just pre-paid for denon DVD-1200 (1 Viewer)

[shaneT]

I recently acquired a phillips 60" hdtv. Currently my only dvd source is from my playstation2. I wanted to take advantage of progressive scan, as well as of the anamorphic squeeze that my 4:3 tv allows, and none of this was possible with the playstation. I then researched this site a lot and came to the conclusion that I wanted the Denon dvd-1600. I managed to track one down (they're now discontinued) at a local Showcase Home Theater store (i guess it's also known as tweeter). the 1600 was $459 and he said he would give it to me for $429. I had him put it on hold for me until I could come back and pay for it. Apon coming back, that first rep wasnt' there. I talked to a new salesman (one that had actually sold me products before from a different Showcase store) and he said I should wait for the dvd-1200 because it has an updated faroudja (sp?) chip as well as dvd audio and coaxial digital outputs.
the price on the 1200 was $429, and He sold it to me for $399.
I just have to now wait until the 12th for it to come in.
Did i make the right decision?
should i have given more consideration to the new DVD-1400 coming out?

 

[chung_sotheby]

I think that if possible, you should try to demo the 1600 vs the 1200 before making a final buying decision. I know from personal experience that the 1600 is one of the best players I have seen, but it does have some shortcomings (like the coaxial thing, as well as the inability to play some DVD-R and DVD-RW discs). I was looking to demo a 1200 as well, which just seems to be the younger sibling of the 1600. I think that unless you really need an all-in-one solution for DVD-V/DVD-A/SACD, then you should just stay with either the 1600 or 1200 as opposed to the 1400. The 1400 i believe is just the 1200 with SACD capabilities. I am not 100% sure about the specs and features on the upcoming Denons, but it would seem like they are going to be some nice units. Good luck either way, and keep us informed.

 

[David Preston]

Do you think the 1200 would be a lot better DVD player that the new Denon DVD910? I am considering the 910 but the 1200 is not much more in price. If its way better I'll get the 1200 for a little more.

 

[KeithH]

Shane, I agree with Chung. The '1600 is a very good player, while the '1200 obviously is unknown. It is true that the '1200 will have a coaxial digital output, and if it does have a new Faroudja chip, that could be a plus. However, the '1600 is excellent on the video side. Note that the '1200 is designed after the '910, so I wonder how it will perform on the audio side relative to the '1600.

Meanwhile, Denon has not put the '1400 on its US web site, and crutchfield.com doesn't have it posted either. I assume that it will be made available in the US, but that's not clear. The '1200 is posted both on denon.com and crutchfield.com.

 

[Craig W]

The 1600 was OEM'd by Panasonic for Denon. The Denon DVD900 was done by some other company that used an inferior MPEG decoder. Now that Panasonic is using a new chipset with the chroma bug and no longer uses the Faroudja chip I wonder who is making these units for Denon.

The 1600 had a very good MPEG decoder without the chroma bug, but what is in the 1200? This would be a major concern.

 

[shaneT]

thanks for the replies,
I guess there's really not that much information out there.
There are some more features in the 1200, but as for the quality of processors and chipsets I'm really just putting faith in Denon that they'll release a better product rather than cutting corners and making one that's cheaper to produce.(i.e. Panasonic)

I looked at the Denon comparison sheet that was linked to from the DVD-910 post and it has yet to list specifications.