Denon DVD-9000 Now Available (1 Viewer)

[Elbert Lee]

Andrew - THanks for the assessment on the player. I was wondering what the general "concensus" would be on this player vs. the other current "value" leaders such as the RP91. I've heard from both you and GEO on the PICTURE being better in almost all respects except for the the Chroma Bug. Regardless of it overall picture quality, I guess that the 9000's overall visual presentation is still a notch below players like the RP91 because of the severity of the chroma bug.

VERY DISAPPOINTED.

I "sympathize" with the embarassment that Denon must be "feeling", but I don't have any sympathy if their R&D efforts on this player teaches them a huge financial lesson. To put simply, Denon recognized the problem on the 2800, did their best to address it on that unit, and set out to produce 2 next gen players that did not have the flaw, only to "forget" the bring the wedding cake to the wedding again.

Elbert

 

[Andrew P]

Elbert:

I said the overall picture quality is good. I did not say it was better or worse than the RP-91. For the value minded consumers I do not see anything that warrants the price tag from the video side (and thats what I judge my dvd players price tag on-how well the video is produced).

Andy

 

[Geo]

In my system, with my monitor, through my eyes, my wifes eyes and my 18 year old sons eyes, the 9000's picture is MUCH better than that of the RP91's. I got the three of us to sit down, miracle in itself, a couple of times this weekend and compared directly the picture between the two players. The only DVD that I have two of is Toy Story, so this is the only movie we used for the comparison. I was the only one who knew which player was displaying when. We all thought the 9000 picture was superior to the RP91. My wife felt it was far superior while my son and I felt a little less strongly but did prefer the 9000s picture by quite a bit.

I tried to explain what the chroma bug was and to look for it but nobody found it. Woody's red microphone appeared the same with both players, not smeared or fuzzy on the 9000 or the RP91.

Is the 9000 picture 4/5x superior to the RP91, no way. Is the 9000 worth 4/5x the price of the RP91, for me, YES. I wouldn't be satisfied going back to the RP91s picture.

Now if I could only figure out what's up with the Digital Link!!!!!!!!!!

geo

 

[Andrew P]

I don’t want to downplay Geo’s results, but I did not see a picture that is much better on the 9000. Geo did you re-calibrate your monitor when you hooked up both dvd players? I looked at the 9000, RP-91, RP-56, and Sony 700P. If I had to pick an order I would say RP-91, RP-56, Denon 9000, and finally the 700P out of the players I viewed. I wish I had my Kenwood 5700, but that’s with a friend.

The 700P was clearly a notch below the 3 other players, but there difference between the picture quality of the other three was negligible at best in my opinion of course.

Andy

 

[Robert A. Willis Jr.]

What systems do you guys have? Since I am audiophile how does it sound for music; CD's in particular?

Thanks

 

[John Kotches]

In response to some earlier questions, the WB content is flagged as copyright protected, and as such is (according to spec) not able to be passed via the Denon Link connection.
Test titles from AIX for titles that should pass up a DVD-A signal digitally.
On the topic of receivers -- this takes the input from the interface and passes on to the DSP section. Rather than go with different receivers, the decision was made to go with uniform receivers across the board, it makes life easier
Regards,

 

[Geo]

Andrew,

No I did not re-calibrate my monitor, as a matter of fact it was ISF calibrated for the RP91 before the 9000 came along.

Robert,

I've been doing some comparisons between my reference CD player, the Sony XA777ES and the 9000. Mostly with CD's by Dream Theater and using both players internal DACs. Pretty close call. The XA777ES is just a tad bit smoother sounding IMHO, but both units are major CD players with excellent onboard DACs.

I would easily be happy with the 9000 as my main CD source.

geo

 

[Will]

Hey Geo,

Has your opinion changed about how much better the 9000 is compared to the RP91 since May 9th when you wrote

the 9000 kicks the RP91's butt big time. Comparing the two units side by side with the same material reveals a much better picture (sharper, deeper colors, more details, etc...) from the 9000 and no layer change problems whatsoever.

 

[Bill Adlhoch]

I read this thread with interest because I am one of those types that wants a 5-disc changer and am looking at the model 4800. Does this unit use a different chip than the 9000/3800 thats been discussed previously?

 

[ManojM]

The 4800 uses the Genesis chip, and has a video section very similar to the RP91. The best picture on a 5 changer is the Kenwood 5700 which uses the Faroudja chip.

 

[Greg Row]

Any reason why the Panasonic DVD-H2000 is not used as a comparison to the DVD-9000 considering it is in the same "upper-end" bracket? Looking at its specs and being a "Panasonic" I would have thought it would have been a better option?? Looks a good alternative to me.

GR

 

[KeithH]

Greg, although you joined the Forum last October, allow me to welcome you now since you just entered your first post. The Panasonic DVD-H2000 has not gotten a lot of attention on this site. Some have said that the less expensive Panasonic DVD-RP91, which is available in the US, actually provides a better picture than the 'H2000. This probably explains why the 'RP91 is often used in comparisons instead of the 'H2000, along with the fact that the former model is cheaper.

I believe the European version the 'RP91 is the 'RA71, which probably is not a progressive-scan player since it has the 'A' in the model number instead of the 'P'. Is either model available in New Zealand?

 

[Geo]

Denon Link saga continues.............

I finally was able to get the 9000 to play a DVD Audio disc

via the Digital Link. It was the Blue Man Group DVD Audio disc. The 9000 has what it calls Pure Direct Memory. With this feature you can turn on or off the following:

digital output

video output

display output

With the digital output turned off good things started to happen with DVD Audio disc. When you turn off the digital output you are turning off the coaxial and optical outputs not the Digital Link output. Although every other DVD Audio disc I have, besides Blue Man Group, still won't play via the Link, now the 9000 outputs the multichannel analog signal to the 5803's multichannel inputs. With the regular digital output on the 9000 would only output 2/ch 48KHz via either the Link or it's analog outputs.

But with the Blue Man Group, the 9000 outputs a digital multichannel signal! YEAH.......... finally. How does it sound, you ask......... Glorious

However, that's it ONE disc. I haven't been able to get the Link to even pass a regular DTS music disc signal. When I try to it pushes the 5803 into the analog multichannel mode with the 9000 doing the DTS decoding, which is OK but not what I expected. The Link will pass DD/DTS DVD movie signals no problem, even DTS ES signals.

Hope I've confused you all enough for now.

geo

BTW...... in case I haven't said it already,

I still love this player.

Just amazing video and audio.....

 

[StaceyS]

Geo, you should contact AIX Records and get their sampler. This is what DVD-A is all about. www.aixrecords.com
I also recommend to everyone the new Chesky DVD-A setup disc. It has several demo tracks and test tones. www.chesky.com

 

[Robert A. Willis Jr.]

Any updates?