panasonic rp82 vs rp91 (1 Viewer)

[Chris Strasz]

Hello all,
I am in the progress of getting a pioneer SD533HD5 and had a quick question about these 2 panasonic dvd players and well, dvd's in general. I'm not huge into DVD's but hope to change that soon with the purchase of this television.
I've heard great things about the rp82, however, I've also learned over the months that even though dvd's are widescreen, you will still have black bars at the top and bottom. I can see this bugging me, primarily because I have a fear of burn in (which I know can be reduced with lowered contrast etc.). Plus, I wouldn't mind filling up the entire screen!
So, I've heard the rp82 is a great quality player, but I'm not certain if it has features to zoom in or change the feed so that the black bars are not present? Does anyone know if it does?
I know the rp91 has a ton of zooming and scaling features, but I have heard that it's not as good in quality as the rp82. So my questions are as follows:
a.) Does the rp82 have zooming capabilities at all, and if so to what extent?
b.) How much of a difference is there in the two sets picture quality?
c.) I've heard that the black bars at the top and bottom are usually only on non anamorphic DVD's. If this is the case, how often is this with DVD's?
d.) Do TV's have any modes to combat this and zoom in on the set, in particular this pioneer?
Thanks for the feedback!

 

[Steve Schaffer]

Chris,
I have the CP72, the 5 disc changer version of the RP82. It claims to have something called 4/3 zoom, but I've never been able to make it do anything.

The player doesn't have any zoom features that will do what you want.

You will not experience burn in from black bars if you use a reasonable contrast setting and also watch a mix of stuff that does fill the screen. I've used RPTVs to display dvds with black bars for 3 years with no burn in.

Black bars are preferable to cutting off the side of the picture by zooming.

Zooming can be done to make nonanamorphic pictures fill the screen from side to side, but you'll still have black bars if the oar is wider than 1:85.

Your set will be able to zoom or stretch the dvd picture from your player, so you do not strictly need the scaling feature of the RP91, but the scaling done by that player will look better than you set's zoom.

Both the 91 and 82 use the same mpeg decoder, and it's a very good one. The 82 uses the Sage/Faroudja de-interlacing chip which is reputed to be superior to the one in the 91, but the 82 doesn't do scaling.

I haven't read any real complaints about the deinterlacing of the rp91, so if you can afford the price difference and want the scaling feature it's a better choice.

 

[Chris Strasz]

Thanks Steve!

Well in the end, I just hear how great the rp82 is in terms of its deinterlacer so I will probably go with that. Considering I will be varying my viewing, I don't think the blackbars will be a huge deal. Thanks for the feedback!

 

[Steve Schaffer]

I did have a scaling player before I got the CP72, one of the JVCs. Overall I think I like the better picture quality of the Panny to the scaling feature.

The 72/82 deinterlacer does an especially nice job on video based material and a few problem discs like Red Violin.

I also like the changer because I can load both discs of a 2 disc set (or all 4 of something like the Pearl Harbor Director's cut).

Have fun with your new gear!

 

[Kevin Farley]

The 82 and the 91 have the same video boards and drives; the analog audio is supposed to be slightly better in the 91, but if you're using the digital audio out, it shouldn't matter.

 

[Sanjay Gupta]

What I want to know is, how good is the RP82 as a CD player and also how good is the DVD sound quality compared to the Panasonic RP91 also how is the sound quality compared to other players, like the Pioneer Elite 45A and/or the Pioneer Elite 47A etc.

Thanks
Sanjay

 

[Shion_ca]

Hello Sanjay,

I am currently auditioning the RP82 at home and am not impressed with it's sound quality. Given the choice i'd probably rather the Pioneer 656A (which I did an A to B with) However neither was sufficient for what I'm looking for in a CD player. I figured having the DVD-A and prog scan would be a nice extra, but neither of these meets my CD needs. The Musical Fidelity A3.2 CD does however, unfortuntately I could have 4 RP 82's for the same price and it doesn't play SACD's. I found the RP82 to be slightly more detailed than the 656A but also too bright for my liking and sound qualities edging more to the electronic side. It depends on what your system can tolerate to say which would be best. I'm wondering if a CE775 player from Sony would beat them both in sound quality?

Next I'll compare the Elite 47AI to a MF 3.2CD on CD tracks to see how much quality I'm going to loose on CD repro. If it's reasonable I'll go for the all in one box and have the comfort of knowing I can support all the formats. If not I will wait for something else to come down the tubes with CD beginning to approximate what the Musical Fidelity can pull off. The thing is gorgeous.

 

[ReggieW]

In case anyone is interested......

The Denon 1600 is a VERY GOOD audio device for the money for DVD-A/CD playback, but it does cost 250.00 more than the RP-82 and costs the same as the RP-91. It uses Burr-Brown DAC's and the sound is rich and full and quite detailed for a DVD player in its price bracket. Obviously, you could opt for a very good dedicated CD player in the 200-400 dollar price bracket like a Sony 222es or a Denon DCM-370, in which CD playback is quite similar to that of the DVD-1600.

Reg

 

[Sanjay Gupta]

Thanks for the responses guys. But could you please also comment on the DVD sound quality of these players.
I know I should not expect too much in terms of CD quality sound from the RP82 since it is pretty much a low end player.

Thanks
Sanjay

 

[John.R.R]

The RP-82 has the Sage/Faroudja FLI2200 chip which is supposed to have better video quality than the chip in the RP-91, but the 2200 has no scaling. The new FLI2300 chip has scaling and will be in the Samsung DVD-HD1000 just now being released. The Samsung also claims to convert 480i into 720p/1080i, but until it hits the street no one will know how well it pulls it off. I've decided to wait for the FLI2300, Samsung or otherwise.

John

 

[ManojM]

Sanjay,
If you are connecting a DVD player via a digital connection to a reciever or processor, then it is the latter that will do the processing of the digital sound signal. Therefore, the quality of the sound is affected mainly by the quality of the transport within the Panasonic player. I have not used the Panasonic, but I have used the Denon 1600 which does a good job as a transport, and as someone else mentioned above, also does a good job with analog CD playback. The short of it is, if you are mainly looking for DVD playback, then the RP82 should do a good job. Hope this helps...

 

[Sanjay Gupta]

Thanks for your response Manoj. I am well aware of the fact that it is my Receiver that will be doing the processing and not the player. But believe me I speak from experience, that player to player there can be a world of a difference in sound quality and this is while using the digital out. I previously owned a Sony S7700 which had excellent sound quality, then for some reasons I had to downgrade myself to a Pioneer 533 and there was a distinct loss in the quality of sound. I recently sold the Pioneer 533 and as a temperory player I am using the Pioneer 355. Imagine my shock when I watched my first DVD, the sound was atrocious and I am now unable to bring myself to watch any more movies till I find a reasonable replacement. It is with this background that I ask the question, how good is the sound quality of the Panasonic RP82 in regards to DVD-Video sound quality.

Sanjay

 

[ManojM]

Sanjay,
Excellent, I was not sure where your past experience on this subject was. I have reviewed the Denon 1600 which uses the same transport, and it does do a good job as a transport. I also like the Philips 962 (and the 963 is also about to come out). You may want to take a look at that if it is available in India, but it is a bit more expensive (in the Denon 1600 range).

 

[Sanjay Gupta]

Thanks again for your help Manoj. Unfortunately the choice of players available here in India is very limited. The reason I am asking about the Panasonic RP82 is because it is available right now, although for almost twice the price than that in the US. Basically I need to find out if this player is reasonably good in terms of DVD-Video sound, since it will serve as a filler till my next trip to the US, when I plan to get the Pioneer Elite 47Ai.

Sanjay

 

[ManojM]

Sanjay,
Have you thought about ordering internationally from one fo the Hong Kong companies, or perhaps the European companies. There are people buying the Philips 963 for 440 Euros from a company in the Netherlands. Check on www.avsforum.com for a threads concerning this, as well as on this forum. It may be more effective for you to buy a player from overseas than pay double for a RP82.

 

[Sanjay Gupta]

Ordering from overseas is not an option, courtesy Indian customs. :frowning:
Sanjay

 

[BobJ]

The 82 and the 91 have the same video boards and drives;

While both machines use the same mpeg decoder, the 82 uses the Faroudja FLI2200 deinterlacing chip, while the 91 uses the Genesis chipset.

I had a 91 and swapped it out for the 82. The 82 gives a better picture at a lower price with more features. The only thing the 91 does better is scaling.

There are others over in the avsforum who have done the same swap.

 

[peter m. wilson]

greetings,
i have just received my rp82. it is a modified machine which includes a (serial digital interface) SDI board which allows me to plug it in to a computer video scaling card called the HOLOGRAPH 3D. both these products came from IMMERSIVE.

the only reaon i mention this is because IMMERSIVE could have chosen any dvd player they wanted to incorporate this modification, but chose the rp82 due to it's video and audio quality right out of the box, not to mention a myriad of features including DVD AUDIO which is my first experience with this format.

I use an Onkyo ts-dx575 as my av receiver and now run everything cd or dvd based through the multi channel analog audio inputs an am extremly impressed.

although it will not be identified on either the face of the receiver or the dvd player, not only does this input take care of dvd-audio it also handles dd5.1 or dts.

i am not a true audiophile and cannot suggest that this player is the be all and end all for audio, i can only state my opinion, and for my money the sound reproduction is awsome. my basis for comparison is the coax or optical out of my Toshiba sd5109 progscan player which i feel is also great.

it may be that using the analog outputs is what is creating the improvement but i leave that arguement to people better versed in sound evaluation.

i am scaling the video to 1080i and did an A/B comparison last saturday with the rp82 and a HD broadcast of SAVING PRIVATE RYAN and to my eyes the quality was almost identical which i found very exciting.

as i said before my player has been modified but i think that the fact that it was chosen by IMMERSIVE is a testimonial in itself.

peter m.

 

[Chris_JH]

Has anyone confirmed that the CP-72 changer is the same internally as the RP-82 single disc? Panny has a 30.00 rebate on all their changers, so it would be like getting 5 single disc RP82's for about 200 bux
Thanks!!
-Chris

 

[John.R.R]

Peter;

Your IMMERSIVE setup sounds interesting. I went to their site on the internet but didn't learn much since they are primarily a 3-D gizmo company. How would one get in contact with them regarding the application that you are using? What type of output does the Holograph card have that takes it to your TV? What type of TV do you use?

Thanks for letting us know about this innovative approach.

John