Samsung - HD-931

MPEG Maker: unknown MPEG Model: unknown Deinterlacer Maker: Faroudja Deinterlacer Model: FLI-2310     MSRP: $399.99 Website: http://www.samsungusa.com

Deinterlacing

Samsung was one of the first manufacturers to offer a player with DVI output for scalable DVD. Most noteworthy though is the fact that they were the first to offer DVI with a decent deinterlacer attached to it, something lacking in the Sigma-based players. The downside though is that Samsung only uses the Faroudja solution for DVI out and doesn’t apply it to the component 480p output. This makes for vastly different results between the two output qualities. The analog output features a flag based solution that fares about the same as the Sigma players.

Although it has Faroudja processing, this player has the same noise reduction error that the Denon DVD-5900 has. This is most noticeable in darker areas of the picture as a result of the noise reduction circuit amplifying MPEG encoding artifacts inherent in the authoring of the disc.

The Basics

The highlight of this player is definitely the DVI output. The only drawback in this mode is the player’s inability to pass a below-black Pluge pattern. The test patterns on Avia are set up to help calibrate players with this problem.

The HD-931 suffers from rather sluggish navigation which can make things frustrating at times. It also won’t skip through longer menus like most players do. The player’s white level is also a bit hot, measuring in at 103 IRE as opposed to the standard 100 IRE.

On the plus side, the HD-931 has no Y/C delay, and the video frequency response is excellent. This player also has a very quick layer change reminiscent of the Krell and Denon players. I measured about a half second in our layer change test. All in all, this player comes in at an excellent price point and represents a solid value given its performance and DVI output.

Video Frequency Response
Samsung

Philips - 963SA

MPEG Maker: ST MPEG Model: unknown Deinterlacer Maker: Faroudja Deinterlacer Model: FLI-2310     MSRP: $499.99 Website: http://www.consumer.philips.com

Deinterlacing

The Phillips 963SA is the follow-up to the Q-50, which was also a Phillips’ Faroudja-based player. In one of our recent Benchmarks, I tested a Phillips DVD-Recorder, which did horribly in the tests. The 963SA is a nice change.

The 963 uses the Genesis FLI2200 chip and did well with our tests as expected. One thing you need to make sure of if you decide on this player, or you have it already, is to enable the DCDi processing. This setting is set to OFF by default.

The Basics

My biggest gripe with this player has to be its user interface. The setup menu is only available when a disc is loaded, which I believe is a mistake. I like to be sure a player is set up properly before I ever put a disc in. Responsiveness overall is about average. The player does a good job with menu navigation, but is a bit slow with chapter skips.

Some noticeable downsides of this player include severe pixel cropping. I measured 9 pixels cropped on the right, 3 on the left, 4 on the bottom, and 5 on the top. The player also does not pass a below-black Pluge signal, despite having a setup selection for just that. Its white level is also much too low, measuring in at 92 IRE out of the box. However, there are adjustments for contrast in the user setup.

The player suffers from some Y/C delay, measured at -25 nanoseconds for both chroma channels. The video frequency response is also a bit high in the midrange of the spectrum which may lead to exaggeration of detail and some haloing in objects.

Since this is the flagship offering from Phillips, I had anticipated better performance. I love the fact that they included the Faroudja solution, but it is shadowed by its analog section and user interface.

Video Frequency Response
Philips

Liteon - LVD-2001

MPEG Maker: Sigma Design MPEG Model: EM8500 Deinterlacer Maker: Sigma Design Deinterlacer Model: EM8500     MSRP: $129.99 Website: http://www.liteonit.com

Deinterlacing

The Liteon LVD-2001 is another Sigma-based player similar to the Bravo D1 and Momitsu offerings. Since it uses the Sigma chip, it offers a slew of features including progressive playback as well as scaled video.

Unfortunately, the Sigma chip isn’t very good at deinterlacing and really needs to be coupled with a better standalone solution. We think it is the best MPEG decoder out there, but it needs to be used strictly for that, rather than also for deinterlacing. As you can see from our results, this solution is essentially a flag-based design, which causes the unit to trip up frequently with bad material.

The Basics

Unlike the Bravo and Momitsu players, the Liteon does not feature a DVI output. This is really a shame since the video analog section of this player is horrible. This is what we found with the Bravo as well, but its issues were remedied via DVI. If you scroll down to the measured frequency response chart shown below, you’ll notice this player is badly rolled off from about mid-frequency and higher. In fact, looking at the multiburst pattern from Avia, we found smearing of almost all high frequency information. In other words, don’t expect any fine detail when watching DVDs with this player. The roll off was the worst with the player in 720p or 1080i modes, but it was still far from acceptable with a 480p output.

The LVD-2001 also suffers from 25 nanoseconds of Y/C delay in both chroma channels, and its default white level is set extremely hot at 107 IRE. Some other drawbacks noted in the test were the rather loud transport, a non user friendly remote and some scaling artifacts.

On the plus side, this player offers automatic aspect ratio control regardless of output resolution, decent handling response and a good price.

While this player does offer a great feature in terms of a scalable output, its poor video analog stage pretty much cancels out anything gained. Using a progressive player that offers only 480p out, but with a better analog stage, will result in a much nicer picture overall.

Video Frequency Response
Liteon

Mitsubishi - DD-6040

MPEG Maker: Mitsubishi MPEG Model: unknown Deinterlacer Maker: unknown Deinterlacer Model: unknown     MSRP: $129.99 Website: http://www.mitsubishi-tv.com/

Deinterlacing

Mitsubishi has been one of the leading manufacturers of MPEG decoders, which have been employed by Pioneer for quite some time now. This player looks to be based on the same solution as the older Pioneers, as it has all of the CUE problems we saw there. I was unable to look inside the player unfortunately, so I wasn’t able to ascertain what deinterlacer the player is using. I know the DD-8040 employs the Faroudja chip, but this player does not.

The deinterlacer is flag-based, and therefore shows its weaknesses in our testing. Even as a flag reader this player did quite poor, failing tests that most flag readers pass. In fact, the only thing this player could do was lock onto a perfect film flag; otherwise it would trip up completely. I found this a bit comical since the front panel of the player states this player is a “True Progressive” machine, whatever that implies.

The Basics

The DD-6040 has an inexpensive build quality. It weighs very little and doesn’t seem to offer much either.

The only real notables I could find with the player were in the analog section. The video frequency response is quite flat, which is a rarity with a player at this price point. The white level of the player was dead on at 100 IRE, but the voltage levels expressed in the horizontal gray ramp indicate that there is some noticeable push in the mid gray area, which is indicative of an error in the gamma levels of the player. There was some slight Y/C delay, but it was still within the consumer standard of less then 5 nanoseconds.

While this player does come in at an attractive price point for a progressive player, I would suggest looking elsewhere. The progressive performance is poor at best, leaving much to be desired with the player as a whole.

Video Frequency Response
Mitsubishi