Arcam Solo Movie 5.1 Preview

[ericl]

Arcam Solo Movie 5.1 Preview
In my inbox this morning was a Press Release from Arcam's PR guy, announcing the Arcam Solo Movie 5.1. The name is pretty self-explanatory. They've kicked up their nifty cd-receiver to movie duties, handling DVDs and 5.1 surround sound. It's got loads of great features, including a 1080 video scaler (does not specify "i" or "p", which i suppose we can take to mean "i"), hdmi output, sacd/dvd-a support, and ipod integration.

It DOES NOT support either of the new high definition formats.
Included in the release was this statement:

A NOTE ON HD DISCS
Arcam will not touch either BluRay or HD-DVD until these formats
have final specifications, are mature, are worthy of consideration
and have some decent software. Until then we advise consumers
not to be ripped-off as beta testers for formats that may fail.

On Sale late-Feb 2007 at $3250.00

[Dusty Chalk]

Nice! Does it do DTS 24/96? Hopefully they don't have the overheating issues that other companies have had with all-in-one units. Being Arcam, I'm sure they've solved that problem.

[westcott]

Arcam makes some awesome equipment but they still have never made a DVD player worth its over the top price. It is sad to see players 1/10 their price outperform the Arcams and I would have a hard time recommending their players for their poor price/performance ratio. I wonder if they are still using the Zoran and Vaddis 5 solutions for MPEG and deinterlacing?

Arcam has had years to get DVD right so I find it ironic that they take pot shots at the two new HD formats.

Happy Holidays!!!

[Rock&Roll Ninja]

Arcam has had years to get DVD right so I find it ironic that they take pot shots at the two new HD formats.

Touting a "new" format machine would effectively shoot their golden hedge-fund (that is DVD players) in the foot. ARCAM, and every other high-end company, probably spends $10 to sell you player for $500 - $2500. If Toshiba/Sony can't sell a $500 player for a profit, why should the smaller companies even bother? they have much much smaller amounts dedicated to new technology R&D.

[srusmantijo]

[QUOTE=westcott]Arcam makes some awesome equipment but they still have never made a DVD player worth its over the top price. It is sad to see players 1/10 their price outperform the Arcams and I would have a hard time recommending their players for their poor price/performance ratio. I wonder if they are still using the Zoran and Vaddis 5 solutions for MPEG and deinterlacing?

Hi Westcott,

Which DVD player (1/10 price of Arcam's DVD player) would you recommend? My Arcam dealer wanted to loan me his Arcam DVD player over the weekend for me to audition. Have you heard of the Oppo 970? Is that any good? Thanks.

[westcott]

[QUOTE=srusmantijo]

Arcam makes some awesome equipment but they still have never made a DVD player worth its over the top price. It is sad to see players 1/10 their price outperform the Arcams and I would have a hard time recommending their players for their poor price/performance ratio. I wonder if they are still using the Zoran and Vaddis 5 solutions for MPEG and deinterlacing?

Hi Westcott,

Which DVD player (1/10 price of Arcam's DVD player) would you recommend? My Arcam dealer wanted to loan me his Arcam DVD player over the weekend for me to audition. Have you heard of the Oppo 970? Is that any good? Thanks.

The original Oppo is a great player for the price and is best suited for those who have a DVI display. The OPDV971H was their best player and they can still be found. The new version (DV-981HD) dropped the Faroudjia deinterlacing and is not as good a choice.

If you have HDMI or want 480p support via component output, I would suggest the Panasonic 77 or 97 for the best performance to price ratio player.

If you do not know what you want but want to see what is out there, I would suggest your dealer lend you one of his Denon players. They are consistently the best DVD player performers. The new 3930ci and the 2930ci are both awesome players and although not as inexpensive as the Oppo or Panasonic, do provide other features that are nice for those using Denon AV receivers.

Good Luck and let us know what you think of the the players you audition.

Happy Holidays!

[musicman1999]

The big attraction for a player like the new Arcam,is its outstanding audio performance.I just finished an inhome audition of the DV-137 and found it to be an outstanding player,with solid video performance and great audio.Sacd was amazing,movie soundtracks very good,and cd playback almost on par wth my Arcam cd73t.You will not find a player at 1/10 its price that will touch it.It is expensive,but very good.

bill

[westcott]

The big attraction for a player like the new Arcam,is its outstanding audio performance.I just finished an inhome audition of the DV-137 and found it to be an outstanding player,with solid video performance and great audio.Sacd was amazing,movie soundtracks very good,and cd playback almost on par wth my Arcam cd73t.You will not find a player at 1/10 its price that will touch it.It is expensive,but very good.

bill

Like I said, Arcam makes some nice stuff but their DVD player just can not compete on a video level with other DVD players.

Arcams digital audio is a mute point since almost any player can pass a digital signal unchanged. If you are watching movies, dolby digital pretty much makes analog useless.

SACD still uses analog connections if your AV receiver does not support it digitally (like the Denon's).
If you want to compare audio sources and ignore the video, then you can get into more expensive players like the Denon 5910. Same price, but here again, still betters the video quality of the Arcam and matches the Arcam audio quality via analog (some may disagree but most listeners could not tell the difference between analog and digital sources).

So, any way you slice it, it is very hard to recommend the Arcam at this price with its stiff and better performing competition overall. If you are looking for awesome audio performance via analog, you are better off getting a separate component for that.

[musicman1999]

I did not say anything about digital audio.I was refering to its analog outputs,you use the onboard DD/DTS decoders and send it over the 6 channel outs.It would take a very high-end reciever to top it.The Denon 5910 is a fine player,but it is more than twice the price of the Arcam so it should be better,but i have not heard it so i can't comment.
Keep in mind that people that can not tell the difference between digital and analog sources would not be looking for a piece of gear like this anyway.

bill

[Dusty Chalk]

The new version (DV-981HD) dropped the Faroudjia deinterlacing and is not as good a choice.

Where do you get this? I looked it up on the website, and they specifically mention the Faroudja chipset -- though at 1080p. I'm thinking I don't know what "deinterlacing" means. I also have a feeling the 981 is maybe targeted at people who have the capability to display 1080p, and the 971 is targeted at people who don't (I.E. people who "only" have 720p and/or 1080i). Is that correct?

[westcott]

Where do you get this? I looked it up on the website, and they specifically mention the Faroudja chipset -- though at 1080p. I'm thinking I don't know what "deinterlacing" means. I also have a feeling the 981 is maybe targeted at people who have the capability to display 1080p, and the 971 is targeted at people who don't (I.E. people who "only" have 720p and/or 1080i). Is that correct?

The 970HD is based on the popular Mediatek (MTK) MPEG decoder, just like its predecessor, but the implementation is different this time around. Oppo Digital has eliminated the Faroudja processing and is relying solely on the processing inside the MTK chip ( Mediatek MT1389EE only!) reference: Secrets of Home Theater Benchmark

It is a cheap sales trick. Make a great product then switch with a cheaper version (less the Faroudjia deinterlacing)!!! Deinterlacing is what puts the picture back together from independent lines to a full picture and smoothes out the jagged edged during motion.

This link should answer many of your video questions and is a good reference.

Deinterlacing and Video Lingo Defined

[Dusty Chalk]

Muchas gracias for the explanation and the link.

So you're saying the 970 is the way to go? Or are you saying the 970 is the "switch" (cheaper version)? Because in your original post, you said the 981 is the one that gave up the deinterlacing. Sorry to hijack this thread, but I'm looking at getting a really nice universal player that has region freedom as well as the ability to display PAL on either a NTSC television or a HD monitor (I'm thinking about getting the Gateway 22" LCD FPD2275W), so the decision has boiled down to either the 970 or the 981 (since the 971 does not have SACD).

I'll wander over to that site and see if there's some reviews.

[westcott]

If you have DVI and have no use for component or HDMI output, then the OPDV971H is a great choice with awesome video at a great price.

The DV-970HD is a big step backwards and other players should be considered instead.

If you want SACD, DVD audio and good video, then I would suggest one of the new Denon's like the 3930ci or the 2930ci.

If your on a budget but want 98% of the video performance of the players listed above, the Panasonic 77 or 97 are good choices.

Hope this helps. I have not seen a review of the DV-981HD yet but it looks like they finally got around to fixing the problems of the original OPDV971H. Will reserve my recommendation for this product until a review is posted.