Observations of Panasonic F65/F85 vs CP72... (1 Viewer)

[Brian M Kuss]

Just thought I'd share my observations abour these two players after having just purchased both and comparing them.

For starters I have a Pioneer Elite 610 (which locks in full mode) and a VSX-24TX receiver. My old DVD player which I am replacing was a Toshiba 3109 (non-progressive). I was originally looking to buy the CP72, but couldn't find one online. My local circiut city had an open-box one, but I was leary about that so I decided to pick up the new F65 ($129) instead and give it a try.

To my eyes (which hadn't seen progressive DVD on my TV yet), the progressive out on the F65 was pretty good. After playing around with the picture settings a little on my TV I had a picture which I would consider slightly better than my fully-tweaked 3109 picture (which benefits from the great line doubler in my 610). Interlaced output on the other had was bad. Really, really bad. This model does offer scaling, but as soon as you turn it on, you get instant horrible picture. My 4-year old 3109 blows this thing away in interlaced mode. In fact it was so bad, I just had to return it. I could not live with that step down in PQ.

So I went back and decided to give that open box CP72 a try ($169 after rebate). When I put AOTC in, my jaw dropped to the floor. I could not believe the picture I was seeing. The colors and detail were incredible. From 5 minutes of viewing I was already seeing details in the movie I had never noticed before. Interlaced mode was about 10x better than the F65 too. Just as good, if not better than my 3109. This player makes interlaced look like progressive and progressive look like HDTV.

As I said this is my first time viewing progressive DVD on my TV, but to my eyes, you just cannot compare these two players. The picture is not even in the same ballpark. It's really a shame that Panasonic is discontinuing the CP72. My advice to anyone who is looking for a cheap progressive player is to pickup one of these things while you can. You will not regret it.

 

[Woo Jae]

Just a quick question:

How does this player compare to the RP91 player? Does it use the same chips?

(BTW, I just ordered the RP91, so I was curious as to how this compared)

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

Woo,

None of these players use the exact same chips for everything. The newer Panny's use their new all-in-one chip, and I concur that the zoom/scaled image really sucks on a big screen like I posted in another thread (for the S35) -- might be ok on a small screen though.

The RP91 and CP72 share the same MPEG decoder, but different deinterlacer (and whatever else). The CP72's deinterlacing is better than the RP91, especially for video-sourced content and DVDs w/ constantly bad flags. However, the CP72 can't scale, so if you need scaling, then you have to weigh the differences. If both are important enough to you, maybe getting both might make sense.

FWIW, I also just ordered the RP91 myself because I need the scaling. However, I'm leaving myself open to pairing it w/ a player that offers top notch deinterlacing for 16x9 DVDs (and maybe SACD support as well, eg. Philips 963sa).

If you check the other recent threads about the Panny players (or do a search), you should find some comparisons from actual owners. You could also check the Secrets Shootout for their reviews of the CP72 and RP91.

_Man_

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

Woo,

Just saw your other thread. Since your TV doesn't handle 480p input, the RP91 should be just as good as the CP72 for you as far as PQ goes.

_Man_

PS: Not sure why Brian finds the 480i output from the F65 to be so bad though. I didn't spend any quality time using my S35 in 480i to be sure about its PQ although I did have PQ issues w/ what little I saw.

 

[JohnnyG]

I watched my first full movie on the F85 last night and have nothing but good things to say. I didn't notice any combing artifacts or glitches at all and the image looked excellent. The movie was Two Weeks Notice - not the best material admittedly (nor the best movie!) but Hugh Grant had a few ties on that had intricate detail and I wish I had time to compare the image on the F85 with the image on the CP67.