If you decide to go with any Denon stuff, post back here and I will pm you the name of an authorized Denon retailer that will sell you A-stock at a deep discount. The price they quoted is the cost to have the stuff dropped on your doorstep.
