What's behind cost difference in DVD players?

[grovenstein]

I am on my 4th DVD player; in order: Toshiba 2109, Sony ?, Denon 900 ($350), and now the Rotel RDV-1060 ($800.) The last two which are priced were blindly tested 2 days ago using the same Rotel 1056 receiver and B&W speakers. My testing audience consisted of a friend ,who is somewhat knowledgable, and my wife, who knows nothing about audio equipment.

My wife was the first to speak, "I've never heard that instrument in the song before." There was a blatantly obvious difference between the $350 player and the $800 player. It is obvious to all of us that the diminishing returns to audio don't stop before the $1000 mark.

Those of you saying a $30 DVD player is as good as a $300 one need to open your ears; then you'll be willing to open your wallet!


It's kind of hard to do a blind video test but we managed a video test and all found major differences. When a color changes across the screen, the Denon has some splotchy areas in the blended colors. These were gone when using the Rotel.

BTW, I didn't tell my wife how much the Rotel cost until after she was convinced it was superior; Brilliance!

[hershon]

You obviously have more money than me, more power to you! But to spend $800 on a plain DVD player is insanity. Surely there must be some between $100- $400 that can compare.

I am on my 4th DVD player; in order: Toshiba 2109, Sony ?, Denon 900 ($350), and now the Rotel RDV-1060 ($800.) The last two which are priced were blindly tested 2 days ago using the same Rotel 1056 receiver and B&W speakers. My testing audience consisted of a friend ,who is somewhat knowledgable, and my wife, who knows nothing about audio equipment.

My wife was the first to speak, "I've never heard that instrument in the song before." There was a blatantly obvious difference between the $350 player and the $800 player. It is obvious to all of us that the diminishing returns to audio don't stop before the $1000 mark.

Those of you saying a $30 DVD player is as good as a $300 one need to open your ears; then you'll be willing to open your wallet!


It's kind of hard to do a blind video test but we managed a video test and all found major differences. When a color changes across the screen, the Denon has some splotchy areas in the blended colors. These were gone when using the Rotel.

BTW, I didn't tell my wife how much the Rotel cost until after she was convinced it was superior; Brilliance!

[mtrycraft]

I am on my 4th DVD player; in order: Toshiba 2109, Sony ?, Denon 900 ($350), and now the Rotel RDV-1060 ($800.) The last two which are priced were blindly tested 2 days ago using the same Rotel 1056 receiver and B&W speakers. My testing audience consisted of a friend ,who is somewhat knowledgable, and my wife, who knows nothing about audio equipment.

My wife was the first to speak, "I've never heard that instrument in the song before." There was a blatantly obvious difference between the $350 player and the $800 player. It is obvious to all of us that the diminishing returns to audio don't stop before the $1000 mark.

Those of you saying a $30 DVD player is as good as a $300 one need to open your ears; then you'll be willing to open your wallet!


It's kind of hard to do a blind video test but we managed a video test and all found major differences. When a color changes across the screen, the Denon has some splotchy areas in the blended colors. These were gone when using the Rotel.

BTW, I didn't tell my wife how much the Rotel cost until after she was convinced it was superior; Brilliance!

I just love your testimonials. That is all they are, unreliable. I am sure you did the best you could though. Good try.

Yes, to do a DBT video you need to split signals to the same TV set so half sceen is one player, etc.

But, in reality, DBT audibility test have not supported your testimonials, yet.

[Woochifer]

I just love your testimonials. That is all they are, unreliable. I am sure you did the best you could though. Good try.

Yes, to do a DBT video you need to split signals to the same TV set so half sceen is one player, etc.

But, in reality, DBT audibility test have not supported your testimonials, yet.

Rather than just hang back and criticize other people's comparisons, why don't you come up with something useful that an average consumer can actually do at home? Split signal to the same TV and have half the screen showing one player and the other half showing the other player? How would you set up that test without having to insert additional equipment into the playback chain?

A quick comparison of DVD players can be accomplished with a calibration DVD that uses color filters like the DVE and Avia discs. If swapping out a DVD player requires an adjustment to the calibration levels in the video tests, then there's either a difference in the default output of the players or an actual difference in the video quality. And blotchy color areas like the poster described sounds an awful lot like the chroma bug, which is also easy to see on a HDTV without DBT. Either way, the differences are immediately identifiable without DBT.

[musicguy04]

From my limited experiences, my opinion on the whole DVD thing is that a more expensive player $300+ compared to $40 will be a little better in the video, but the average consumer on an average 27" to 32" NON-HD TV will not tell all that much difference. Video cables do make a difference, but don't go crazy with it. When I used a $30 monster video cable, I got noticeable noise reduction in the TV. THe TV used to have fuzzy, flickers and they were almost nonexistant after using the cable. I don't think a $100 cable would've made any most improvement.

But, if a person has a HDTV, especially a large screen HDTV, then the better DVD players will make a noticeable difference in video quality. In terms of sound quality, I think $40 DVD player will not be anything special. $300 DVD player should be as good as CD players in the past, and $1000 DVD player, it's probably better to add an external DAC instead of plutting that kind of dough in a DVD player.