Best DVD player... (1 Viewer)

[JJR512]

I'm wondering if, for the price of $625 or less, there's anything better than the Sony 9000ES DVD player. Any suitable player must be true progressive scan and chroma-bug-free. Quality should also be very high. Opinions/suggestions?

 

[ChrisLee]

Panasonic RP82 for a third of that price. Isn't the Sony 9000ES kind of old already...?

 

[Jack Briggs]

Well, let's call it "not new."
You can spend a lot more on a really intense DVD player and see picture-performance differences (and, some claim, also hear sonic improvements—a contention with which I must honestly disagree). Thing is, the more you spend, the more subtle the differences seem to be.
The question then becomes if one is spending her or his money wisely.
Yes, the Ayre and Krell players are formidable. But I bet an "average" player from next year will match or exceed their performance in most categories.
So I would consider that Sony 9000. I would also consider any other good deals I came upon.
(A letter writer to The Perfect Vision reported that his new Sony 715 performed pretty much as well as his Sony 9000 in his main system. That says a lot. DVD-playback technology is a true and genuine value for the dollar. It simply keeps getting better at all price points. Eventually, there will be an HD equivalent. Amazing.)

 

[Neil Joseph]

My understanding is that the Panasonic RP82 does not suffer from the Chroma Bug and does decent 2:3. What reported problems/issues are there with it, if any?

 

[CameronS]

What reported problems/issues are there with it, if any?

Not really a probem, but the only reason I didn't buy the RP-82 was because it did'nt have a scaling feature.

 

[peter m. wilson]

greetings,
the rp82 seems to be the feature for dollar winner in most of the forums i have visited lately.
i'm presently using an ancient sd5109 that i got 2 years ago with a tosh h80 series rptv. it was $800 cdn at the time and one of the first prog scans out.

a couple of months ago i invested in the HOLO3D pci card vid scaler and my sdi modded rp82 is in the mail.
i still really like my 5109 so i hope this new one is going tobe everything everyone says it is.

anywho it will give me a chance to hear what dvd audio sounds like. If it's anything like my DTS discs i'll be a happy camper.

peter m.

 

[MikeSRC]

Well, as I recall, the Sony 9000ES is the only Sony (including the new ones) that doesn't have the chroma bug. It uses the old Genesis chip that's used in the Panasonic RP-91, which still produces a really nice picture. I'm not sure what you mean by "true" progressive scan. All current progressive scan players other than the old cheapo Pioneer 414 (or 424, I forget the exact number) meet that requirement.

I feel that the RP-82 is the price/performance leader on the market right now, but don't expect $1000 build quality in a $200 player either. Unless you're looking to move into DVD-A, I might hang on to the Sony for another year, when a bunch of players with the new Sage/Faroudja FLI2300 chip that incorporates scaling are released.

 

[JJR512]

What I meant by "true progressive scan" was...well, I'm not really sure if it's true or not or if I understood it correctly, but I thought I had read somewhere that some cheaper progressive-scan DVD players didn't really read a progressive signal off the DVD, but only read an interlaced signal and line-doubled it, or something like that...and the other part of this was that better progressive scan players read a progressive-scan signal, natively, from the disc. It doesn't really make much sense to me, really. Is that just totally wrong or did I misunderstand something or what?

 

[Chris Strasz]

When are the dvd players with the Sage/Faroudja FLI2300 chip supposed to come out? I was planning on getting a DVD player around January and looking at the rp82 but the lack of scaling kinda stinks. If there's a new Faroudja chip that will have scaling that would rock. Any time frame?

 

[Jim_F]

Just for the record, the S9000ES does have the chroma upsampling error, but it's such a minor flaw that it really didn't enter into my purchase decision. I notice it rarely, most often on highly saturated colors such as some movie credits. Usually I can't see it on a 53" diagonal image viewed from a distance of 8'. More importantly to me, it doesn't flicker, comb or pixelate as much as many other players and layer changes are pretty good (not the best, but pretty good) Build quality is outstanding and 2-channel SACD playback is heavenly. Oh, and the 5 year warranty.

I'm itching to move up to multichannel SACD, but other than that, the S9000ES would/may stay in my rack for quite some time to come.

 

[Alan Pummill]

I recently bought a Pioneer Elite DV-47Ai @ $860 from a local store that I have spent much money in. The reason I went with the DV-47Ai is because it has a 12-bit, 108 MHz video DAC, the best on a player for less than $1000. I had just upgraded to a Pioneer Elite PRO-620HD 58" RPTV, and wanted the best picture from a DVD that I could get. I looked hard at the DV-45A, but went with the better model.

Next year I am going to upgrade to a VSX-49TXi receiver to take advantage of the DVD-A and SACD features of my new player.

If you can find a good deal on these new players, take a good look!!

 

[Dave Moritz]

I upgraded my Pioneer 525 dvd player to the Sony 9000ES because of the great reveiws, great performance and the fact that I got it for $799 including a 10 year warrenty . And I wanted something to play SACD so the 9000ES ended up being a really nice choice for me. Am not a fan of the basic Sony gear with the exseption of the Sony ES line. But the 9000ES won me over and I am glad I went for it. I was also looking at the 37a that does dvd-a and sacd but was not crazy about the build quality. The performance seemed to be good on it but was not totally sold on it. I may buy a Elite 47 to be my dvd / dvd-a player?