Got a Denon 3800, my impressions and questions (1 Viewer)

[Eric T]

As you may know from reading my other posts, I've been comparing the Pioneer 47A, the Rotel 1080, and the Denon 3800. Today I came to the conclusion that for audio and video, the Denon is the winner, so I bought one.

I just hooked it up tonight, and the first thing I did was run through the Avia calibration, figuring that the settings might be different through this player. I was right. I am actually increasing color and tint on my Mits 55807 with this player, whereas with my JVC 723, I had to reduce the color control. When I checked the colors with the filters, I was right at 0 red (with my attenuator installed), and about -5 blue and green. Not bad.

The first thing I noticed is that black is really black. With my JVC, a black screen actually had a reddish tint to it (this makes sense to me, since with the JVC I was getting +5 red). Not so with the 3800.

The 3800 also seems to have more contrast than my JVC did. While watching scenes from Gladiator, I noticed that darker parts of the picture seem darker. I haven't quite gotten used to this yet, so it really stands out. Is this normal?

Another thing I noticed is that some jagginess is more apparent on light-to-dark edge transitions. Is this a "fault" of the player, or am I just seeing more detail and therefore exposing the limited resolution of my DVDs? I sit about 12 feet from the screen.

Tomorrow when no one is sleeping in the house, I will crank up some CDs and post my comments on the audio.

 

[Lyle_JP]

The 3800 also seems to have more contrast than my JVC did. While watching scenes from Gladiator, I noticed that darker parts of the picture seem darker. I haven't quite gotten used to this yet, so it really stands out. Is this normal?

This sounds like the gamma setting is different between the players. Does the Denon allow you to adjust gamma in any of its setup menus? I know the JVC does.

-Lyle J.P.

 

[Eric T]

Yes it does allow gamma adjustment. But, I found out that the problem was with my TV's settings, not with the player.
I was able to try out the CD-playback capabilities of the player today, and I'm really impressed. I found that the analog outputs actually sound better than a digital connection to my Denon 3802 receiver. So, I will be playing CD's with Pure Direct mode on into the external decoder inputs of my receiver. The analog output of the 3800 has a more open, airy sound, with deeper low end. It sounds really nice. I never knew that my speakers were capable of sounding so good