DVD player suggestions - Returned Sony DVP-NS3100ES

[nightflier]

OK,

I thought I had settled on a nice universal player (sans DVD-A, but that's OK), and brought the Sony DVP-NS3100ES home. But this thing is way too slow and I just had to return it to Crutchfield. I know Sony also has the 999ES and 9100ES players, but they are a bundle more, and I just can't bring myself to spend that much on a Sony player. I was also considering the Denon 3910, but GG is all out of them and apparently they are just as slow. Can anyone tell me if the Marantz 7600 is that slow, before I have to return that one too?

You would think that if you spend over $500 on a DVD player, that the darned thing would be a little more speedy, no? After all, the Samsung/Sony/Yamaha universal players that cost half as much aren't that slow. So what's going on, here?

All I want is a universal player that's well built and not too slow. At this point I'm willing to consider any player up to $2K.

[paul_pci]

Drive your ass up to the Hungtington Beach Good Guys and see if they have any players left for their clearance sale. I was at my local GG today and they still had a Yamaha S1500 for $200! (50% off).

[westcott]

OK,

I thought I had settled on a nice universal player (sans DVD-A, but that's OK), and brought the Sony DVP-NS3100ES home. But this thing is way too slow and I just had to return it to Crutchfield. I know Sony also has the 999ES and 9100ES players, but they are a bundle more, and I just can't bring myself to spend that much on a Sony player. I was also considering the Denon 3910, but GG is all out of them and apparently they are just as slow. Can anyone tell me if the Marantz 7600 is that slow, before I have to return that one too?

You would think that if you spend over $500 on a DVD player, that the darned thing would be a little more speedy, no? After all, the Samsung/Sony/Yamaha universal players that cost half as much aren't that slow. So what's going on, here?

All I want is a universal player that's well built and not too slow. At this point I'm willing to consider any player up to $2K.

Try this site. It really is a site more oriented toward the video capabilities of the various units but some descriptions of layer changes are noted.

http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/cgi-bin/shootout.cgi?function=search&articles=all

The problems you are having really have to deal with the abilites of the different manufacturers to implement the chipsets provided by the mfgs and how many chips a unit has to address all the video and playback capabilities.

I regret to inform you but Sony does not fair very well in any of the tests.

I hope this helps.

[EdwardGein]

It does everything but just does DVD-A not SACD but picture is excellent as well as sond for CD's & DVD's. Retails for $350 You can get it for under $250 on line.l Say away from Denon DVD players as I heard they suck but this is heresay and I can't speak from experience.

[westcott]

It does everything but just does DVD-A not SACD but picture is excellent as well as sond for CD's & DVD's. Retails for $350 You can get it for under $250 on line.l Say away from Denon DVD players as I heard they suck but this is heresay and I can't speak from experience.

I think you will find the site I listed above most enlightening.

Denon has probably 5 of the top 10 products in video performance.

Oppo and Panasonic are some of the best for the money. Just be careful you use the best output for your application.

[jamison162]

What do you mean by Slow?

From my Expericense the SOny DVP-NS70H or whatever isn't bad at all.

My list:

1. Denon 2910
2. Denon 1920
3. Oppo
4. Sony NS70H

[edtyct]

I've never been too concerned with speed. I like the Sony 3100-ES for how it sounds and looks, but it doesn't exactly change states like a house on fire.

[nightflier]

What do you mean by Slow?

It took the player forever to "figure out" what kind of disk was inserted and what it needs to do.

What I really was hoping now that players can be had for $25, is to find something that's a step up. For me, a player that takes so long to read a disk, isn't doing a good job of processing the software (sort of like a really slow computer). I would have though that for $500 it would buy me more processing power. I presume that to some extent, the speed a player reads a disk is a measure of it's capabilities.

It looks like after Denon, Marantz is really the only player left standing. Is the Marantz 2910 fairly speedy? If so, I would presume the 7600 and 9500's are also faster. Does anyone have either of these (I don't think the 9600 offers much more, but correct me if I'm wrong).

West, thanks for the link, but the Marantz' don't rank so well there. Everything else I've read about Marantz has been fairly positive, so I'd like to think they are still in the running.

[Woochifer]

There are plenty of budget players that can load up the discs fairly rapidly, so I'm not sure if you should use that as a criteria. I have an old entry level Toshiba DVD player that loads up much faster than my Denon, but the Denon also has a much larger memory buffer, so the layer transitions go through smoothly. That Toshiba will almost always pause during the layer transition. FWIW, the Denon DVD-2200 and 2910 were able to detect DVD-A discs fairly quickly when I used them on demos.

The top-of-the-line DVD players typically give you upgrades in the video processing capability, as well as better audio circuitry, more substantial chassis construction, separate power supplies for the transport and processor board, and better build quality. The disc loading speed I don't even think is a consideration, since it has no connection with actual audio/video performance.

Oppo Digital's DVD player debut has apparently caused quite a stir because it's an all-region player that upscales everything to 720p (though only through the DVI output -- the analog component video output is only 480i), and it recently got the second highest score ever on hometheaterhifi's benchmark tests. And they've thus far been very good about posting firmware updates on their website.

[Jim Clark]

I've had the oppo since July and it's the real deal. It can be sort of quirky but the oppo team is constantly working on tweaking it via firmware updates to make it just right. While it's a great DVDP, it's certainly not a universal player and in my personal opinion just absolutely blows as a CDP. Still, given the coming of HD formatted discs at some point in 2006 i'm not sure how cost effective it is to buy a high dollar DVDP right now. If you need an upconverting DVDP with tremendous and very affordable video performance you should check out the Oppo.

jc

[nightflier]

...Still, given the coming of HD formatted discs at some point in 2006 i'm not sure how cost effective it is to buy a high dollar DVDP right now. If you need an upconverting DVDP with tremendous and very affordable video performance you should check out the Oppo.jc

That may be an option. I was considering the Marantz SA8260 player for my SACD's and then to just purchase something like the Oppo for DVD's. Is Oppo planning on releasing a 1080i/p upconversion firmware update in the near future? Or maybe a new model that can do this? Also, I presume it is not too slow in loading disks, right?

It just kills me that I can't find a decent Universal player out there, especially now that HD-DVD/BlueRay is right around the corner. I doubt people are lining up in droves to buy a $1500 DVD player.

[Jim Clark]

That may be an option. I was considering the Marantz SA8260 player for my SACD's and then to just purchase something like the Oppo for DVD's. Is Oppo planning on releasing a 1080i/p upconversion firmware update in the near future? Or maybe a new model that can do this? Also, I presume it is not too slow in loading disks, right?

It just kills me that I can't find a decent Universal player out there, especially now that HD-DVD/BlueRay is right around the corner. I doubt people are lining up in droves to buy a $1500 DVD player.

Well, it's got it's little quirks to be sure and to be honest I haven't done a very good job upgrading the firmware since I really haven't dealt with any issues that are too bothersome. Disc loading doesn't seem to be a problem but that's kind of a relative thing, isn't it? In hindsight it might drive you batty. For example, when you turn it on and then immediately hit eject, the tray doesn't come out right away. You need to power it up, wait a couple of seconds and then hit the eject button. I don't know, maybe a recent firmware update has addressed this but I'm trained enough that it's not a problem for me. The trade off is as Wooch mentioned, benchmark results that are really world class. There are a couple of massive threads on the unit at AVS under the standard def DVD forum. You might go blind reading all of the pages, there are hundreds in the threads.

jc

[westcott]

Well, it's got it's little quirks to be sure and to be honest I haven't done a very good job upgrading the firmware since I really haven't dealt with any issues that are too bothersome. Disc loading doesn't seem to be a problem but that's kind of a relative thing, isn't it? In hindsight it might drive you batty. For example, when you turn it on and then immediately hit eject, the tray doesn't come out right away. You need to power it up, wait a couple of seconds and then hit the eject button. I don't know, maybe a recent firmware update has addressed this but I'm trained enough that it's not a problem for me. The trade off is as Wooch mentioned, benchmark results that are really world class. There are a couple of massive threads on the unit at AVS under the standard def DVD forum. You might go blind reading all of the pages, there are hundreds in the threads.

jc

Oppo just released a new unit and new firmware. They now support DVD Audio among other things!!!!!
For the price, I do not see how you could go wrong. Especially if you are waiting like the rest of us (here in the states-edit) for a HD solution like Blue Ray, HD DVD, etc.

[nightflier]

So does Oppo upconvert to 1080i?

[Jim Clark]

So does Oppo upconvert to 1080i?

http://www.oppodigital.com/

720p looks best on my display.

jc

[nightflier]

http://www.oppodigital.com/

720p looks best on my display.

jc

Have you tried 1080i? Will it work?