Yamaha dvd 750 (1 Viewer)

[Erik.Ha]

Any update on the availabilty of Yamaha 950 unit???

My Sony Changer crapped out last night and they want close to $300 for a factory refurb replacement... I figure for that amount or a few dollars more I can get a new one with a lot better features....


So I'm looking at the Yamaha 750 / 950 or the Onkyo 802...

Has anybody seen any reviews for the 950 and if not, how does the 750 stack up to the 802... I would think the 950 would be at least as good as the 750 and I can certainly wait a week or two since its supposed to be out last month?

 

[Chris PC]

...blast from the past...

For those of you who have had this play for a while, any comments about the 6770 (aka C750?) please advise:

Do both the C750 and 6770 do both SACD and dvd audio. Yamaha website specs are weird.

Can the 6770 be made region free?
Does the 6770 have DPL II for dvd's and cd's?
Does the 6770 have the chroma bug (CUE)?
How is the core video performance for dvd?

thanx in advance for any feedback,



P.S. Where can I find this unit in Canada, if at all...any old stock anywhere you figure? I only need an ALL REGION dvd player but I figure I would like the dvd audio/sacd/divx and PLII etc etc in a 5 disc.

 

[matthewRaz]

-i read of a hack to make it region free - do a search on this forum
-not only does it have pl II but it goes to that by default whenever loading a cd.
-use it 97% for music so can't comment on the video

i got it at bay/bloor in toronto, im sure they can tell you if its available.

 

[Chris PC]

Cool, thanx. I wonder if the C950 replaced it in terms of popularity because the C950 has faroudja.

Does the C750 shuffle mp3's? Does it play mp3's on DVD R's?

thanx



P.S. Anybody else know where the 750 and/or the 950 is available in Canada, Toronto area perhaps?

..oh and here is the region free hack for both the C750 and C950 [from AVS]:

 

[gene c]

I think it's a big step forward from the competent Pioneer 563 it replaced. Very smooth picture. It has it's quirks; setup menu, slow load times, simple remote, etc, but the picture and sound (especially the sound) make up for all of it.

 

[Chris PC]

Does the fact that it does not pass blacker than black pluge present a problem?

thanx

Chris

 

[Chris PC]

Anybody?

 

[gene c]

I'd love to help but I'm not sure what you're asking as I'm not up on my video terminology. Maybe rephrasing the question or explaining "black than black" might help educate a video simpleton like me so I can give you a usable answer. I'm much more knowledgable (and critical) of the audio side of things than the video side, but I will do my best.

 

[Chris PC]

Your reply says something in itself. If there was a horrible issue, you would know.

Blacker than black pluge is a signal that has video levels which are below black. As far as I can understand, having these blacker than black levels pass from the dvd player, then you can use that to calibrate. In very simple terms, there is a pattern on Digital Video Essentials which allows you to see below black. Along the pattern, there is a point which changes from black, to below black. Turn up the brightness and the below black info is visible, turn it down, and the below black info disappears, as it should. This is fairly precise. It makes sense, because the info is below black, so you don't want to see it. (I believe you mainly adjust the lowest black levels using the brightness adjustment?). So without below black, you cannot really tell when you have set the absolute lowest black from your dvd player as the lowest black that you display will show. If done correctly, along with other things like grey-scale and gamma, you get the best blacks possible and you retain detail in the dark areas, shadows etc. One example of what can go wrong when you don't adjust the lowest black level properly, is that you end with either a) clipping blacks, where there should be darkness, but some slight detail, you have all black, or b) you have detail in the dark areas, but you blacks, your darkest parts of the image are more grey than black.

Thats all I know. I just wonder if the lack of blacker than black pluge is causing owners of teh C750 any grief. I know it frustrate some people who try to calibrate and their dvd player won't pass below black.

Hope that makes sense.

P.S. I was just thinking, is it possible to turn up the brightness within the dvd player? Could that help in calibrating?

 

[matthewRaz]

i did a lot of web reading before i got the player. all of its quirks are addressed in this forum. bay bloor radio was the only place that carried it in toronto although any yamaha retailer could have ordered it. i wouldn't use it for random music play as the disks load slowly but other than that its a great player all around, better than low budget brand name players, is great for cd, sacd and dvd-a. you can find them on the net still. it is a very pleasing player. go for it.

 

[Chris PC]

Oh, I went for it already. I bought one slightly used and expect to receive it later this week, depending on how the snow affects its transit

I have a Panny F85 and F87 (selling the F87) so technically I already have a DVD audio player, but I mainly got the F85 so I could have a Panasonic 5 disc dvd changer with the noise reduction (useful for older messed dvd's and the player didn't break the bank). But the Yamaha C750 will hopefully act as my universal player. DVD's from all regions, dvd-audio, sacd, cd's and divx, mp3 etc etc and it also has DLP II which my receiver currently does not. I am hoping the dvd video output is good too. I heard it has no chroma bug and if I am lucky, the interlaced output may pass blacker than black anyhow.

Anyways, I was just trying to figure out this whole below black pluge thing. I guess I will just try all of these dvd players and see what I come up with.

I checked and I get different info from dealers. Bleeker in Ottawa and a friend right here in Ajax both quoted me $369 for the C750. I got one on eBay within Canada for less, so if things go well, I should be ok. The C950 has me interested too, since it has faroudja, but I have not heard alot about its performance. Odd, seeing as how its a faroudja based 5 disc with hdmi. Maybe the Onkyo is better.

anyhow, thanx for the feedback, and if there are any more folks with feedback on the below black pluge, please lemme know what your take is.

I will report back on my findings when I get the player

 

[gene c]

There are four choices in the picture setting menu. Standard, bright, soft and personal. Brightness, contrast, tint and color are adjustable in the personal mode.

 

[Chris PC]

Any luck with HDCD's? I don't imagine there has been a firmware upgrade for the player?

 

[Chris PC]

Just tinkering here. I was able to play my PAL region 2 copy of Its All Gone Pete Tong. The region free hack was easy, although I looked for the "Region 0" and firmware display on the video output and never saw it. Doesn't matter as long as it plays All Region dvd's now.

I toggled back and forth between the Yamaha's 2 channel and the my Marantz SR8000's DAC's and I couldn't hear a difference. I guess it would take further listening. Works ok so far though.

How exactly do I dis-engage the dolby pro logic II?

 

[Chris PC]

Discs can jump out of their spots due to a fast moving carousel. Has anybody else experienced this? I am going to have a look at the carousel to see if I can MacGyver it so the discs cannot move without destroying the player itself.

Has anybody had this problem? I turn on the player and it goes to "load" a disc but it makes a weird spinning sound and doesn't work until I stop it and open it. This time the discs were properly in place in their carousel spots.

 

[Chris PC]

Has anybody experienced a "lip sync" problem? I was watching The Client last night and I had to go back a chapter twice to re-sync the audio and video.

EDIT - Not sure but I played one dvd in DTS and had no issues. Now I playing Tommy Boy in Dolby Surround and I think it may go out of sync a bit, and then it re-syncs at each new chapter...anybody?

 

[Chris PC]

Actually I found this in the S2500 thread over on AVS. A US firmware download site on the Yamaha US server.

What is your firmware version on your C750? Mine is v28. There is a v38 available on the US website. Not sure if there are different dvd players in different countries that require a different firmware update. There was talk on the S2500 thread about a previous international firmware download link but it was possibly the same. I am not positive:

http://www.yamaha.com/yec/dealers/dealer_download.htm

Is it ok to use this on a Canadian Yamaha C750?
I don't know if you are able to use this for non-US models.

UPGRADE AT OWN RISK.

 

[matthewRaz]

very interesting. i've e-mailed bay bloor about the upgrade. i checked my version. its v28. im hoping the upgrade would allow me to listen to the dvd-a of neil youngs "on the beach" - currently freezes the machine.
i've downloaded the file but don't have a burner. i think the american /canadian thing won't be a problem. let us know if you install the upgrade.

 

[Chris PC]

Upgraded my C750. Can't say I know what to look for. Works ok I guess. Audio video sync seemed ok until I pressed rewind during a PAL dvd and then it got funky. I think I got it back in sync by pressing back chapter and pause etc before playing again. Not 100% sure. Have to try it again. Still defaults to DPLII during CD audio playback.

 

[Chris PC]

mattewRaz,

Its pretty easy to burn the CDRW and update the player. Perhaps you should grab a DVD or CD burner. They are pretty cheap.