Any reason I should stay with the same brand of AV receiver, DVD player, and CD player when building my Home theater system? Pros and Cons? I have Denon AVR-3802 and just purchased Denon's DVD-900 but I think Denon's DVD player is high priced and I can probably get something better for that price I paid for the Denon DVD player. Any thoughts?
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Same brand of AV receiver, DVD player, CD (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Peter_Woo
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ColinM
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Some companies add features such as Intellegent Control links, etc to their systems to allow one piece to control them all. If that appeals to you, you have to weigh it against any performance / price considerations to see if it's worth it. Universal remotes have made that feature redundant.
Panasonic's better DVD players all rate very highly - is it worth it to you to have all Denon, or to have better DVD performance for less $ ?
Not to say Denon is bad - just that it's not necessary to have all the same gear.
Panasonic's better DVD players all rate very highly - is it worth it to you to have all Denon, or to have better DVD performance for less $ ?
Not to say Denon is bad - just that it's not necessary to have all the same gear.
Ted Lee
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the only current scenario i can think of is for digital bass management of hi-res sources. pioneer's "i-link" comes to mind - for that you must have the same brand of receiver and dvd player.
other than that, i would say no.
you're better off going with whatever company you'd like. all those intelligent control links that colin talked about are gimmicky and (in my opinion) take away from the "purity" of the component.
other than that, i would say no.
you're better off going with whatever company you'd like. all those intelligent control links that colin talked about are gimmicky and (in my opinion) take away from the "purity" of the component.
The biggest drawback to having multi-brand equipment is remote control operation. Presuming you want the receiver’s remote to control everything, some do that better than others.
For instance, I’ve seen remotes that you could program in a code for say, another brand of DVD player, but those controls would be on a different “page.” And switching to the DVD “page” would disable the main receiver controls like volume, mute, etc. So you had to continually switch back and forth between the “pages” when watching a movie anytime you wanted to mute or adjust the volume, pause the movie or repeat a chapter, etc. A real pain.
Also, some remotes will only take pre-programmed codes for other equipment. Inevitably you find that some buttons won’t function, or a button you use a lot is not included. I prefer a remote where you can program button-by-button. Or one that combines codes and per-button programming.
I’d say check your manual first to find out just compatible your receiver’s remote is with equipment from other manufacturers.
Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt
For instance, I’ve seen remotes that you could program in a code for say, another brand of DVD player, but those controls would be on a different “page.” And switching to the DVD “page” would disable the main receiver controls like volume, mute, etc. So you had to continually switch back and forth between the “pages” when watching a movie anytime you wanted to mute or adjust the volume, pause the movie or repeat a chapter, etc. A real pain.
Also, some remotes will only take pre-programmed codes for other equipment. Inevitably you find that some buttons won’t function, or a button you use a lot is not included. I prefer a remote where you can program button-by-button. Or one that combines codes and per-button programming.
I’d say check your manual first to find out just compatible your receiver’s remote is with equipment from other manufacturers.
Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt
Ted Lee
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wayne's totally right. receiver remotes (even ones they call "programmable") are often very poor. compatiblity issues are always a problem.
i've had to do hack stuff like program some bizarre function from my dvd player into some completely random button (like "aux") on the receiver's remote. i'm just lucky that the receiver's remote was a "learning" style. if it would only accept codes then i would have been completely hosed.
that's why i love (no...cherish) my after-market mx-500 universal remote. it accepts *any* function from any remote plus i can label the buttons as needed.
i've had to do hack stuff like program some bizarre function from my dvd player into some completely random button (like "aux") on the receiver's remote. i'm just lucky that the receiver's remote was a "learning" style. if it would only accept codes then i would have been completely hosed.
that's why i love (no...cherish) my after-market mx-500 universal remote. it accepts *any* function from any remote plus i can label the buttons as needed.
