I've read some people talk about the Momitsu V880, so here's my review comparing it to the Zenith DVB318...
I spent about 3 hours evaluating my new Zenith DVB318 last night, comparing it to my Momitsu V880 (which I've now had for a few months). I first applied the regionfree hack to the Zenith, which was a piece of cake to do. The Zenith is the third upscaling DVD player I've tried. In addition to the Momitsu, I've tried the LiteOn LVD-2001.
Background:
I've been mostly very happy with my Momitsu, but I finally decided to try the Zenith because of all the hype & its DCDi chip. The Momitsu has a few negatives, which I'll address later, so I wanted to see if the Zenith could take its coveted spot on my a/v rack.
Setup:
My Momitsu is set to 720p & connected to my display via DVI. The Zenith was set to 1080i & also using a DVI connection. I used a Gefen DVI switcher to switch back & forth in comparing the two players. My display is the 720p-native Panasonic PT-AE500U projector w/a 100" 16x9 matte white DIY screen. I've calibrated the projector by eyeballing greyscale & using the Digital Video Essentials disc. Test discs included "The Fifth Element" (SuperBit), "Vertical Limit" (SuperBit), an early 'CSI' episode (4x3 flagged), "Star Trek: Insurrection", "Monsters, Inc.", & finally "Bend it Like Beckham" (Region 2, PAL format).
Build quality:
I'd expected the Zenith to be better built, but I'd say it's just a little better than the Momitsu. Both the Zenith & Momitsu remotes suck. I think the Zenith remote is even flimsier, w/buttons & functions sometimes conflicting. The cheapo DVI cable supplied by Zenith just did not work, so I used another DVI cable I had. The Zenith loader seems a little better than the Momitsu's. Both players have a silver finish & look sleek.
Features:
Zenith's Autoplay feature (which plays the longest title automatically) is nice when it works & a nuisance when it doesn't--don't try the recent "Hellboy" DVD w/Autoplay on. I had to physically unplug the unit & plug it back in to get the disc out. The 'Display' button allows quick access to different titles on a DVD plus switch audio & subtitle streams. It's a nice convenience. The 'Zoom' is wonderful as it scales the picture well & lets you choose the zoom area up/down/left/right. This works like the zoom feature in the latest LG/Sony HD receivers.
The Zenith doesn't have the ability to set custom resolutions like the Momitsu. The 'Upconversion' button on the Zenith front panel is a nice, easy way to switch between 480p/720p/1080i though. With the Momitsu, you can only switch via the Setup menu. The Zenith stretches 4x3 flagged DVDs to fill the 16x9 display, while the Momitsu properly centers the image w/black bars on the sides. Maybe there's aspect ratio control on the Zenith that I missed, but if your display doesn't have aspect ratio control when fed 1080i, this is a problem.
Picture quality:
I'd say it's a toss up. I found the Zenith a tad sharper, but my wife liked the Momitsu better. With its DCDi chip, the Zenith definitely deinterlaces better, but only w/NTSC material. Right away, with the menus on the two SuperBit DVDs, I saw a rock-solid picture w/the Zenith, while the Momitsu stuttered (stabilizing a second later) when I highlighted the different menu choices. The Zenith produced no deinterlacing artifacts on challenging scenes in "Monsters, Inc." (Mike's car) & "Star Trek: Insurrection" (the early village/hay scene). I thought the Zenith did well w/both film & video material, even those that were improperly flagged. While the Momitsu also produces a superb picture, its deinterlacing isn't as good. It does well with properly-flagged DVDs, but I've sometimes noticed motion jaggies & weaves (quick yet noticeable) on several DVDs.
With PAL DVDs, the Momitsu is a clear winner. I tried my region 2 PAL "Bend it Like Beckham". The Momitsu did a cleaner job converting to NTSC & produced no artifacts. With the Zenith, I noticed some stairstepping/smearing & a more noticeable PAL-speedup issue.
Issues:
In addition to what I brought up when talking about build quality above, the Zenith has one big issue. It has pretty bad pixel-cropping on the right side of the image. Since I have zero overscan with my projector, this is especially noticeable & definitely unacceptable. Both the Zenith & Momitsu sometimes have trouble with DVD-R/RW discs. When I stopped & played a DVD-R back, it played fine again. It appears fast-forwarding/reversing sometimes causes DVD-Rs to trip these players. The Zenith also has the well-documented (in AVS threads) DVI white-crush issue, which I didn't look for. Momitsu continually releases new firmwares, which for the most part, has made the player better & better. Zenith is apparently planning to release a firmware that at least addresses the DVI white-crush issue. If the firmware can also fix the pixel-cropping, Autoplay & 720p picture quality issues (also well-documented), this would make the Zenith an almost clear winner over the Momitsu. I say "almost" because the Momitsu still offers custom resolutions, properly centers 4x3 flagged DVDs, & handles PAL DVDs noticeably better.
Conclusion:
For my needs (& as the two players stand now), the Momitsu is a better choice. It does 720p better, plays PAL DVDs better, has no pixel-cropping, & properly centers 4x3 DVDs. The Zenith on the other hand deinterlaces NTSC DVDs better, providing a rock-solid picture. The Display, Autoplay & zoom features are nice, but I can live without them. I may keep the Zenith until they release the new firmware (before selling it on eBay). But, even if they fix the DVI white-crush issue, it's unlikely it'll do as well as the Momitsu on all the other areas I just listed above.
I think the Zenith is an excellent choice however for those using component out & w/a native 1080i display. It does better than the Momitsu @ 1080i component & the LiteOn LVD-2001 which I also had before.
