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Zenith DVB 318 & LG 7832 DVD Player merged thread

#391
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9/24/04 at 12:10am
  • Joined: February 2004
  • Post Count: 118
quote:
I agree with the comment above though, the remote is terrible!

While the remote is surely not the best, It is far from the worst I have had. That easily goes to a JVC that I gladly threw in the dumpster a few months ago!



At least the buttons for skipping chapters and FF, RW are easily found in the dark. You can all but forget about the rest
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#392
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9/24/04 at 6:34am
  • Joined: November 1999
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Jim MCC,



I ordered one from Amazon yesterday. I'll let you know what build date shows up. Come on March! This wouldn't be a guarantee, but it may indicate a higher probability for you if I do indeed get a pre-July built unit.
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#393
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9/24/04 at 12:15pm
  • Joined: February 2004
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Thanks Andy. I don't want to take a chance if there is a re-stocking fee.
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#394
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9/24/04 at 4:28pm
  • Joined: October 2002
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Jim Mcc,



I ordered mine over the phone from here:

gochnauers.com



I e-mailed them for the price I got....very happy with their service. I assume they just got a shipment in, so if it's like mine, should have a build date of '03..you may want to e-mail them & find out.
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#395
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9/28/04 at 1:30pm
  • Joined: May 1999
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For those interested, Best Buy now carries the Zenith DVB 318 on line.

Listen Up People.., Rack Em and Pack Em.., We're Phantoms in 15.
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#396
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9/30/04 at 7:26am
  • Joined: November 1999
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Here's the follow-up:



I ordered the Zenith from Amazon on Wednesday, Sept 22. The unit didn't ship until Monday, Sept 27. It shipped from NV and arrived at my house on Wed, Sept 29. And ...



[Drum Roll]



Build date of December 2003. It passes 1080i via component. However, it looks about the same on my 65" Mitsu as the Pana S27 unit passing 480p. Yes, I was smart enought to push the upconversion button and verified that my TV was getting 1080i from the Zenith. Tested with LOTR:FOTREE and Legends of the Fall Superbit. Zenith 1080i PQ = Pana S27 480p PQ, to my eyes.


I'm using a short run of $16 Philips component cable (Wal*Mart) from Zenith to my Pioneer Elite VSX-45. Then, I'm running 2m $70 Monster component cable from receiver to TV.



Hope this helps.
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#397
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9/30/04 at 8:12am
  • Joined: August 2004
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Andy,





Mine is on its way from Amazon (also shipped on the 27th). Still would like to know if with the multiregion upgrade you can play PAL DVD's of if it's only NTSC. Can't wait for it to arrive.
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#398
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9/30/04 at 10:51am
  • Joined: November 2003
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Gabriela,





I played a DVD called "Little Sister", Pal not region 1 on my Zenith dvb-318, it play flawlessly.





One PITA is the fact, that the player will not stay region hacked, it sure looks like I'd have to do it before I played every PAL disc I wanted to.

John

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#399
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9/30/04 at 11:06pm
  • Joined: February 2004
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OK I am having trouble with mine. When watching 1080i on my Toshiba 40h80, through component, I have trouble with artifacting in the blacks and shadows.


Star Wars showed several problems with this the first time this showed up is in the beginning when Vader tells an officer to "see to it personally". That officers uniform and the shadow in the room behind him are a mess.


Taking lives also displayed the artifacting. The scene with AJ and EH are in the Diner together sticks out as very obvious.



This shows up on most film based DVD's that I have watched, but these came to mind as being the worst. Also the first 3 movies I watched on this machine were PIxAR and I never noticed any troubles with Toy Story 2, Finding Nemo or Monsters inc.



Anyone else have this problem?


This is particularly annoying because every other aspect of the PQ is OUTSTANDING!!!
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#400
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10/1/04 at 5:17am
  • Joined: January 2001
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It's not just yours, they all have this issue. You're likely seeing the macroblocking this unit has. I see it frequently on mine just as you describe, and it has been confirmed by Kris Deering of the Secrets of Home Theater and HIFI that this unit has it. It is believed to be an issue with the Faroudja 23xx chip that is in this and many other units such as the Denon 5900.
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#401
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10/1/04 at 5:26am
  • Joined: April 2003
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I watched all 3 star wars movies and not once, nor with any of my othern movies have I seen one bit of artifacting in blacks and shadows.





noe have I had any other issues with my pplayer but the known ones that Zenith turns a blind eye to.
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#402
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10/1/04 at 9:00am
  • Joined: November 2003
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yes, I have to say, I didn't notice any either...





Did you try to run the THX Optimizer real quick before the Star Wars stuff???? Could help alot with that sort oif thing, especially if your not professionally calibrated.

John

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#403
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10/1/04 at 3:31pm
  • Joined: May 2004
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I have that problem also. You can easily notice it. I've also noticed this problem if what I'm watching has fog in the dark.

\"...smart, funny, exciting, touching...\" - Newsday
SaveFarscape.com

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#404
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10/1/04 at 6:13pm
  • Joined: June 2000
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I've had this problem too, but it's easily fixable. Use Video Essentials, Avia or the THX Optimizer to set the black levels. The black levels need to be absolutely correct. If they are, blacks are solid and the picture looks spectacular. If not, you see the macroblocking in scenes that are very dark.
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#405
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10/7/04 at 3:01pm
  • Joined: December 2001
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I am still not understanding "upconversion over component". Is this the only player that will supply 1080i to a TV? What about the new sets that have HDMI? Are there any units that plug DVI -> HDMI into those?
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#406
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10/7/04 at 7:05pm
  • Joined: May 1999
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The issue with players that upscale to 1080i via component as oppose to DVI or HDMI is that some DVDs will not allow you to upscale to 1080i via DVI/HDMI because of HDCP (High Definition Copy Protection). DVI/HDMI though is a digital to digital video, component goes through Digital to analog and then analog to digital conversion. Also an issue with DVI/HDMI is white crush and macroblocking. I've haven't seen either since my DVB 318 is connected via component. Only three players do this and they are now becoming extinct due this ability to upconvert DVDs via component. I believe the three players are LG which is a clone of the Zenith, Zenith and Momitsu 880.

Listen Up People.., Rack Em and Pack Em.., We're Phantoms in 15.
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#407
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10/7/04 at 7:39pm
  • Joined: December 2001
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Just superb information, Jerome.





Now the 1 milliion dollar question. How much better do these players upconvertingto 1080i on component look than a normal Denon $500-600 faroudja DVD player over DVI (or another DVD player over HDMI, if those exist)?





-ELmO
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#408
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10/8/04 at 4:31am
  • Joined: November 2003
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Results seem to really be dependent on the display in question, so no universal answer.





Given flawless DVI/HDMI from any given player to a fixed pixel display upscalling to the displays native resolution, I would expect that to be best.





On CRT bases displays, I would generally expect little difference, some have said DVI / HDMI is still better on these. (Some CRT based sets do scale on their own, panasonics tend to convert everything to 540p / 1080i anyways)





Even using component video only, many people assert they got no performance gain from their good 480p players to upscaled 1080i, others report they did even when the exact same players were used.





Others like me, have a 4:3 set with a native widescreen mode, and no DVI/HDMI at all, and the only way I can use the native widescreen mode is from 1080i sources, so for me and my display, there is no other player can touch what I get on anamorphic widescreen DVD's scaled to 1080i over component video, unless they can do the same, because 480p locks full 4:3 on my display.








Clear as mud huh??? lol

John

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#409
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10/8/04 at 5:38pm
  • Joined: December 2001
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Well, yeah. I will have a Toshiba 46" DLP set, and I don't know what DVD player to pair with it. A few years ago, it was the Panasonic RP82. What is it now? I have no clue.





-ELmO[img]images/smilies/furious.gif[/img]
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#410
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10/8/04 at 6:23pm
  • Joined: May 2004
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Does tihis player let you choose time dsplay modes? So I can see how much more time a chapter is or the whole movie. I have yet to find the button. Both my Sonys do it, is this another mistake with the player?

\"...smart, funny, exciting, touching...\" - Newsday
SaveFarscape.com

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#411
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10/8/04 at 6:30pm
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ANOTHER mistake?
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#412
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10/9/04 at 9:18am
  • Joined: January 2004
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ANOTHER mistake?


This is honestly a very stupid remark! For less than $200, this player has excellent picture quality @ 1080i over component, its user-interface is great, and the auto-play feature is a nice bonus. I have yet to find a player with as much bang-for-the-buck as this one, and I've been through 3 Toshiba players and a Denon 910!





http://66.46.69.23/sigserv/pl/index.pl?p=370



My DVD Collection
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#413
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10/9/04 at 9:35am
  • Joined: December 2001
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I wasn't making the remark, I was questioning what other mistakes he was talking about.
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#414
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10/9/04 at 7:01pm
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I don't think it's so much a mistake but a feature it does not have.
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#415
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10/9/04 at 7:51pm
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elMalloc, I know you didn't make the remark, I was just echoing your question; i.e. what other mistakes? Its a great player!

http://66.46.69.23/sigserv/pl/index.pl?p=373

My DVD Collection
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#416
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10/9/04 at 8:20pm
  • Joined: January 2001
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It could be a great player if they would fix the macroblocking, pixel cropping, etc. with a firmware update. At this time my opinion is that it is a good player for it's price. The only thing that it really does great is the 1080i scaling via component, and if you run the firmware update you'll lose that, so many people using this player for it's component will not be able to apply any future upgrades to fix the issues it has, which is unfortunate because it has potential to be great if they fixed the issues. The last I heard was that the firmware update only fixed the DVI white crush issue and took away component scaling on some titles, but nothing about the core video issues. My fear is that since it is a low cost player and will likely not have a long production span, they won't put much effort into research and testing to fix it's issues.
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#417
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10/14/04 at 9:50am
  • Joined: August 2004
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Got my zenith last week. Wow. Upscales via component, Plays PAL DVD's, even dvd's my Sony or Pioneer could not play. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!
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#418
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10/14/04 at 10:21am
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I ordered a 318 from amazon on monday. It arrived yesterday, build date of Dec 2003.





I was also happy to find a remote code on RemoteCentral.com to enable changing the upconversion setting via the remote.





Jeff
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#419
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10/14/04 at 10:48am
  • Joined: December 2001
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Does it only upscale via component? I suppose I'll give amazon a shot.





-ELmO
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#420
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10/14/04 at 10:52am
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No it scales out DVI too, but the Component Ideo Out is it's best most accurate scale, from all reports.

John

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