John-Tompkins
Second Unit
- Joined
- Jan 21, 2003
- Messages
- 326
I just recieved my Zenith dvb318 and have had the Denon 2200 for 4 months. Viewing is done via a Panasonic ae500 and so far the only connection used is component output set at 1080i on the Zenith and of course 480p on the Denon. Im not by any means a videophile and my comparisions werent done a/b style as I dont have two copies of any movies currently so I had to stop and change the disc.
In a word every thing good you've read about the Zenith via component is true. It upscales to 1080i via component and looks the best Ive seen so far. There are some issues that I incured, first on my 96 inch screen I have cropping on the right side by about an inch plus theres a small one inch white line up top about an inch or so down from the top of the screen at 1080i but at 480p or 720p the picture size is correct with no cropping and no white line. I dont think the Zenith is defective however as Ive seen this before with the rca dtc-100 on the Panny, I think its a compatibility issue. This isnt a deal breaker for me as Im willing to zoom out the picture by about an inch and that takes care of the cropping and the white line ( I can live with that considering the pq).
When I first installed the Zenith I decided to pop in a movie before recalibrating with avia..that was a big mistake, my first impression wasnt postive at all. I then proceded to recalibrate...I cant believe the HUGE differences in the settings from the Denon. The contrast,bright,color,tint,sharpness were all totally different by a long shot (example is contrast at minus 12 on zenith but minus 5 on the denon. I was able to go to +1 on the color on the zenith, the most I could go on the denon is -4.
I demoed first element, gladiator, love actually, finding nemo, fast and furious. The improvement in pq to my eyes was fairly easy to see, The picture was less grainy, smoother and the colors looked just right (sometimes the denon can look a little saturated). The denon on some scenes lookes kinda grainy.
Somebody else compared it to hbo hd but I think its more like showtime hbo (imo hbo hd is just a tad better then showtime). The Zenith still isnt hd but somewhere in between regular dvd and hd. I am looking forward to reading reviews of the zenith against some of the big boys..for 200.00 shipped its a no brainer imo
Im gonna try the dvi input after a couple of days and also experiment with 720p but even if they flunk out.. its already earned a place in my rack with the component 1080i input..
PS. Yea, I guess I ought to throw in the usual comments...The remote isnt all that great but its functional and the build quality seems like the build quality of say a 200.00 dvd player . The loader seems fairly quiet and I didnt notice layer changes (but they never did really bother me anyway). When I hit next chapter button there is a bit of a pause (slower then the Denon)
Im not gonna comment about the audio yet as I wasnt paying much attention, but I dont expect any differences for movies anyway (digital is digital)...Im gonna keep the Denon 2200 for sacd/dvd-audio and regular cd playback
If you get the Zenith be sure to go into the setup menu and turn off compression and vocal...as these two are set to "on" as a default.
In a word every thing good you've read about the Zenith via component is true. It upscales to 1080i via component and looks the best Ive seen so far. There are some issues that I incured, first on my 96 inch screen I have cropping on the right side by about an inch plus theres a small one inch white line up top about an inch or so down from the top of the screen at 1080i but at 480p or 720p the picture size is correct with no cropping and no white line. I dont think the Zenith is defective however as Ive seen this before with the rca dtc-100 on the Panny, I think its a compatibility issue. This isnt a deal breaker for me as Im willing to zoom out the picture by about an inch and that takes care of the cropping and the white line ( I can live with that considering the pq).
When I first installed the Zenith I decided to pop in a movie before recalibrating with avia..that was a big mistake, my first impression wasnt postive at all. I then proceded to recalibrate...I cant believe the HUGE differences in the settings from the Denon. The contrast,bright,color,tint,sharpness were all totally different by a long shot (example is contrast at minus 12 on zenith but minus 5 on the denon. I was able to go to +1 on the color on the zenith, the most I could go on the denon is -4.
I demoed first element, gladiator, love actually, finding nemo, fast and furious. The improvement in pq to my eyes was fairly easy to see, The picture was less grainy, smoother and the colors looked just right (sometimes the denon can look a little saturated). The denon on some scenes lookes kinda grainy.
Somebody else compared it to hbo hd but I think its more like showtime hbo (imo hbo hd is just a tad better then showtime). The Zenith still isnt hd but somewhere in between regular dvd and hd. I am looking forward to reading reviews of the zenith against some of the big boys..for 200.00 shipped its a no brainer imo
Im gonna try the dvi input after a couple of days and also experiment with 720p but even if they flunk out.. its already earned a place in my rack with the component 1080i input..
PS. Yea, I guess I ought to throw in the usual comments...The remote isnt all that great but its functional and the build quality seems like the build quality of say a 200.00 dvd player . The loader seems fairly quiet and I didnt notice layer changes (but they never did really bother me anyway). When I hit next chapter button there is a bit of a pause (slower then the Denon)
Im not gonna comment about the audio yet as I wasnt paying much attention, but I dont expect any differences for movies anyway (digital is digital)...Im gonna keep the Denon 2200 for sacd/dvd-audio and regular cd playback
If you get the Zenith be sure to go into the setup menu and turn off compression and vocal...as these two are set to "on" as a default.