Looking to get a universal changer, Yamaha DVDC950? (1 Viewer)

[DaveHo]

It would appear the Yamaha DVDC950 is the only real game in town. Other than it, there is the Onkyo DV-CP802 & the Yamaha DVDC750. I've ruled out the Onkyo due to reports of poor video performance & the fact that it was introduced two years ago at this point. I've also ruled out the cheaper Yamaha due to reports of horribly slow load times & poor ergonomics. Are there any other changers out there for less than a grand?

Currently I'm using a tank like Sony ES changer from the early 90's for CD playback & a Denon 2200 for DVD/SACD/DVD-A playback. No problems with either unit, but both are getting a little long in the tooth & having a single box solution is attractive. Having a changer is a must as it will be used as the source for multi zone applications as well and having a single disc unit would be too inconvenient. I think the Yamaha should be an upgrade in terms of both picture & sound quality over what I currently have.

I'm a little concerned about the reported 120Hz xover for bass management as well as the couple of lip sync issues I've seen reported. Also, I haven't been able to really confirm the 950's loading times being better than the 750's. Does anyone have the 950 who can comment on these concerns?

Thanks.

-Dave

 

[gene c]

I have a 6770 (same as the 750) and I'm very happy with it. The load time is a bit slow and the setup menu is a bit strange, but you get used to it after awhile. I always thought the x-over was closer to 90. Not ideal but better than most. Picture and sound quality are excellent and that is always the most important part to me. I can live with those other little issues. If you get the 950, I doubt you will be disappointed.

 

[DaveHo]

Well, I ordered this yesterday from Tweeter.com. They had it on sale for $398 with free shipping. I'll be sure to report back.

-Dave

 

[DaveHo]

Reporting back.

I've had a little time to spend with this, more on the audio side than video. This player is a bit of a mixed bag. First of all, everything you've read about slow load times & a horrendous setup interface is true. It takes at least 15 seconds to change & load a disc. The setup interface is very non-intuitive. While trying to do speaker setup, I was almost at the point of throwing in the towel and returning it. After about 15-20 minutes it finally became apparent that only a very limited part of the interface is available while a disc is playing or in the standby state. Only when you fully stop the machine does the entire interface become available. No mention of this is made anywhere in the manual. There I am using AVIA, trying to calibrate the speaker levels, & I have to bring it to a full halt to adjust each speaker. Why! So frustrating!

However, once everything is set, you're golden. DVD-A & SACD playback is very good. Definitely a notch above my Denon 2200. I'd say picture quality through component outs was a tie with the 2200. I need to pick up an HDMI to DVI cable & try out the upconverting.

Gripes.

When the tray is fully open, the back two discs are partly still in the machine. In fact, they are so far under there I was looking for a way to rotate the tray to get to them. After a bit it became apparent you are suppose to wiggle the discs in & out of there. A tray rotate button would have been welcome as the disc skip button on the remote will not rotate the tray when it's open.

The display can be dimmed, but can't be turned off. Not too huge of a deal as the orange display text is not particularly bright. The disc selector buttons do go out when dimmed, and those are the brightest indicators.

The machine turns itself off after a period of non-use. Let me waste electricity if I choose please.

I haven't gotten around to programming the remote into my MX-700. However, I think I'll have a couple of gripes there with some of the multi-function buttons.

All in all I think it's a keeper at this point.

-Dave

 

[gene c]

Your gripes pretty much parallel mine, except for turning itself off after awhile. I'm O.K. with that. And I still use the remote, but no skip disc button on the face is a big omission. I also have trouble bringing up the DVD-A menu. It's shaded out most of the time, even when a DVD-A disc is playing. But the picture quality is better than the Denon 756 and H/K 47 I've used in the past, at least thru component. All in all, with hi-res changers somewhat scarce, I'm pretty happy with my $249 6770.

 

[Nathan_W]

I'm also interested in hearing people's experiences/opinions with this player. Any lip synch troubles? Notice much macroblocking? On which displays? Or troubles with the player suddenly freezing and not responding to commands?

Thanks!

 

[DaveHo]

Other than the difficulty in configuring the machine, I haven't experienced any technical issues. Performance is pretty much about as good as it gets at this price point. Currently I'm using component outs to a CRT projection display, probably the least problematic combination. No problems with the machine freezing, although when first powered on it takes its sweet ol' time getting ready.

-Dave

 

[Nathan_W]

Thanks Dave. Were you able to make the player region free? I read that could be done. Here's what I read:

"Turn on the DVD player. Make sure there are no discs loaded. With the tray open, using its supplied remote control, slowly press 99990. Wait for the 'Region 0' message to disappear. Close the tray."

 

[DaveHo]

Haven't tried to make it region free. It's really not important to me. I may give it a shot at some point just for the heck of it.

Sorry to report however that I have discovered my first lip sync issue. The new Doors box set, Perception, on the DVD for the debut release there are some bonus videos. The video for "Break On Through" is off, really off. I mainly bought this set for the DVD-A tracks so I'm not really upset, but it does leave me wondering what else is going to turn up.

-Dave

 

[Nathan_W]

Thanks Dave. Hopefully nothing else goes wrong.

 

[DaveHo]

Final update. This piece of garbage is going back.

Why?

1) Slow, clunky operation.
2) Lip sync issues.
3) The final nail in the coffin. Twice now, at random, when playing DVD-A discs this thing has spewed very high volume digital noise out of the multi channel analog outputs. Damn near gave me a heart attack when it happened this morning. Thought for sure I would have blown a tweeter as loud as it was. Luckily all seems OK.

I'm through giving this thing another chance. Although I must say when it worked properly, it was beautiful. Some of the quirks I could live with, but a piece of equipment that could potentially damage stuff, no way.

-Dave

 

[gene c]

Sorry to hear things didn't work out for you, Dave. I've had my 6770 for over two years now and not a single performance related issue. Plays every disc I throw at it. I had a Pioneer 563 which had problems playing some DVD-A discs and frooze in the middle of ELO's "ZOOM" setup menu, then a Denon 756 (1920) which I felt the picture wasn't anywhere near as sharp as the Yamaha, and an H/K 47 which has problems playing any disc that has the slightest scratch or smudge. I bought it for it's hi-res BM so I'm keeping it for use in a second room. Anyway, I hope you find something else that works for you but hi-res changers are few and far between.

 

[Nathan_W]

Wow, sorry to hear that. BTW, what DVD-As did the thing choke on?

 

[DaveHo]

Metallica's black album & The Doors Strange Days from the Perception box set. It was really weird. Once it would act up, I would have to load another disc then go back to the problem disc to get it to play properly. Just stopping playback or even opening & closing the drawer wouldn't set it straight. This happened once on each disc, and after I got it to play, it wouldn't do it again. I would estimate the digital noise was a good 10-15db louder than the normal playback volume. Thankfully I didn't have it cranked, but it was still pretty darn loud.

I've pretty much resigned myself to the fact that I'm out of luck on finding a universal changer.

-Dave

 

[Nathan_W]

That's definitely wierd. I wonder if Denon will ever come out with a reasonably priced one.

 

[Chris PC]

Strange. My C750 works ok. I wish you could set all speakers to large. I should really get a couple of SACD's and DVD-A discs, especially considering these formats are not growing much. I would have liked to try the C950 out of curiosity seeing as it has the Burr-Brown DAC's and Faroudja. I wonder what MPEG decoders the 750 and 950 have. I really like the full region free and the PAL to NTSC / NTSC to PAL capabilities. I use this to listen to CD's right now and it sounds pretty good.

BTW

Dave, there was a firmware update available on the net. I updated my C750 ok, although I have no idea what differences, if any, the firmware update provided.

 

[DaveHo]

Yamaha has conveniently removed information about firmware updates from the public area on their web site. I did check the firmware version on my machine & it was V22, which, according to a thread over at AVS, I believe to be the latest. I did contact Yamaha support through their web site last week after getting the lip sync issue. Took them till Monday to get back to me, which I suppose isn't too bad for a big corporation. Instead of offering any helpful advice, all I was told was to return it to my dealer, so I obliged.

-Dave

 

[Big C]

There has been nothing of interest to me available on DVD-AUDIO yet. So I can't be of any help as far as DVD-AUDIO is concerned. I currently use composite video connections on my 950 and 750/6770 and have had no noticeable lipsync issues. However, I am sending my 750/6770 to Yamaha Electronics Corp. for an exchange because it sometimes doesn't read discs and becomes nonresponsive. Also, its tray sometimes jams when closing. Yet when they work, they are great machines! Also, I believe the 750/6770 and 950 use the MediaTek MT1389EE as their MPEG decoder.

 

[Big C]

When the manual says that DCDi by Faroudja is only available with Progressive output, do they mean Progressive as opposed to interlaced, or do they mean the Component output only? Has anybody tried Pal-to-NTSC over HDMI with this changer? Does the picture flicker or is it flawless? Also, where did you hear that it uses Burr Brown DACs? I thought it uses the same DACs as the 750/6770.

 

[Ricky c]

Has anyone tried the marantz vc6001,multi disk universal?