Panny RP91 or Malata N966? (1 Viewer)

[Eric Samonte]

These players have received great reviews but is there a site where I could actually compare the specs and abilities of both? Also, I read somewhere a player "scales" a 4:3 into widescreen? Is that even true?
My birthday's coming up and ...its a reason to get a nice player

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Eric Samonte
Dito sa Pilipinas..may Hom Tiyeter rin kami!

 

[Dan Hitchman]

The Panny RP91. It scales non-anamorphic widescreen DVDs to a pseudo anamorphic output even in progressive scan mode.
Dan
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Stop HDCP and 5C-- Your rights are at risk!

 

[James Nguyen]

the malata does as well..
plus allows you to scale the X and Y axis independently of each other (in interlaced and progressive...RP91 does its scaling only in progressive mode)
it also is region free
and it also does an amazing job on PAL to NTSC conversion, allowing you to literally play pretty much any dvd in the world without much worry.
I'm the proud owner of both the RP91 and Malata 996N and couldn't be happier. Either is a great unit, but the fact that the RP91 does scaling shouldn't be the deciding point in this comparison.

 

[John Morris]

Here is a new take... if PAL nor DVD audio is important, get a Panasonic RP56. IMO, this sucker is a real value performance leader as it uses the Faroujda/Sage chipset and does not have the chroma bug... oh yeah, and it costs around $250.
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merc
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God Bless America!!!

 

[Kevin Coleman]

The Malata will also output RGsB via the three RCA jacks. Something an American built player can only dream about.
Kevin C.

 

[Eric Samonte]

I guess for the money, it'll be the Malata. I have the site where they sell 'em...avdeals.com. There is no other place to get it right?
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Eric Samonte
Dito sa Pilipinas..may Hom Tiyeter rin kami!

 

[Alan Wild]

I have both.
Now, I'm going to say straight up that my TV is callibdated with Avia against my RP91. So that might have an affect on what I'm seeing.
Both players are great.
The Malata is incredible for PAL content. The variable scalling featur is also quite good. With a little work you can zoom some of Kubrick's movies to fill your 16x9 set.
However, the Malata's remote and menu system are a bit "cheap". It's obvious that erginomics or user interface design wasn't one of their concerns. I also really hate the "hard" power button on the Malata, but I guess you have to get up anyway to put a disc in so it's not that big of deal to press the power button while your standing there.
However, I find the colors from the RP91 to be richer. I also give the nod to the RP91 in overall picture quality, just slightly.
Given the signfigantly lower price-point the Malata is probably a better bargain, but I think overall the RP91 is a better player (for R1 content, obviously).
-Alan

 

[James Nguyen]

Alan,
heh, another Houstonian with both players...

my thoughts on your remarks...
I bought my RP91N (champagne color, matches quite well on my rack with the Malata "gold" version) first and had calibrated my display using Avia to it. My initial response to my first viewing were along the same lines as your observations, the colors just seemed a bit subdued. I was using Josie and the Pussycats as a reference primarily because it uses such a wide, bright, and contrasting color palette that it was just a great disc to test color output. On a whim, I decided to recalibrate with Avia, this time with the Malata. After doing so (primarily had to adjust black levels if I recall correctly), the picture seemed quite on par with my RP91. I was happy, but as the RP91 has day to day duty, I recalibrated back to the RP91.
The reason the RP91 gets day to day duty is simply the ergonomics of the Malata still need work. The remote does feel flimsy (moot point for myself personally as I control it from my Pronto) and the menu system was a bit uh...cryptic to put it gently. Once properly set up however, use of features like the XY scaling of the Malata is quite simple actually, in some regards, I sometimes prefer the Malata's ease of use over the RP91's myriad of menus (pretty and as well designed as they may be).
The hard power button of the Malata is also somewhat of a moot point in my opinion. If you leave it in the ON position, you can just put it into a stand by mode using the remote. Some threads have started reporting that for some units, standby power won't work after it's been in standby for several hours--they'll put it in standby and it'll work, but after say 2 hours, they're forced to hard power off then back on to power up the unit. This hasn't been the case for my unit, but perhaps this explains your need to use the hard power button? Try giving AVDeals a call, they've been excellent in supporting these players..

 

[Eric Samonte]

Hard power button...meaning there is no power button on the remote right? Hmm...that's the case with Chinese hardware I guess since my Apex has that. Oh well...goodbye to macros and my great way of turning friends green with envy when..." Hey check this out...press this button and we're ready to watch a movie!"
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Eric Samonte
Dito sa Pilipinas..may Hom Tiyeter rin kami!

 

[James Nguyen]

Eric,
there's a hard power button yes...
but there's also a power button on the remote that you can use to toggle the Malata in and out of standby mode (i.e. a low power consumption mode where the only thing on the LCD display is the name "Malata" in small red letering.
so it's still possible to work device on and off into various remote macros, I'm doing just that with my Pronto TSU2000.

 

[Geoff L]

Hey guys on the Malata, What outputs dose one need to use in order to X and Y axis useing a 4.3 display NON HD RPTV????
Refering to some saying, with the malata you can force a progressive picture on the 4.3 Analog sets.
Dose it allow this useig S-feed or only component.
If I sound lost & confused, than straighten me out!
Thanxs,
Geoff

 

[Eric Samonte]

Good to know that James! Now, I'm really sold on it! Hmmm..maybe that $200 more for the RP91 can be used for say...a PRONTO..YES!!!!

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Eric Samonte
Dito sa Pilipinas..may Hom Tiyeter rin kami!