MuneebM
Supporting Actor
- Joined
- Jan 12, 2004
- Messages
- 621
I've recently been "forced" into the market for a new DVD player because of a few faults with my current player, a Toshiba SD5700. The SD5700 is an awesome performer with respect to picture quality on my Toshiba 50H82. However, I've recently realized that my SD5700 has trouble transporting the digital stream of DTS ES, DTS, and certain Dolby Digital EX tracks to the point that it causes audio drop outs. It also freezes up on certain discs. It seems that all the Vaddis V MPEG/de-interlacer equipped Toshiba players have the aforementioned audio drop outs; I've tested and successfully reproduced the drop outs on specific scenes of specific movies on an SD4800 and SD3800. As for the disc freezes, it seems that problem is inherent in other SD5700 players as I have found various threads about it on this forum.
Well, I've been considering buying one of the top-ranked Faroudja-based players and got my hands on a Denon DVD-910 over the weekend for $400 CDN (taxes in). I brought the player first to a friend's house and we Avia calibrated it on his Toshiba 46HX83. We A/B'd the Denon against a Toshiba SD4900 (not sure yet if it has the Vaddis V inside). We initially expected the differences to be like night & day, and I guess they might have been if the Denon was up against a poorer quality DVD player. Turns out that the differences, if any, were not even noticeable and we actually preferred the overall picture quality of the Toshiba SD4900 as we found the Denon was darker and the flesh tones were pinker (the Avia color decoder check showed that the Denon had a lot more "red push" than the Toshiba). We didn't have the DVDs Secrets uses in which the Faroudja scaler really shines, e.g. Toy Story, Big Momma's House, etc., but we did manage to find a couple of scenes in a couple of movies where the Denon had less "jaggies" than the Toshiba, but we really had to be looking for them and sometimes even had to zoom in to notice the difference. We then brought the Denon to my house and again, Avia calibrated it on my 50H82 and A/B'd it against my SD5700. On the 50H82, the Denon had less "red push" than it did on the 46HX83, which may indicate a calibration error on our parts on the 46HX83. The Denon was still a tad bit darker than the SD5700 on the 50H82, but the flesh tones and colors were pretty much identical with both players. This is where the A/B comparison became really tough: the Toshiba SD5700 and Denon 910 reproduced a picture that was practically identical, the SD5700 even had less "jaggies" than the SD4900 did on the HX83 (this may have been due to the 1080i upscaling on the HX83). The SD5700 really gave the Denon a hard time, and in the end we ended up preferring the overall picture quality on the Toshiba player, mainly because it was just a tad bit brighter and the colors were a little bit better (less "red push" than the Denon). Although the SD5700 had a bit more "jaggies" than the Denon, the difference is so negligible that most people won't ever notice it unless they really look for it. Furthermore, the SD5700 suffers from the chroma bug but I have never yet seen it in 2 years of using the player and probably won't ever see it until someone really points it out to me. All this makes me think that Faroudja is really over-rated and that maybe only certain people, like the experts at Secrets, can really tell the difference enough to give the Denon a 90% score and the SD5700 a 40% score! Either that, or the SD5700/SD4800/SD4900 are such good players (picture-quality wise) that they make it difficult for the Faroudja to beat them.
Other than picture quality, the Denon DVD-910 had horribly slow layer changes, as slow as my SD5700: 2-3 seconds, so in that department it wasn't much of an upgrade for me. The Denon 910 also has a horrible interface and remote control when compared to that of the SD5700, so it would be a downgrade for me in that deparment. The Denon also didn't exhibit any audio drop out problems and didn't freeze on any discs we tried, but is that really worth $400 CDN? The Toshiba SD4900, on the other hand, has absolutely seamless layer changes, a wonderful interface, and can be had for as little as $160 CDN! That price tag is much more attractive considering I actually preferred the picture quality on the Toshiba players and that the build quality of the Denon felt very cheap.
Well, needless to say I returned the Denon DVD-910 and saved myself $400 CDN. I do still plan to upgrade my DVD player and will most likely end up with the Toshiba SD4900. I was going to dish out up to $500 for a Panasonic XP30 on eBay but now that I've discovered how un-impressed I am by Faroudja, I'll just opt to buy a player that I think produces a wonderful picture at a much lower price.
Well, I've been considering buying one of the top-ranked Faroudja-based players and got my hands on a Denon DVD-910 over the weekend for $400 CDN (taxes in). I brought the player first to a friend's house and we Avia calibrated it on his Toshiba 46HX83. We A/B'd the Denon against a Toshiba SD4900 (not sure yet if it has the Vaddis V inside). We initially expected the differences to be like night & day, and I guess they might have been if the Denon was up against a poorer quality DVD player. Turns out that the differences, if any, were not even noticeable and we actually preferred the overall picture quality of the Toshiba SD4900 as we found the Denon was darker and the flesh tones were pinker (the Avia color decoder check showed that the Denon had a lot more "red push" than the Toshiba). We didn't have the DVDs Secrets uses in which the Faroudja scaler really shines, e.g. Toy Story, Big Momma's House, etc., but we did manage to find a couple of scenes in a couple of movies where the Denon had less "jaggies" than the Toshiba, but we really had to be looking for them and sometimes even had to zoom in to notice the difference. We then brought the Denon to my house and again, Avia calibrated it on my 50H82 and A/B'd it against my SD5700. On the 50H82, the Denon had less "red push" than it did on the 46HX83, which may indicate a calibration error on our parts on the 46HX83. The Denon was still a tad bit darker than the SD5700 on the 50H82, but the flesh tones and colors were pretty much identical with both players. This is where the A/B comparison became really tough: the Toshiba SD5700 and Denon 910 reproduced a picture that was practically identical, the SD5700 even had less "jaggies" than the SD4900 did on the HX83 (this may have been due to the 1080i upscaling on the HX83). The SD5700 really gave the Denon a hard time, and in the end we ended up preferring the overall picture quality on the Toshiba player, mainly because it was just a tad bit brighter and the colors were a little bit better (less "red push" than the Denon). Although the SD5700 had a bit more "jaggies" than the Denon, the difference is so negligible that most people won't ever notice it unless they really look for it. Furthermore, the SD5700 suffers from the chroma bug but I have never yet seen it in 2 years of using the player and probably won't ever see it until someone really points it out to me. All this makes me think that Faroudja is really over-rated and that maybe only certain people, like the experts at Secrets, can really tell the difference enough to give the Denon a 90% score and the SD5700 a 40% score! Either that, or the SD5700/SD4800/SD4900 are such good players (picture-quality wise) that they make it difficult for the Faroudja to beat them.
Other than picture quality, the Denon DVD-910 had horribly slow layer changes, as slow as my SD5700: 2-3 seconds, so in that department it wasn't much of an upgrade for me. The Denon 910 also has a horrible interface and remote control when compared to that of the SD5700, so it would be a downgrade for me in that deparment. The Denon also didn't exhibit any audio drop out problems and didn't freeze on any discs we tried, but is that really worth $400 CDN? The Toshiba SD4900, on the other hand, has absolutely seamless layer changes, a wonderful interface, and can be had for as little as $160 CDN! That price tag is much more attractive considering I actually preferred the picture quality on the Toshiba players and that the build quality of the Denon felt very cheap.
Well, needless to say I returned the Denon DVD-910 and saved myself $400 CDN. I do still plan to upgrade my DVD player and will most likely end up with the Toshiba SD4900. I was going to dish out up to $500 for a Panasonic XP30 on eBay but now that I've discovered how un-impressed I am by Faroudja, I'll just opt to buy a player that I think produces a wonderful picture at a much lower price.