antsy for a universal player... (1 Viewer)

[KennethF]

now that the 2900 is out, has anyone had a chance to put it through its paces? i'll be deciding between the yamaha 2300 and denon 2900 depending on which one has the best overall package. any help would be appreciated...

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

I haven't tried either myself, but people over on AVS forum are all saying the Denon beats the Yamaha hands down for setup and ease-of-use while the jury's still out for PQ and SQ.

If the Denon offered aspect ratio scaling for non-16x9 DVDs, I'd take the plunge myself, but alas...

_Man_

 

[KennethF]

help me out a little, man...

exactly what is the "scaling" that you're referring to (i did try to look it up on the forum, and there is not a really good explanation). let's imagine that i have a nice 16x9 hdtv capable television... what problem would the denon 2900 present to me if i am watching dvd's, if it isn't capable of scaling non-16x9 dvd's?

thanks for your help...

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

I would suggest doing a search since this was recently discussed (maybe just 4 weeks ago?), but I don't seem to be able to find the thread myself, so here I go again...

For most people, the kind of scaling I want seems to be a low priority and that's perfectly understandable.

Anyway, to put it simply, it essentially does the opposite of anamorphic downconversion (from 16x9 DVD to letterbox for regular 4x3 display). Some of us want the ability to convert plain letterbox DVDs for display as an anamorphic widescreen image on our HDTVs, especially those of us who don't want to limit our DVD viewing to only whatever's available in 16x9 enhanced format. A small number of us also feel variable scaling (ala the Malata's) is a must to maintain proper OAR for letterbox DVDs w/

 

[KennethF]

thanks for the response, and the time to make it, man...

the deeper i get into this hobby, the more minutuae i dig up, and therefore the more gear i have to buy, and the more justification i have to make to my wife, the more bribe jewelry i have to buy, and so on, and so on...

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

Tell me about it! When I finally took the plunge on my RPTV back in December, I chose 16x9 over 4x3 w/out carefully looking into this exact issue. I probably would've still gone 16x9, but the dirth of good players that offer aspect ratio scaling would certainly make me think 3x about it.

Because of this, I still have not taken the plunge on a prog scan player. The Philips 963sa was going to be it, but of course, they messed that up. After much back-and-forth, I think I might settle for a cheapy, new Panny player to see how that works out. And maybe pair it w/ the Philips for better PQ on DVDs that don't need scaling. Of course, running 2 players would mean the need for a high quality video switcher, so the quest will go on and on and on... :frowning:

_Man_