Is the DENON 2800 for 256$ a good deal? (1 Viewer)

[Juan_T]

Hi, Im a total ignorant when it comes to DVD players.. I have a player which Ive been using for the past 3 years (Phillips Magnavox).. which I bought for 50$. Sometimes the player gets stuck and sometimes it cant read certain DVDs.. I'm tired of it, so the time has come to upgrade.

Anyways, I just saw a listing of a refurbished Denon DVD-2800 unit for 256$, should I get it or wait.. will I really miss out on not having the SACD feature of newer models? will I notice a big difference between the 2800's Silicon Image/DVDO PureProgressive (SiI503) vs the newer Silicon Image/DVDO PureProgressive (SiI504)? The truth is that I only want to spend around the mid 200s..

My TVs best input is the S-Video.. does that mean that progressive scan wont work? or should I stick to what I have until I upgrade my TV (SONY WEGA KV-27FS12)?

I would like to spend mid-200s!

Thanks a lot,

JT

btw, I dont have a dedicated CD player.. and my Audio system is pretty decent. (DENON ARV-3802, KLIPSCH RF3, RC3, and RSW3)

 

[Juan_T]

WOW 21 views and not a single response.. perhaps I joined an advanced forum or something..
are my questions that dumb?

it can take you experts 2 mins to answer my questions.. and me a couple of hours learning everything.. in the mean time the deal is probably gone on the DVD player.

hmmm

 

[Rob Kramer]

Probably for the better. The answer to all those questions you posted is: Yes.

Are you mainly looking for audio or video performance? Are you looking for hi-rez music? When are you upgrading your tv? What displays are you looking at?

Have the read the "budget DVD player shootout" at secrets yet?

And no, progressive scan will not work on your current tv.

 

[Juan_T]

Hi thanks for the reply,

No I have not read "budget DVD player shootout".. I'll do a google search and try to find it.

I have no short term plans in upgrading my tv.. So, its probably a waste to upgrade my DVD player? I really care about sound.. I want to get the best out of the DVDs.. but, do you think I'll notice a big difference in the sound department too between my current and a high end player?

 

[Rob Kramer]

Well, for $250 you will not find a "high end player".

My I suggest the Toshiba 3950/3960 (more plastic in the 3960). These units are sold everywhere for less than $100. They won the budget shootout over at hometheaterhifi.com (secrets). They are also well regarded by the audiophiles as having a very transparent digital link. The down side: no hi-rez sacd/dvda (only digital passthrough) and budget build quality (esp the xx60 model) - but what do you expect for $60.

DVI, HDMI, scalers, etc are not important features for you (with your analog tv). Mpeg decoder is important however.

 

[Juan_T]

Thanks for your reply. Seems like it's the best option considering my options are constrained due to my TV.

thanks again,

JT

 

[wilborn f]

Hi, with a limited budget why dont you try/audition a Cambridge Audio Azur 540D. It has good video quality and a high end sounding audio courtesy of a Crystal DAC.

 

[Rob Kramer]

Not widely available here in the states. $400 is also beyond the price range.

 

[Stephen Hopkins]

I would say for that price you would do better with the newer Denon DVD-1200 universal player for $230 refurbished from ecost. It is very close to the Denon 1600 which did much better than the 2800 in the Secrets shootout for video picture quality and has better bass management. Progressive scan won't work on your TV and I'm not sure how the interlaced performance on these two players compares, but I would take the newer technology and the DCDi deinterlacer over the older Silicon Image chip just in case you do upgrade to an HDTV. If you upgrade to an HDTV then you have a great progressive player to go with it, the second best tested by Secrets and only bested by the $2000 Denon 5900 (and that's over DVI!)