Chris_Campbell

Any benefit to DVI output on D1 when using HD-RPTV?

I'm pretty much sold on the Bravo D1 based on the reviews of it's stunning picture quality, but all of them seem to use projectors or DLPs, and I know my picture is still displayed in analog. Will I see the gain?

My bottom line question is: would the DVI of the D1 give me significant PQ gain over 480p component on a player like the Panny RP91? If I went with a DCDi player like the panny i could probably get 5 disc capability, which I like.

Stephen Hopkins

I went from an RP91 to a D1 and saw a pretty noticable PQ jump using an RCA D52W20 CRT based HD-RPTV. 1080i is great and 480p is still slightly better than the RP91. I also compared the D1 to a friend's CP72. The 480p were nearly identicle and the 1080i edged out the 480p of the CP72. The biggest thing i've noticed seems to be less video noise using the D1 in both 1080i and 480p. Also I've completely eliminated combing on video sources w/ by using the 1080i output since it doesn't have to do any de-interlacing.

Hope this helps

greg_t

The 480P on the Bravo scored very low on the Secrets shootout. I have no experience with the D1 myself, but I've read about some who see gains, and others who see none. Either way, the Bravo D2 is supposed to be out pretty soon so I would hold off and see what advances Bravo has made.

Stephen Hopkins

The poor marks in secrets were for 480p over component. The D1 is definitely not the player to get if you're not using DVI. If you're going to be using component video the Liteon DV 2001 seems to be the way to go for great PQ and scaling. It also has alot less bugs than the Bravo. The bravo won't read a disc probably 1/20 times. Powering it off then back on fixes the problem most times. It also responds randomly to remote commands send to my Pioneer Elite 43TX receiver. If the D2 fixes these issues and maybe ups the build quality i'll probably pick one up.

Chris_Campbell

Well I aim to use the DVI input, so the poorer performance with component isn't an issue for me. However, the whole 5% failure to read rate does worry me.

I had pretty much settled on this player with the reply that Stephen had posted, but now I'm not sure. Any release date info on the D2? What about other DVI/upscaling players coming out soon that are in the <$300 range? Thanks again, this has been very helpful.

Stephen Hopkins

The occasional read problems are a slight inconvinience but not that big of a deal. This can also be remidied by replacing the DVD drive with certain computer DVD drives. As for other players w/ DVI in the price range, the Samsund HD-931 is the only other option. The Denon 5900 and Marantz 9400 are both DVI enabled but run in the $2k range. The Pioneer Elite 59Ai will have HDMI and run around $1500 when it's released in January. Those are the only players that have been anounced so far but CES is only 2 months away so I would expect some to be anounced then.

greg_t

Go to the dvd player forum at avsforum.com for more info on the D2.