Denon DVD-900. I'll be the guinea pig. (1 Viewer)

[Haru]

one reviewer and some consumers have complained that the Denon DVD-900 is not the same machine as the DVD-1600 and has a soft picture.
I have been waiting for a low price, progressive scan, chroma bug free Denon player for a while, and after having been given pause by all the complaining about soft picture, I've decided to ignore it all and find out for myself.
I just ordered one from crutchfield (I could have picked one up at tweeter, but I've sworn never to do business there again), and I expect it before the end of the week. I shall post a full review re picture and sound quality, as well as usability and functionality, and also the quality of the remote.
If I find that the picture is indeed no good, I'll return it.

 

[John Geelan]

Sounds good. I love Denon products and hope that they eventually get on the DVDA/SACD Combo band wagon.

 

[Haru]

It came in today so I took it home during lunch and hooked it up. Initial impressions were not favorable. The thing is only about half the depth of the CDP-XA20ES cdplayer that sits under the Denon, and the manual is very crude compared to my Denon reciever's or my JVC DVD player's. This may seem a weird thing to talk about, but I find that usually good products come with manuals that have had time and effort expended. The DVD-900 does not. I plug it in, the display lights up and it looks like it belongs on a $29.99 CD player from Walmart. Old LCD style, and almost no info on it at all. yuck. Fortunately I never use the display anyway....

So I hooked it up, set it up and popped in the first DVD that fell to hand, Get Shorty. I was extremely apprehensive about what I was going to get. The brightness enhancement thing is on by default, and I turned it off.

And very frankly, I can't see what people have been complaining about. The picture and sound quality are simply SUPERB. I was particularly concerned about "soft" picture, but looking at what I am seeing, I simply haven't a clue what the critics were talking about. The image is as sharp as I have seen, the finest details are clear and sharp. The colors are superb, rich and vibrant. The brightness and contrast of the picture is fantastic. the blacks are deep, the brights are rich, the transitions from dark to light are fantastic. The sound is as good as I have heard on my system. There seems to be a lot more clarity to the sound than I have heard on my system with any DVD-P before.

Now of course this in only a first impression. Its day time so there is too much light in the room. I haven't yet played around with on screen displays and other usability issues yet. Once I've used the thing in a completely dark room, I'll post a follow up.

and oh yeah, first impressions of the remote are pretty good too. its well shaped and sized, the buttons are nicely spaced, and "tactile" standard of the remote is very high. It remains to be seen how the thing works in the dark, and how usable it is in terms of forwarding, reversing etc, and that will be mentioned when I learn more about it.

 

[Adam Bluhm]

Thanks for your thoughts, Haru. I'm between purchasing this and the Panny RP82.

What TV do you have the DVD-900 connected with?

Feel free to expand once you get more time with this player.

 

[Haru]

I have a Mitsubishi WS-46807 HDTV.

I think 999/1000 people will tell you to get the panasonic. I cannot say because I have not used one.

I'll post more when I've used the DVD-900 for a while.

 

[Robert Shepherd]

Two weeks ago I also began using a Denon DVD-900. I bought it because with the purchase of a Pioneer 4330HD plasma I was encouraged to use a DVD player with progressive scan and component output. (for several years I have been using the Pioneer DVL-700 which was Pioneer's original combo laser disc/DVD player. It does not have progressive scan or component output.)
I like the Denon, but in all honesty, in spite of progressive scan and component output, I don't see any difference in the display. Perhaps saying this is like the boy in "The Emporer's New Clothes."
In any event the picture from both machines when playing a top quality anamorphic DVD is very impressive!
I'm going to keep the Denon and continue using the DVL-700, which connects to the system by SVHS, for laser discs.