What progressive scan DVD player to get? JVC 500bk or Panasonic RP56 (1 Viewer)

[Adam C.]

I just got a Hitachi 53UWX10B and I now am looking for a progressive scan DVD player. After some shopping...I have narrowed it down to these two. At circuit city they are almost the same price. What one should I get? Thanks

 

[Adam C.]

23 views and nobody will give me an opinion?

 

[Matt DeVillier]

Adam,

there have been quite a few threads about both of these players, so your best bet is to use the search and read up on what's already been said.

additionally, it's hard to unconditionally say whether one player is better than another, especially when you give no criteria for making your decision

 

[Craig W]

Adam,

I have the RP56 but I am currently not using a progscan monitor. I know that last year's line of JVC players had issues with poorly flag discs and would not display player generated alien subtitles on SW:TPM. On the other hand the RP56 is prone to what is called the flicker bug where some areas of saturated color appear to pulsate.

The pluses for both players is that neither has the more annoying chroma upsampling bug that causes areas of highly saturated color to appear streaky.

I think either player would work for you if you are not looking at going overboard on a high priced player.

On other thing, the RP56 is being replaced by the RP62 in June so you may want to wait and see that model before committing to any player. On advantage of the Pannys is that all of their new prog scan players including the about to be discontinued RP56 have the Faroudja deinterlacing aka the Sage chipset which is highly regarded. The more expensive RP91 is using an outdated Genesis chipset although the build quality is much better.

Good luck...

My opinion is too wait for the RP62, but JVC would not be a bad choice either.

 

[Dalton]

Adam,
I used to have the RP56 and it put an excellent picture. I also tried the JVC 500bk last week and it is FAR inferior to the rp56. I was extremely dissapointed with the JVC. I never noticed the "flicker bug" with my rp56 and the only reason i don't still have it is because i wanted dvd-a so i bought a Toshiba sd4700. The 4700 puts out a good picture but it does have the chroma bug. Between the two players you mentioned, the rp56 is far better IMHO. BTW, i have a Panasonic wxf95 56" 16x9 set and am using the progressive componet output.

 

[Steve Schaffer]

JVC does scaling for non-anamorphic letterbox dvds, Panny doesn't. The JVC does require the disc to be properly flagged, and too many aren't. Using zoom fixes this but you can't remove the zoom icon from the screen. Previous generation jvcs would remove the zoom icon if you entered a non-existent chapter number, so if you can find a leftover previous generation one it'd be a better choice than the 500.

I have one of the previous generation JVCs and am quite happy with it.

If scaling isn't important the Panasonic may be a better choice if you watch a lot of video based stuff. Most of the owner reviews I've read say the 2 are equal with film based stuff but the Panasonic does a better job with video based material.

 

[Adam C.]

I have the Hitachi 53UWX10B and I have not had it delived yet. Will it have to be zoomed in? I do not understand what someone posted about video based material versus film based? Forgive me I am new to all of this. I really appreciated all of the help.

 

[Michael Silla]

Adam,

I have the exact same RPTV. I am using the JVC that you are interested in. I have been very satisfied with the picture and features. I haven't had a problem with any disks so far (I got both the TV and player two weeks ago).

I am not sure how to answer your "video vs film" question. I will say that I use the players' 16X9 Normal mode which usually correctly displays video images in 4X3 and film images in the correct 1.78 or 2.35 ratio.

Basically put - in this mode the player does not try to fit an image to fill the 16X9 screen - it simply displays the material in the manner in which it was shot. I usually have the TV set to "Full" and in "Movies" mode.

Hope this helps.

Michael.

 

[Phil Nichols]

Adam,

If you didn't need a player right now, I'd say take a look at the upcoming $200-$250 Pany RP82 due maybe late June.

I'm waiting for this and/or the ~$300 Pany XP50 due in August.

 

[Steve Kramzer]

Phil

Not sure if you would be able to answer this or not, but will any of the new panasonic dvd players be able to scale non-anamorphic dvds to the correct aspect ratio for ws tvs like the RP91 currently does?

 

[Steve Schaffer]

Film runs 24 frames per second, video runs 30 fps. The 2 framerates need to be processed differently when converting interlaced to progressive scan or excessive combing or jagginess will appear. The process is usually called 3/2 pulldown for film based material.

In any case, the Panasonic's conversion of video based material to progressive scan is said to be better than the JVC's. Since most video based material is in the special features of a dvd, which typically contain videotaped interviews and such, there aren't many instances where this makes a whole lot of difference. Most special features have sorta inferior picture quality anyway, compared to the film itself.

The few dvds I own on which the main program is video based look just fine on my JVC.

Without scaling in the player, a non anamorphic letterboxed dvd displayed with the tv in full mode (which is what you use for anamorphic dvd) will appear in the center of a 4/3 shaped area in the center of the screen, with black bars on the sides. Some sets lock in full when fed a progressive scan signal, mostly last years or older Pioneers and current Panasonics.

The UWX Hitachi will zoom while fed progressive scan, so if your player does not have scaling, you can use the zoom on the tv to eliminate the black bars on the side. The zoom on the tv does not look as good as the scaling done by a player capable of it, though.