High End DVD players

[naterib]

Looking at the new Pioneer Elite DV-59avi, Integra 8.3 and the Denon 2900. The Pioneer seems to have a faster Video DAC @ 214MHz/14bit, which machine has a better picture?

[inner_ear]

Looking at the new Pioneer Elite DV-59avi, Integra 8.3 and the Denon 2900. The Pioneer seems to have a faster Video DAC @ 214MHz/14bit, which machine has a better picture?

Interesting question as I pondered the decision between the 59 and the 2900 for some time. Even though I am sure they both are "kick butt" units, I bought the 59. Here are the reasons that swayed my decision:

I read several reviews about the 2900 which complained about complicated setup and non-intutive menu structure. This is a pet peave of mine so I was immediately put off.

The 2900 cost nearly twice what the 59 can be had for.

The 59 had HDMI and the 2900 had the older DV-I without IEEE1394. (not so important if 2900 had IEEE1394 since HDMI is merely the sum of the two on the same connector)

The 2900 had physical i-Link (IEEE1394) ports but they were not active. They can be added later... but I wanted them now!

2900 uses Faradja DCDi for up conversion of the signal to HD resolutions (1920x1080i) while the 59 uses a better (I'm told) IC. Apparently it has some kind of very low level access to the signal that does a better job than the post processing of DCDi. This is only important if you have a fixed pixel display like LCD/Plasma/DLP. Combined with a digital HD-TV and HDMI/DV-I, it will make a DVD look like it's in HD.

and finally, I have a 55txi receiver which mates better with the 59avi.

Cheers,
David

[mtrycraft]

Looking at the new Pioneer Elite DV-59avi, Integra 8.3 and the Denon 2900. The Pioneer seems to have a faster Video DAC @ 214MHz/14bit, which machine has a better picture?

Not to worry about that spec. Read some Sound & Vision reviews, especially David Ranada.