Denon 3910 vs Pioneer 868i (59AVi) (1 Viewer)

[Phil Murphy]

I tested both at home the weekend, here's my first impression>

Build quality - 3910 solid, 868 flimsy
Design - 3910 looks the part, 868 looks cheap
Remote - 3910 ugly brick but plenty of functions, 868 nice but flimsy and limited functions
Display - 3910 good quality with plenty of clear info, 868 too small, some missing led dots, limited info
DVD disk reading - 3910 won't read some DVD-R's, 868 reads anything
Connectivity - 3910 full complement, except no VCR scart, 868 has an extra video and S-video connector, but no RS 232 or DVI (or D-link of course)
Video - 3910 and 868 excellent, but on some DVD's (e.g. Kill Bill 2) the 3910 picture jumps all over the place at x2 fast forward, not a problem with the 868, but I think the 868 slowest scan speed may be x3
Audio - couldn't really tell them apart on DVD or CD, but the 868i has better fwd and reverse scanning for CD's.
One annoying thing about the 3910 is you can't disable the OSD when scanning. The 3910 does have plenty of scanning speeds, unlike the 3 on the 868, but at least you can turn off the 868 OSD when scanning.
One's going back, but I'm torn between them, they both have good and bad points. With my system I could tweek either to make them look and sound better, Lexicon MC12B, Chord 1200E stereo Amp, PMC IB1 front speakers, Chord 2400 surround Amp, Kef ref. 4.2 rears, Kef 201 centre (I know, mismatch), Pioneer 504 Plasma.
So many toys, so little time to play.

 

[John-Tompkins]

Does the 59avi have a seperate two channel analog audio out's in addition to the 5.1 channel analog out's ?

When comparing music, were you using the dvd players dacs ? are letting the reciever handle that ?

 

[John Kotches]

John:

The answer to your first question is yes.

There is a stereo L/R pair, plus the six-channel output.

Cheers,

 

[Phil Murphy]

dvd players dacs

 

[MarcoBiscotti]

Question...

I'm somewhat partial to Pioneer but need to go all-region for my HT setup and am wondering whether I would be better to go with the Denon DVD-3910 which from what I understand is a universal player out of the box, or a modified Pioneer Elite which from most comparisson reviews, seems to be the leading choice in both video and audio department... What do you guys think?

If having an all-coded unit wasn't an issue, I'd definitely go with the Pioneer because I've auditioned the player and was simply blown away and have yet to see anything compare to the performance of this unit at this price range. I DO like that the Denon ships as a universal player though, for some reason I'm always skeptical of player mods on high-end units, even if they do come with retail warranty. I also like that the player comes in an optional silver frame, though that's hardly significant.

What would you guys suggest, considering they are about the same price and in the same performance class?

Modded 59-Avi from www.RegionFreeDVDPlayers.com OR Universal Denon 3910 simply because it comes all-coded out of the box... what would be my best bet a/v wise?


PS - I'm running front DLP projection w/ a DPI iVision HDX to a Stewart Firehawk filscreen with a Key Digital HD Leeza video processor for scaling...

Audio wise - 7.1 Speakerface setup w/ B&W ASW-850 sub and Arcam AV8 & P7 seperates...


59-Avi or 3910?


(PS: I'm playing SACD's as well, though HT is the main focus.)

 

[Jason GT]

The 3910 is NOT all-region out of the box.

There are very few upper-range DVD players that are region free. The Arcam HDMI player comes to mind as does the Australian version of the 59Avi.