- Joined
- Jul 3, 1997
- Messages
- 7,061
My unit arrived today (black, not champagne) and I've had about 6 hours to play with it. I'm placing this unit in my HT to complement my Sony 9000ES so that I now can handle just about any DVD format out there, including SACD and DVD-A on the audio side. (Only SACD-multi is missing and I'll talk about that later). The units both feed a Sony VW10HT 16:9 projector onto a 110" 16:9 screen (Stewart Studiotek 130).
I really have to spend some significant time with everything before I reach my final conclusions, but after a bit of A/B testing on both the video and audio sides I have formed some initial impressions.
[*] The RP-91 is one heck of a package for the money.
[*] The RP-91 has extremely versatile features and a very incomplete manual. The guy who used to write the manual for the Radio Shack LP-8 printer (remember that, old-timers?) must have moved on to Panasonic.
Thank goodness for the HTF and the advice on setting up the image shift, the various functions, etc. Without these guidelines I would still be figuring out all options rather than writing this initial report. Sometimes it's good to be off the extreme bleeding edge. I'm only dealing with a few paper cuts instead.
[*] The AUTO image sizing (when the software has the correct flags) is a very convenient function to have. And when you have to shift the scaling manually it's actually quite easy to do. I now have a choice to handle the size of the image on the screen from the RP-91 or from the VW10HT. With the RP-91 (when it works with proper flagging) it's an automated process.
[*] I'll reserve judgment at this point regarding the scaling used on the RP-91 on non-anamorphic titles and the comparison with anamorphic versions of the same movie until I can do a more complete test. I happen to have a couple of titles in both versions (2001, The Stepford Wives, etc.) and I'll be able to A/B this.
[*] I'm impressed by how non-anamorphic titles look scaled up on the RP-91. New life for older DVDs.
[*] When the flagging doesn't trigger the scaling the RP-91 exposes how slipshod some of the earlier DVD products were. For example, I never really realized that TOY STORY has a non-anamorphic THX intro, followed by a anamorphic movie. But since the non-anamorphic THX intro is not flagged, the smaller image is a giveaway.
[*] Sometimes the "Zoom" feature (actually, as others have said, this should have been labeled the "Scaling" feature) locks in place. Here's something I discovered. I have a DVD-Audio demo disc (picked up at the NY HiFi Expo as a giveaway) that I played right after looking at portions of TITANIC. As many of you know, TITANIC is one of those non-anamorphic discs that you must MANUALLY stretch with the RP-91 (no flags). I had left the RP-91 in "ZOOM" mode when switching to the DVD-Audio Demo Disc. The menu on the DVD-A disc was locked into ZOOM and I could not access the menu while the disc was in the player. I had to put in another disc (a DVD-Video disc) in order to release the ZOOM function back to AUTO or anything else. Not a major problem but something I'll look into a bit more later on.
[*] So far, my impression of DVD-A is that it is still no match for 2 Channel SACD. This might be a personal preference, but the SACD appears to be much cleaner. I'll admit that the cables I used to connect the 6 channels of DVD-A to the analog external 5.1 inputs of my receiver (Denon 5700) weren't of the quality of the cables I use with my SACD direct analog setup, but I think it goes beyond that. DVD-A is very nice, but I still like the sound of SACD better so far. More to follow on this. Time is needed here.
[*] The quality of the picture provided by the RP-91 comes close to that of my 9000ES. Looking closely, the 9000ES, to my eyes, is a bit cleaner overall but both don't show any chroma effects (my particular 9000ES never did and now the vertical lines have disappeared after the SONY modification). I would be proud to screen movies on either unit, whereas I used to prefer the 9000ES over my Toshiba 5109 (also progressive) for critical viewing. The Toshiba was used for older movies and supplements (2 trays).
[*] One thing the RP-91 does better than the 9000ES is the transition from film to video (thank you, ObiWan for clueing us into the AUTO2 mode). The SONY takes a moment to stabilize between film and video and it's noticeable (once it's been pointed out). Not a deal breaker, but noticeable. Panasonic has obviously done their homework on this one, offering the AUTO2 mode.
[*] Build quality. Not even close. The 9000ES wins by a wide margin. But, of course, at twice the price, it should. Time will tell which device is able to hold up better.
So there's some food for thought. If time permits, I'll do some more critical viewing/listening this weekend or next week. I still want to try out the CD-R playback and the "remastering" of my Redbook CD's, for example.
The bottom line: The RP-91 is certainly worth the money and if you own a 16:9 capable monitor this is a no-brainer. The only current format missing is SACD and with the new SONY SACD multichannel machines out there at fair prices you can handle that issue with a separate machine if you wish. I must side with Mike (Elitist Bastard) Knapp on the issue of multichannel sound - good for movies, but not my cup of tea for music. I still prefer pure analog 2 channel SACD for overall clarity.
Stay tuned....
------------------
RAF
[Demented Video Dude since 1997]
[Computer Maven since 1956]
["PITA" since 1942]
Link Removed
I really have to spend some significant time with everything before I reach my final conclusions, but after a bit of A/B testing on both the video and audio sides I have formed some initial impressions.
[*] The RP-91 is one heck of a package for the money.
[*] The RP-91 has extremely versatile features and a very incomplete manual. The guy who used to write the manual for the Radio Shack LP-8 printer (remember that, old-timers?) must have moved on to Panasonic.
[*] The AUTO image sizing (when the software has the correct flags) is a very convenient function to have. And when you have to shift the scaling manually it's actually quite easy to do. I now have a choice to handle the size of the image on the screen from the RP-91 or from the VW10HT. With the RP-91 (when it works with proper flagging) it's an automated process.
[*] I'll reserve judgment at this point regarding the scaling used on the RP-91 on non-anamorphic titles and the comparison with anamorphic versions of the same movie until I can do a more complete test. I happen to have a couple of titles in both versions (2001, The Stepford Wives, etc.) and I'll be able to A/B this.
[*] I'm impressed by how non-anamorphic titles look scaled up on the RP-91. New life for older DVDs.
[*] When the flagging doesn't trigger the scaling the RP-91 exposes how slipshod some of the earlier DVD products were. For example, I never really realized that TOY STORY has a non-anamorphic THX intro, followed by a anamorphic movie. But since the non-anamorphic THX intro is not flagged, the smaller image is a giveaway.
[*] Sometimes the "Zoom" feature (actually, as others have said, this should have been labeled the "Scaling" feature) locks in place. Here's something I discovered. I have a DVD-Audio demo disc (picked up at the NY HiFi Expo as a giveaway) that I played right after looking at portions of TITANIC. As many of you know, TITANIC is one of those non-anamorphic discs that you must MANUALLY stretch with the RP-91 (no flags). I had left the RP-91 in "ZOOM" mode when switching to the DVD-Audio Demo Disc. The menu on the DVD-A disc was locked into ZOOM and I could not access the menu while the disc was in the player. I had to put in another disc (a DVD-Video disc) in order to release the ZOOM function back to AUTO or anything else. Not a major problem but something I'll look into a bit more later on.
[*] So far, my impression of DVD-A is that it is still no match for 2 Channel SACD. This might be a personal preference, but the SACD appears to be much cleaner. I'll admit that the cables I used to connect the 6 channels of DVD-A to the analog external 5.1 inputs of my receiver (Denon 5700) weren't of the quality of the cables I use with my SACD direct analog setup, but I think it goes beyond that. DVD-A is very nice, but I still like the sound of SACD better so far. More to follow on this. Time is needed here.
[*] The quality of the picture provided by the RP-91 comes close to that of my 9000ES. Looking closely, the 9000ES, to my eyes, is a bit cleaner overall but both don't show any chroma effects (my particular 9000ES never did and now the vertical lines have disappeared after the SONY modification). I would be proud to screen movies on either unit, whereas I used to prefer the 9000ES over my Toshiba 5109 (also progressive) for critical viewing. The Toshiba was used for older movies and supplements (2 trays).
[*] One thing the RP-91 does better than the 9000ES is the transition from film to video (thank you, ObiWan for clueing us into the AUTO2 mode). The SONY takes a moment to stabilize between film and video and it's noticeable (once it's been pointed out). Not a deal breaker, but noticeable. Panasonic has obviously done their homework on this one, offering the AUTO2 mode.
[*] Build quality. Not even close. The 9000ES wins by a wide margin. But, of course, at twice the price, it should. Time will tell which device is able to hold up better.
So there's some food for thought. If time permits, I'll do some more critical viewing/listening this weekend or next week. I still want to try out the CD-R playback and the "remastering" of my Redbook CD's, for example.
The bottom line: The RP-91 is certainly worth the money and if you own a 16:9 capable monitor this is a no-brainer. The only current format missing is SACD and with the new SONY SACD multichannel machines out there at fair prices you can handle that issue with a separate machine if you wish. I must side with Mike (Elitist Bastard) Knapp on the issue of multichannel sound - good for movies, but not my cup of tea for music. I still prefer pure analog 2 channel SACD for overall clarity.
Stay tuned....
------------------
RAF
[Demented Video Dude since 1997]
[Computer Maven since 1956]
["PITA" since 1942]
Link Removed
