Denon - DVD-3910 DVI/HDMI

MPEG Maker: ESS MPEG Model: Vibrato II Deinterlacer Maker: Faroudja Deinterlacer Model: FLI-2310     MSRP: $1499.00 Website: http://www.usa.denon.com

The Denon DVD-3910 has garnished a lot of excitement from Denon fans. The successor to the very popular DVD-3800, the 3910 is in many ways the same as the flagship DVD-5900. But this player offers new features, including an HDMI output, and yet comes in at almost half the price.

The 3910 is based on the same video circuit as the DVD-5900. It uses the same ESS Vibrato II MPEG decoder and the Faroudja FLI-2310 de-interlacer/scaler chips. Denon has dropped the BNC component outputs, but added an HDMI output to compliment the DVI output that is also present. This was a great move. Most HDMI players out there re-map the RGB output to PC levels when they are converted to DVI. By offering both outputs on the same unit, this eliminates the problem. The video output can be selected in the setup menu for either PC RGB levels or Studio RGB levels. Unless your display is set up for PC RGB levels, we always recommend using the studio RGB output which allows for below-black and above-white information. Like the DVD-5900, this selection is called black level enhancement. With the enhancement setting “ON”, you are using PC levels. With it “OFF”, you are using Studio levels. There is also an IRE setting for 7.5 or 0 in the picture setting menu for the analog outputs.

The DVI and HDMI outputs offer three different resolutions; 480p, 720p and 1080i. I was a bit disappointed to see a lack of 480i support for HDMI. By supporting this resolution it would allow the end user to send an unprocessed digital signal to an outboard scaler if they wish. So far we have only seen this option from Pioneer and Arcam, but hope to see more support for it in the future. Both the DVI and HDMI outputs are HDCP compliant so they will not work with an incompatible display. This includes uncopyrighted material as well. The component output only supports 480i and 480p, as well as their PAL counterparts.

The test results for the DVD-3910 were almost identical to the DVD-5900. This player uses the same modes for progressive scan playback. Auto 2 should be used with PAL or video-based material, and Auto 1 should be used for normal NTSC film-based DVDs. The big surprise was the utter lack of the “macroblocking” artifact associated with the Faroudja chipset. This problem was quite obvious on the DVD-5900. It manifests itself on the 3910 with component 480p output, or 1080i digital output. But the level is so miniscule, you would be hard pressed to see it. Like I have said before, the results may vary on any given display, but we tested it on an NEC plasma and an Hitachi CRT-based RPTV. There were no artifacts at all via DVI and HDMI at 480p and 720p. The image looked identical to the same display being fed from the Denon DVD-2900, which uses a Silicon Image video processor. The other resolutions should very subtle signs of the problem using the test material I have used with all the other Faroudja-based players.

Another change we noticed was the analog frequency response. While it was quite good, it wasn’t quite as flat as the DVD-5900, which has a slightly better analog stage and filtering. The component 480p output didn’t have any Y/C delay and its white output was at the upper limit of our passing score, 102 IRE. Pixel cropping was a bit excessive on the sides of the image. The right side was clipping 7 pixels and the left was clipping 2. With the DVI output we noticed some Y/C delay but Denon sent us a firmware update during the tests that completely eliminated the issue.

In our usability tests, the 3910 fared well, but not quite as good as its predecessors. The layer change clocked in at a quick half second, but that is a step down from the previous seamless layer change Denon was popular for. Overall, navigation was also a bit slower then the previous DVD-3800 and 2900 and more on par with the DVD-5900. One of the complaints Denon did address with this line is the power switch. The front panel now has two different options, a standby and a hard switch. The standby switch will also close the drawer when depressed, a popular gripe with the older Denon models.

The 3910 is a top notch offering from Denon. We will be following the benchmark test with a full write-up in the near future that will include a detailed take on the audio section of the player. Given that this player performed nearly as well as our top performer, the DVD-5900, it’s a steal at this price and highly recommended.

Video Frequency Response
Denon

Denon - DVD-3910

MPEG Maker: ESS MPEG Model: ESS Vibrato II Deinterlacer Maker: Faroudja Deinterlacer Model: FLI-2310     MSRP: $1499.00 Website: http://www.usa.denon.com

Video Frequency Response
Denon

Arcam - FMJ DV-27A

MPEG Maker: Zoran MPEG Model: Vaddis 5 Deinterlacer Maker: Zoran Deinterlacer Model: Vaddis 5     MSRP: $2999.00 Website: http://www.arcam.co.uk

This is the second time we’ve tested Arcam’s flagship FMJ DV-27 player. The first benchmark tests were done by Stacey Spears, but Arcam has made some changes to that platform. Since then, they have swapped out the MPEG decoder for the new Zoran flagship, the Vaddis V. This solved a lot of the issues we found in our first go around and produced a dramatic improvement in the overall ability of the player.

The DV-27A is a remarkable unit. It's that rare fusion of excellent audio and video performance, which is a fleeting combination these days. Arcam is not in the OEM business (many smaller manufacturers are), so they design and build their own units. All of the boards inside the player are made by Arcam and the pride in craftsmanship shows in the end result. I think you would be very hard pressed to find a DVD player on the market that combines the performance of audio and video that Arcam has achieved here.

The FMJ line is renowned for its build and design. This player has a smaller profile, but substantial weight. The inside of the chassis is packed to the gills. The power supply is quite impressive with a heavy transformer for a player of this size. The player uses separate clocks for its video and audio timing and even has separate clocks for analog and digital audio as well!! Arcam has also employed the excellent Silicon Image SIL504 chip for its de-interlacing duties. This is what I like to see from higher line companies, especially considering the price point.

The Vaddis V chip performs quite a bit better then the previously tested Vaddis IV. The V model employs better chroma filtering so the CUE issues associated with the previous model are all but eliminated. This model will also pass a below-black pluge signal ,and its white level was spot on at 100 IRE.

The analog video frequency response was excellent, being nearly flat across the spectrum. Pixel cropping was not a big issue, with only a few cropped on the sides of the image.

For our de-interlacing tests, the Silicon Image chip did its job wonderfully as always. This is our preferred chip for film based material as its recovery times are faster then the Faroudja and its retention of the full chroma bandwidth makes for a snazzier picture in my opinion. Arcam has also gone a step further by including an audio delay to compensate for the separate Silicon Image processing, so lip synch issues should not be a problem. The player is set up with the pre-determined amount of delay, but the end user can increase the delay time to compensate for other pieces of hardware in their video chain, including the display itself. It’s this kind of attention to detail that makes the Arcam a real standout.

On a usability scale, this player does quite well. Menu navigation and chapter skips are good but not as fast as some of the popular Denon models. The layer change clocked in a half second, which is very commendable. My biggest pet peeve with this player is its remote control. I have never cared for Arcam’s remotes. They are difficult to navigate and lack a user friendly design.

I did spend quite a bit of time with this player in my system, and its audio performance was as good, if not better then its video performance. It features full DVD Audio support and was on par with my reference Denon DVD-5900 in this regard. It has the full complement of setup options including separate channel levels and time alignment for all speakers. You can also employ its crossovers for CD playback with separate level control for the subwoofer in this configuration. Its CD Redbook performance was also excellent and easily worth the price of admission alone. The only DVD player I’ve heard that bests it is the $7000 Krell DVD Standard, and only by a narrow margin.

All in all, this is still one of the best DVD players I’ve used to date. Arcam is currently releasing a successor that features an HDMI output which supports 480p and 480i like the previously reviewed DV-79. Unfortunately, Arcam has dropped the Silicon Image de-interlacer and has decided to rely on the Zoran chips' de-interlacing abilities, which are not near as good. I hope they reconsider this with future offerings.

Video Frequency Response
Arcam

Denon - DVD-1910 DVI

MPEG Maker: unknown MPEG Model: Deinterlacer Maker: Faroudja Deinterlacer Model: FLI-2301     MSRP: $269.00 Website: http://www.usa.denon.com

Video Frequency Response
Denon

Denon - DVD-1910

MPEG Maker: unknown MPEG Model: Deinterlacer Maker: Faroudja Deinterlacer Model: FLI-2301     MSRP: $269.00 Website: http://www.usa.denon.com

It was inevitable that Denon would eventually release an inexpensive DVI-based DVD player to the market. The DVD-1910 has some obvious advantages compared to the rest of the low cost DVI player market, but it also has some disadvantages.

The 1910 is a very low budget design. The chassis is very small, and extremely light. Those looking for the sturdy and robust build of Denon’s higher profile line will be very disappointed. But the insides of this player, from a video standpoint, are pretty impressive. The biggest drawback in the lower line of DVI-based DVD players has been the de-interlacer and scaler. While designs from companies like Momitsu and Bravo do a good job, they don’t quite equal the performance of the higher line Faroudja and Silicon Image solutions.

The 1910 features the Faroudja FLI-2301 de-interlacer/scaler chip. It was made specifically for DVD applications as opposed to the FLI-2310 chip found in their higher line offerings, the 3910 and 5900. That chip was actually made for implementation into display technologies. The performance aspects appear to be exactly the same, both on paper and in our tests. The 2301 chip did quite well here. The only fault we found was with material mastered with a 2-2 cadence, which is always a hit or miss with the implementation of the Faroudja chip.

The unfortunate side of implementing the FLI2301 chip is the presence of the “macroblocking” problem. This manifests itself as blotches of digital noise mainly in backgrounds. This noise is essentially an enhancement of MPEG artifacts that are already inherent in the DVD transfer, but at times grossly exaggerated. In our study of the problem, we have found that the end user’s display plays a key role in the issue. It seems that displays that have their own necessary internal scalers tend to exaggerate the problem to almost unwatchable levels. This has been most noticeable with plasma displays, with an emphasis on the popular Panasonic line. Bottom line is, be wary of coupling this player with a display that has to do its own scaling inside. I would recommend hooking up the player to a similar display, or under ideal circumstances, to your own display before purchasing. If you don’t have that option, I would make sure the store you buy from has a good return policy.

We were unable to determine what MPEG decoder the 1910 is using. The chip is mounted on the underside of a video board and inaccessible. It did do rather well with our tests though. The chip passed the main chroma tests and the Faroudja did an adequate job of masking artifacts associated with the more difficult material. The 1910 passed a below-black pluge pattern regardless of the output used, and its white level was at the high end of our acceptable standard, 102 IRE.

There have been reports that this player has a tendency to reproduce blacks with a lean toward green. I didn’t see this with my review unit regardless of the output used. There is a black level tool that can be accessed via the “mode” button on the remote. I used an O-Scope and a gray ramp to try and figure out what this option was doing, as there was an obvious change to the level of blacks when turning it on and off. By turning the black selection “on”, the ramp clips black levels at the NTSC standard of 7.5 IRE. When it is turned “off”, the black level maps down all the way to 0 IRE properly. We recommend that you leave this selection off to take advantage of the lower black levels associated with YCbCr video.

The analog video frequency response was surprisingly good for a budget player. The response has a slight dip in the upper frequencies, but fine detail was still preserved with the material I looked at. Pixel cropping was a bit excessive on the sides of the image. The right side was clipping 7 pixels and the left 2.

The user interface was on the sluggish side, especially compared to Denon’s higher line of players. The layer change was a full 2 seconds long, which is unsatisfactory. Menu navigation was also very sluggish.

I was happy to see Denon finally put out a budget minded DVI player. The fact that they coupled it with a de-interlacing chip like the Faroudja almost makes the player a steal. I really hope Faroudja can come up with a fix for the macroblocking artifact issue, and until then I suggest that you demo any player using the FLI-2301 chip before committing. Otherwise this is a very nice entry offering for Denon.

Video Frequency Response
Denon

Thule Audio - DVA 250B

MPEG Maker: Mediamatics MPEG Model: unknown Deinterlacer Maker: Mediamatics Deinterlacer Model: unknown     MSRP: $2999.00 Website: http://www.thule-audio.dk/

It is amazing how many companies are making DVD players these days. Just when I think I have a handle on all of them, more pop up. This was the case with Thule Audio. I was familiar with their line of high end audio gear, but I never knew they had a DVD player. After receiving a few messages on the Secrets Forum asking about it, I contacted them and they were happy to send out their flagship DVA250B which also handles DVD Audio. We also got the optional up-sampling board for two-channel audio and will be following this benchmark up with a full audio review of the player.

The DVA250 is based on the Mediamatics chipset. I am not sure what model though as it was buried underneath a rather large heat sink. But once I saw the video setup and progressive modes, there was no question. Like most of the Mediamatic’s Pantera line, there are the smart and super smart modes, and I always found these names amusing.

The DVA250 is a hefty piece of gear that is minimalist in appearance and operation. This provides for a very clean design that is both elegant but responsive. The back panel is also clutter free, hosting only the necessary video and audio connections including a balanced audio output from the up-sampling board. This player does not feature any up-converting or digital outputs. Video outputs are component, S-Video, and composite only.

The Mediamatics solution is a very good MPEG decoder, but a questionable de-interlacer. This chip does an excellent job with our chroma tests, and probably the best with an alternating 3-2 cadence. Like most chipsets it does not have the chroma filters for interlaced chroma material, so you will see some occasional banding in video based material. For some reason the chipset was configured so it would not pass a below-black pluge signal. We have tested other players with this chip that have.

For an analog video player, the Thule did quite well. The frequency response was quite good, showing a smooth, almost flat response and little to no noise. Pixel cropping was quite excessive though. The right side alone was clipping 17 pixels, which is far too many. The left side cropped another 5 making for a total of 22 pixels clipped from the sides of the image. The player scored perfect with our Y/C delay test. The white level was a bit on the low side at 97 IRE, which is not a passing grade with us. A white level this low will decrease the perceived contrast which in turn takes the snap out of the picture.

For our de-interlacing tests, the DVA250 was a mixed performer. The Mediamatics chip has five different modes of operation; Auto, Film, Video, Smart, and Super Smart. One would think that Auto would be the preferred selection, but that is not the case. The Smart mode did the best with our tests, but still had some issues. When conducting the tests for motion adaptive performance, the player showed severe combing artifacts and a staggering of the image. The Film mode had the same result though not as pronounced. All the modes failed some of our cadence tests, but the Smart mode proved to have the least amount of compromise of them all. While I wouldn’t put the progressive performance of this player against a higher line de-interlacing solution, it is one of the better all-in-one based solutions.

On a usability scale, this player didn't do well. The blame mainly lies with the remote, which is absolutely horrible. I thought Krell made the worst remote out there, but this one trumps it. Key buttons like “Title Menu” and Forward and Reverse Scan are absent. This made for lots of aggravation when conducting my tests. Menu navigation was about average, as were chapter skips and load times. The layer change clocked in at a very respectable 0.75 seconds.

Overall, the Thule is a very nice player, especially for a niche company. I really feel that a player at this price point deserves a better de-interlacing solution though. Something like the Sil-504 or Faroudja FLI-2200 would have really improved the overall performance level for video and put the performance level in line with the price.

Video Frequency Response
Thule Audio

Yamaha - S-1500

MPEG Maker: LSI MPEG Model: Ziva 5 Deinterlacer Maker: Faroudja Deinterlacer Model: FLI-23xx     MSRP: $449.95 Website: http://www.yamaha.com/yec/index1.htm

The S-1500 is Yamaha’s newest universal entry and their first universal transport geared more to the budget market. Not only does it offer SACD and DVD-A playback, it features Faroudja video processing via the new FLI-2310 chip.

Glancing inside the chassis revealed a clean design centered on the LSI Ziva 5 MPEG decoder. This chip has been in the market for quite some time now and in previous tests has given us some problems. This player is no different. The MPEG decoder will not synch the subtitles to the video frames, resulting in an obvious combing in subtitles. This player also suffers from some CUE problems. Normally this would be masked using the Faroudja’s chroma filtering, but in this implementation the filters are not turned on. Despite this, the chip did do an exceptional job with chroma information flagged with an alternating cadence such as Monster’s Inc. and Finding Nemo.

The use of the newest Faroudja de-interlacer is a mixed blessing since this chip has some definite pros and cons. On the plus side, the Faroudja performed brilliantly on all of our de-interlacing tests with the exception of material using a 2-2 cadence. The S-1500 does not have a mode for this so I do not recommend it for PAL playback. The downside is this player suffers from the video artifact commonly referred to as the “macroblocking bug.” This has become well documented with FLI-23xx based players. Using chapter 22 of A Bug’s Life, the artifact was very obvious and manifests as random blotches of digital "blocking" in the background. Switching over to the component interlaced output completely removed the artifact. We have also seen this artifact on models from Denon, Zenith, and Samsung.

In our core tests, the Yamaha did okay. Unfortunately, the player will not pass a below-black pluge, and its white output level is a bit hot at 102 IRE. Looking at the video frequency response curve, it seems that the player has a slight emphasis in the midrange frequencies that may result in some minor ringing in the image. Y/C delay for both Pb and Pr was about 25ns, which is about a full pixel of chroma delay.

The interface side of the player did quite well. Menu navigation is quite fast, but the initial load time when you insert a disc is pretty long. The layer change using a full bit rate title roll was a speedy 0.75 seconds.

The S-1500 doesn’t quite live up to the bar set by the Yamaha S-2300 MkII, but given its price point it’s a decent offering. I hope that Yamaha can tweak in a few of the shortcomings with a firmware update, especially issues like the Faroudja chroma filters and the black settings.

Video Frequency Response
Yamaha

Cambridge Audio - Azur 540D

MPEG Maker: MediaTek MPEG Model: MT1379GE Deinterlacer Maker: MediaTek Deinterlacer Model: MT1379GE     MSRP: $379.00 Website: http://www.cambridgeaudio.com/flashed.html

Before I start my review of the Cambridge Audio player, I have to put out a huge thank you to Mike Toot. Mike PM’ed me over at AVS forum and volunteered to let me put this player through the ringer. Before he contacted me, I had never even heard of this product, but was delighted to have the opportunity to test it out and meet a fellow enthusiast.

The 540D is part of Cambridge Audio’s Azur line of products. This is a rather inexpensive DVD player, but you would never know it from its looks. The build quality is quite impressive and looks are exquisite.

Taking a peek under the hood revealed a very clean and thoughtful design. The power side of the house is well shielded and is separated from the video and audio boards. The heart of the player is the MediaTek MT1379 MPEG decoder. We tested some players in our July Benchmark that used this same chip with great success.

The glowing attribute of the MediaTek solution is its speed. This chip is lighting fast with layer changes and interfacing. Chapter skips are basically instantaneous, and menu navigation is quick. We clocked the layer change with a full bit rate title roll at 0.01 seconds. It was barely a hiccup.

As a de-interlacer, the MediaTek is completely a slave to its implementation. We tested a lot of players using this chip and each one of them displayed different levels of performance. If a company was on the ball enough, this could be a very impressive solution. Cambridge Audio did a commendable job but there still could be some improvements.

The most noteworthy comment on this implementation is whether or not it passes our motion adaptive tests. This is one of the most important aspects of a progressive image, and fortunately they hit the nail on the head here. The MediaTek chip did trip up quite a bit with breaks in cadence. It failed our 2-2 cadence test which is unfortunate because this player is region-free right out of the box!! The ability of the player to handle 2-2 material is very important with PAL material which is prevalent in Europe and Australia, and these are very popular choices for overseas DVD procurement. The plus side is the MediaTek chip does a superb job at converting PAL to NTSC, so this would be the recommended setup.

For our core tests the player did fair. On the plus side, the player passed most of our chroma tests. Unfortunately, it did a horrible job with alternating 3-2 chroma material. You will see heavy banding that completely disappears if you use the interlaced output. The 540D will not pass a below-black pluge signal, and its white level was too high at 104 IRE. This leads to exaggerate contrast levels.

The player has quite a bit of Y/C delay, measuring over a full pixel of delay in both chroma channels. The video frequency response is a bit on the soft side with the upper end being slightly rolled off. Pixel cropping was minimal with only a few pixels being chopped off on the right side.

Overall I think the Cambridge Audio is an OK player, and a bit above average for its price point. Being region free right out of the box is a huge plus, especially with the PAL to NTSC conversion performance. This player also supports DVD-Audio with full bass management and time alignment, making it a very attractive solution at this price. Thanks again to Mike for his generous contribution and time!!

Video Frequency Response
Cambridge Audio

Denon - DVD-1710

MPEG Maker: unknown MPEG Model: Deinterlacer Maker: unknown Deinterlacer Model:     MSRP: $179.00 Website: http://www.usa.denon.com

The DVD-1710 is Denon’s new entry level player. This no frills offering is similar in build and features to the DVD-1910, but lacks the DVI output and Faroudja chipset.

The 1710 looks to be based on a Panasonic chipset, but it was very difficult to tell. The MPEG decoder had been blacked out except for a serial number. There is also a possibility that it is based on a Mitsubishi chip.

The MPEG decoder is handling all of the duties, including de-interlacing, and overall is a pretty basic entry with mediocre abilities. The chip is flagged based and had a hard time with our tests overall. The chip is not motion adaptive and drops into video mode at the slightest sign of a cadence break. I think it is fair to say that this is the lowest performer we have seen yet from Denon.

On our core tests, the 1710 did better then I expected. The player will pass a below-black pluge signal, and its white level was at the extreme of our passing criteria at 98 IRE. Since the white level is a bit low, perceived and measured contrast will be a bit on the lower side, but not by too much.

The player passed all of our chroma tests with the exception of the interlaced chroma test. That was expected since it takes a special chroma filter to pass. Only Faroudja and DVDO have managed to make a chroma filter for this problem so far. The video frequency response was quite a bit better then I was expecting and even bested the DVD-1910. The response has a slight up shift as frequency goes up, but I didn’t see any annoying artificial ringing in the image from it.

Pixel cropping just barely made the borderline score. The player crops 5 pixels from both the left and right side of the image. I don’t understand why a manufacturer would allow for cropping on the sides of the image where it can hurt the image more than the top and bottom. The 1710 passed the Y/C delay tests and measured out at about 4 nanoseconds of delay, which is within the consumer spec.

For our usability tests, the 1710 didn’t fare too well. The transport is on the slow side, especially with menus. Response from the player was slow, both with inputs and chapter skips. The layer change clocked in at just over 2 seconds, which is unacceptable. There are a lot of inexpensive DVD players out there that are very responsive and feature almost no layer change at all. Denon is a company that usually stays on the cutting edge and these are things I would expect from them, even at this price point.

Overall, the DVD-1710 is a below average progressive scan player. I wasn’t expecting much at this price point, but I expect more from Denon. There are quite a few players near this price point that will outperform this player, notably the entry offerings from Pioneer. If you are looking for a solid low price offering, this is probably not the one.

Video Frequency Response
Denon

Neu Neo - HVD108

MPEG Maker: AMLogic MPEG Model: AMLogic 3400 Deinterlacer Maker: AMLogic Deinterlacer Model: AMLogic 3400     MSRP: $225.00 Website: http://www.neuneo.com/

The Neu Neo HVD-108 is one of those rare scaling players that works over its analog component outputs. This may be a limited time offer since the MPAA is cracking down on this practice which goes against the DVD spec. The HDV-108 offers not only the standard 480p but also 720p, 1080i, 576p, VGA, SVGA, XGA, and finally SXGA. This applies to all discs too, including those with Macrovision encryption.

The player features an elegant design that struck me as very similar to the recent Zenith DVB-318 in style and profile. On top of the scaling outputs, the HVD-108 also features HDCD decoding, which is a rarity at this price point.

The HVD-108 is based on the AMLogic 3400 chipset. This chip handles not only the MPEG-2 decoding, but also de-interlacing, scaling, and audio. As a de-interlacer, the AMLogic chip is average. The AM chip is motion adaptive, which is nice to see at this lower price point. Unfortunately, this is a flag-based solution though, and it doesn’t like to see any break in the flags. The 108 didn’t do very well at all with improper flag tests, including the most basic alternating flag test.

The internal scaling was quite good for a budget player and about on par with offerings from V inc. and Momitsu. I did notice some occasional shimmering in finer details, but nothing consistent enough to be overly distracting. Video frequency response stayed about the same for all of the output resolutions, with only a slight edge going to the 480p output.

For our core tests, the HVD-108 had some issues. This player does not pass a below-black pluge signal, and its white level is too hot at 103 IRE. This will exaggerate contrast levels and make whites seem over driven. The player also has about 1 pixel of Y/C delay on both chroma channels.

In terms of usability, the Neu Neo player is a bit sluggish in both operation and layer changes. We clocked the full bit rate layer change at 2.5 seconds, which is way too long for a DVD player. The average is usually around 1 to 1.5 seconds. Menu navigation was decent, but chapter skips were very sluggish. This became increasingly annoying when navigating my test discs.

Pixel cropping was a bit excessive. The player is clipping 6 pixels combined from the left and right area and 5 pixels on the bottom of the screen.

While the scaling feature of this player and its attractive price point are nice, the unit doesn’t meet the standard set by the recent offerings from Bravo and Momitsu for this price point. I also think that at this price a digital connection (DVI or HDMI) is justified similar to the D2 and V880.

Video Frequency Response
Neu Neo

Integra - DPC-8.5

MPEG Maker: Mitsubishi MPEG Model: unknown Deinterlacer Maker: Mitsubishi Deinterlacer Model: unknown     MSRP: $700.00 Website: http://www.integrahometheater.com

Integra’s newest DVD changer, the DPC-8.5, enters the market as one of the few “universal” changers out there. In the last Benchmark we tested a Toshiba universal changer, which at the time was the only one on the market. Unfortunately that player had very lackluster performance. The Integra (and Onkyo version that is also tested in this Benchmark) performed slightly better overall, but still isn’t to the level we would like to see in this category.

When I opened the player up to check the internals, I noticed that the MPEG decoder label had been blacked out. Integra informed me that it used a Mitsubishi MPEG solution. Mitsubishi MPEG decoders are quite popular and have been featured in several offerings from Pioneer and Denon. Unfortunately for de-interlacing the chipset doesn't do very well. It is not motion adaptive, and it has a lot of problems with bad flags. It failed just about every test we have for bad flag recognition.

The analog stage and core performance didn’t do well either. The frequency response has a gentle curve up in the middle frequencies but then goes south in the upper range. This lends to a softer picture and lack of image depth. The player does not pass a below-black pluge pattern, making it a bit more difficult to calibrate. The white level is 99 IRE which is very close to the expected 100 IRE.

The Integra does suffer from greater than 1 pixel of Y/C delay in both the Pb and Pr channels. Fortunately there is no Pb/Pr delay though. The player passed the main chroma tests and does not display the traditional CUE errors, but like most players it does have the CUE problems with alternating 3-2 flags like those in most Disney animation films. You will notice a slight flicker in these scenes that can be on the distracting side.

As for features, the Integra is a step up from the Toshiba changer. Some nice touches include BNC component outputs, a built in Dolby Pro Logic decoder, and an internal delay adjustment for lip synch issues.

For this Benchmark, I also received the Onkyo version of this changer. They appear to be almost identical in video performance and judging from the internals, rightly so. The only difference I saw with the exception of cosmetics and a few added features was the analog audio stage. The Integra appears to use separate DACs for each of its output channels. It also has a bit more analog filtering in the audio stage.

Overall, the Integra is recommended over the Toshiba unit, but still leaves the market open for a solid universal changer with great video performance. There were a few new universal changers shown at the recent CEDIA convention, so we hope to find something soon.

Video Frequency Response
Integra

Onkyo - DV-CP802

MPEG Maker: Mitsubishi MPEG Model: unknown Deinterlacer Maker: Mitsubishi Deinterlacer Model: unknown     MSRP: $500.00 Website: http://www.onkyousa.com

As most of you probably know, Onkyo, Integra, and Integra Research are all made by the same company. Each line usually expands in features and refinements, and at times the differences can be drastic. This is similar to the model you see with cars nowadays. Companies like Toyota. The offer their entry line, the Scion, then come in with their normal line, Toyota, then move up to their premiere line, Lexus. Most of these are built on the same platform, that platform is just tweaked or expanded on.

The Onkyo DV-CP802 is the same platform as the Integra DPC-8.5. The video side is almost identical with the only real standout difference being the frequency response. Everything else down to the menus is almost identical.

Like the Integra, the Onkyo is based on a Mitsubishi MPEG decoder and de-interlacing solution. This chip's all in one performance isn’t very good and reminds me more of an entry level player rather than something you’ll see from a respected brand like Onkyo or Integra. I think as a minimum, progressive DVD players should be motion adaptive at this price point.

The video frequency response of this player is a bit better then the Integra version, which I found surprising. But this player does have a pretty steady roll-off through its entire spectrum. This contributes to a softer image like the Integra. Y/C delay is still greater than 1 pixel, and this player did not pass a below-black signal.

Considering Onkyo’s reputation in the video and audio world, I was hoping for a better entry than this. Whatever chip they are using clearly doesn’t cut it, especially at this price point. Manufacturers need to start paying attention to the components they choose and what else is out there at a given price point. While I would recommend this one over the previously reviewed Toshiba changer, it wasn’t much of an improvement in the video department.

Video Frequency Response
Onkyo