DVD Player... Suggestions? Kenwood? Onkyo? (1 Viewer)

[Bill Johnston]

I am about to purchase either a Kenwood VR-510, VR-509, or an Onkyo 595...

My main purpose of this DVD playing is obviously watching movies... I think I want digital conections to go with my Kenwood or Onkyo... I am also replacing my Kenwood 5+1 stackable CD and retiring that with my kenwood 6010 amp to the basement... Good audio playback is a definate MUST... (Hopfully the jamo apollo's with 10" jamo sub will sound just as good OR BETTER as my 1970's Advent speakers for music!!!)

Any suggestions?

The few models I'm look at are either the...

Kenwood (If I end up with the Kenwood Amp)

Kenwood DV-505 (DVD Video Changer)

- DVD

- CD

- MP3

- DTS

- Dolby Digital

- 96/24

Kenwood DV-503 (DVD Video Player)

- DVD

- CD

- MP3

- DTS

- Dolby Digital

- 96/24

Onkyo (If I end up with the Onkyo Amp)

Onkyo DV-C503 (DVD Video Changer

- DVD

- CD

- MP3

- DTS

- Dolby Digital

- 96/24

So, in all reality all three have simular features... I am using a 32" Toshiba without component video hook-ups so that won't help...

Also, I know some of you would say FORGET matching the DVD and the Receiver... So, if somone else does AUDIO better on their DVD players... Let me know...

Thanks!!!

Bill

 

[Joe Greca]

I too was looking into the Kenwood DV-505. Seems like a great deal for the price. Anyone else use this unit?

 

[Andrew Pratt]

Generally speaking DVD players don't often make great CD players. This is usually due to the fact that DVD and CD use different laser wavelenghts so for the DVD player to read a CD it needs to either adjust its wavelenght or use a seperate laser. I know some of the earlier Sony's had dual lasers but I'm not sure that many offer this feature anymore. A lot of people tend to like the Pioneer players for CD play back since traditionally they were one of the few to offer CDR compatibility. If your budget allows I'd look for a DVD player that was SACD compatible since this should indicate that it will be a decent CD player...at least this seems to be a trend with more expensive SACD players. The only budget SACD/DVD player that I know of at the moment is the Sony DVP-NS500V and it should be available for $299 or less (esp online) Option B is to look for a player that is DVD-A compatible. There are a couple of models that offer this feature at various price points but the selection of DVD-A titles is currently quite a bit fewer then SACD. Anyway if I was in the market for a new DVD player the Sony 500V would be at the top of my list.

 

[Bill Johnston]

Ok, some of the Panasonic's say... "Twin Laser Pickup for DVD/CD playback"...

And the Kenwood's say... "Twin Focus Laser Pickup"...

And the Onkyo's say... "Nothing"...

All the DVD players that I've looked at offer MP3, CD-R, CD-RW, Audio, DTS...

So, Should I asume that seeing several panasonic's say DVD VIDEO/VIDEO CD/CD that this might be a BETTER choice for playing audio?

But the kenwood says Twin Focus Laser Pick up so does that mean that it has TWO Lasers... Or just a lens on the pickup that focuses?

Thanks again!!!

 

[Chris Eriksen]

Have you auditioned the Onkyo? I have not seen the DV-C503 yet, so they may have changed the feature set from the older models.
I own an Onkyo DV-C601, and I have been extremely happy with the picture and sound quality of the unit. However, there is one significant oversight in the feature set that you should know about. When used as a CD changer, there is no random mode that shuffles across all discs. The random mode will only shuffle within a single disc. This doesn't matter to me, since I use a separate CD changer. I was aware of this oversight when I purchsed the DV-C601, but I know several people who were not.
Again, I am not sure if the feature set carries through to the new DV-C503, but it is something you may want to check out before buying. Other than this oversight, I can whole-heartedly recommend Onkyo DVD changers.
I hoe this helps!

 

[Andrew Pratt]

My main point was that if you are going to buy a new DVD player you might as well pick one up that supports one of the new high resolution audio formats either SACD or DVD-A and between the two I'd go with SACD.