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

Arcam - DV-137

MPEG Maker: Zoran MPEG Model: Vaddis 888S Deinterlacer Maker: Zoran Deinterlacer Model: Vaddis 888S     MSRP: $1999.00 Website: http://www.arcam.co.uk

Unbeknownst to most people, there really isn’t that much difference between mass market DVD players and specialty DVD players. If you open them up you’ll find that a lot of them use the exact same components that the big box movers use. The main difference is the care and consideration that goes into how those components are used. Rather than just slapping a player together, the higher end companies (for the most part) tweak the performance of their components, allowing the end user to truly see the potential of a product.

Arcam has made some extremely impressive DVD players in the past. The DV-27A remains one of my favorite analog DVD players to date and has remained on my short list of recommend DVD players ever since I first reviewed it. Unfortunately, I haven’t been as impressed with their players since they stopped using the Sil-504 chip for their de-interlacing and started relying on the various Zoran all-in-one chips they use for MPEG decoding. While I think the Zoran chip is adequate for value oriented DVD players found at your local big box electronics stores, I don’t think it has the level of quality for de-interlacing that you would expect from a company like Arcam.

The DV-137 utilizes one of the newer Zoran chips, the Vaddis 888s. This chip is used for MPEG decoding and de-interlacing. The thing that separates this player from the last player I tested from Arcam is the inclusion of Anchor Bay Technologies (ABT) scaler chip for upconversion to HD resolutions. This is the same scaler found in the popular DVDO iScan VP30/20 series video processors. ABT’s scaling solution is a very good one, and the result is some very nice HD imaging from standard DVD sources. The problem is, the de-interlacing isn’t quite up to the task. I would have loved to see Arcam implement ABT’s new de-interlacing solution as well. That could have made this player in almost a class of its own in terms of performance! Instead, the Zoran does an average job overall. This player fails most of our tests that involve any break in cadence or bad flagging. While it is slightly better than the other Zoran solutions we’ve tested, it isn’t in the same league as the higher end video processing chips or the former Sil-504 chip Arcam used to employ.

The Zoran chip does a mixed job in the core video performance department. The player does not show any signs of Y/C delay, it has very little pixel cropping, and its analog output is impeccable. Arcam has done a superb job with the analog video output of this player. The video frequency response is very flat and very sharp, and the video levels are perfect. Via HDMI there are some differences. Unfortunately the DV-137 clips head and toe room except when output the YUV colorspace option, which unfortunately didn’t synch well with either my projector or video processor.

In our CUE tests the player did fine. The Zoran chip uses a chroma filter to pass our 4:2:0 ICP test and seems to use a filter with our 2-2 test as well. Setting the output to 480i, I noticed that the MPEG decoder failed both the 2-2 and ICP tests, but once 480p or higher was selected, it passed all of the tests.

From a usability standpoint this player is quite remarkable. Arcam has gone the extra mile in terms of features and support. The DV-137 is HDMI 1.1 compliant and will pass DVD Audio material over its HDMI output. The player also supports SACD, but not via HDMI. The HDMI output is also selectable from 480i all the way to 1080p and even includes 768p for plasma displays. The real surprise though was the built-in test patterns this player incorporates. Why in the world has no one else thought of this before?!?! Arcam has included test patterns for setting color, brightness, and sharpness. While these may not be the most inclusive tests, it is still nice to see a company put this kind of effort forward and give the end user at least something to use for initial setup.

Menu navigation and chapter skips were quick. The included remote control isn’t the most user friendly in the dark, but all of the necessary controls are there. The player is quite responsive overall. The layer change is also quite fast and clocked in under a second.

Conclusions

The Arcam DV-137 is a good DVD player, but not a great one. Just a bit more effort would have gone a long way. I would really like to see Arcam return to using better de-interlacing solutions and not all-in-one chips. Tweaking in the HDMI performance would move it towards being a top contender. While I appreciate some of the extras included here (universal support, 1080p and 480i over HDMI, built-in test patterns), I would have preferred a more refined video output.

Video Frequency Response
Arcam

Arcam - DV-79 HDMI

Arcam - DV-79

MPEG Maker: Zoran MPEG Model: Vaddis 5 Deinterlacer Maker: Zoran Deinterlacer Model: Vaddis 5     MSRP: $1799.00 Website: http://www.arcam.co.uk

The DV-79 is Arcam’s first player to feature a digital video output. Instead of going the more common DVI route, they chose the newer HDMI connection. This provides some advantages to DVI based players since it will output an interlaced signal to an outboard scaler or display allowing you to take advantage of a higher quality de-interlacer or scaler and still keep the signal in the digital domain. It will also support higher bit rate RGB and Y/Cb/Cr data rates for scalers that can take advantage of them.

The DV-79 uses the same Zoran Vaddis 5 MPEG decoder that you’ll find on their flagship offering, the DV-27A. This is an average solution as a de-interlacer, and I was actually hoping that they would have coupled it with the Sil-504 like the 27A. The HDMI output is not scaled like most digital outputs. It only offers 480i and 480p as well as 525i and 525p for PAL sources. This MPEG decoder does have the chroma bug in all forms, but it is pretty much completely eliminated with Zoran’s chroma filters. Unless you are sitting extremely close to the image or have a huge screen, I doubt you would even see it. Because of this I have given the player a borderline score for the chroma tests.

On the analog side, the core section did pretty well. The video frequency response of the player is nearly flat, and there are no signs of Y/C delay at all. White level is perfect at 100 IRE, and the player passes below black via component. The menu navigation is a tad sluggish but doesn’t have the fade in/fade out feature the 27 has. Chapter skips are also a bit on the sluggish side, making navigation a bit tedious.

You may have noticed I changed the score for the Arcam for HDMI. Turns out the software on my player was in the wrong setting. This player is set for Studio RGB settings (black at 16, white at 235) and does pass blacker then black. If for some reason you are not seeing the same thing with your player, contact Arcam and they will help you resolve it. The output is also HDCP, so make sure your display is compliant. There were no signs of Y/C delay via HDMI, and pixel cropping was perfect with no pixels out of view on any side.

On the audio side, this player offers DVD-Audio support as well as a built in Pro Logic II decoder, which is a rarity for DVD players. For DVD-A, there is extensive bass management and time alignment options, as well as test tones. The bass management can also be fully utilized for CD playback.

Overall this is a decent offering from Arcam, though not quite to the level of their higher end FMJ offerings. I love that they went with a HDMI output vice DVI. This gives videophiles a bit more flexibility with future outboard scalers and de-interlacers. At this price point, I would have preferred a better de-interlacer but this is still a very solid offering from Arcam and my favorite player of this benchmark.

Video Frequency Response
Arcam

Arcam - FMJ DV-29

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

Arcam returns with a new flagship offering that replaces the excellent FMJ DV-27A. I had the opportunity to review that player a few months ago and it is easily one of my favorites to date. This new platform continues Arcam’s reputation of phenomenal build quality and audio prowess.

Like its predecessors, the DV-29 is based around the Zoran Vaddis 5 MPEG decoder. But something has changed this time around. In previous reviews the chroma problems associated with this chip were minimal and with the DV-27A, I could barely detect the problem at all. But this time around it was quite obvious using the same test material as before. I don’t know if this was a filter issue or not but banding was easily detected using our tests.

Another drawback in comparison to the 27A is the lack of the Silicon Image de-interlacer, which continues to be one of the best in the industry. Arcam dropped that solution from this design and relied on the Vaddis 5 for its I/P conversion duties. This was a mistake in my opinion. Flagship designs deserve flagship performance and the Vaddis doesn’t quite deliver that. It is still a good motion adaptive solution, but it tends to comb a bit too often in comparison to the better solutions out there. Now this player’s de-interlacing performance is more on line with the DV-79 which we previously reviewed but didn’t like as much as the DV-27A.

The plus side here is the HDMI output that was lacking on the 27A. And since Arcam was good enough to allow for a 480i output, you will eventually be able to feed an outboard video processor an interlaced signal that is completely digital for de-interlacing and scaling. I really wish more manufacturers’ that are including an HDMI output would include this feature. On top of that, this is one of the first HDMI players that meet the new high resolution audio specification allowing full DVD-Audio high resolution audio streams via HDMI. This makes the player fully compliant with the new processors and receivers that will feature HDMI in the upcoming year.

The analog side of the player was just about perfect. Y/C delay was perfect, the frequency response was superb and the overall usability of the player is excellent. Menu navigation and chapter skips are speedy but the layer change was too slow at 2 seconds. This was probably the biggest drawback to the player from a usability standpoint.

The audio side has been revamped and seems to retain the same glowing attributes the DV-27A had including full Dolby Pro Logic II support inboard.

I really hope that Arcam will return to a standalone de-interlacing solution like the Silicon Image or even something newer. Relying on their MPEG decoder at this price is not the way to go, especially to stay in line with the overall performance their product line is known for. Otherwise this is still one of the best built DVD players out there.

Arcam - DV-78

MPEG Maker: Zoran MPEG Model: Ziva 5 Deinterlacer Maker: Zoran Deinterlacer Model: Ziva 5     MSRP: $999.00 Website: http://www.arcam.co.uk

The Arcam DV-78 is the new entry in their Diva line. Unlike most manufacturers, Arcam builds their players from the ground up and doesn’t OEM (they don’t outsource). While their flagship player uses the Silicon Image chip, this player uses the capabilities of its MPEG decoder the Zoran Vaddis 5. The Vaddis chip doesn’t have quite the capabilities of the Silicon Image chip, but didn’t do badly overall. The chip is motion-adaptive but trips up a bit with poorly authored discs. This shouldn’t be too big of a deal if most of your viewing is the latest big Hollywood movies on DVD.

The Zoran chip does have all of the chroma problems (CUE) associated with it. The good news is, they are toned down almost to the point of non-existence. Depending on your display, you may or may not see these issues at all. The player does pass below-black properly, but the white level was a tad hot at 101 IRE. It did exhibit one full pixel of Y/C delay in both the Pb and Pr channels, so this may or may not distract you, again depending on the display.

As a transport, the DV-78 has a very solid build and can be ordered as a normal DVD player or a DVD-Audio player. I felt the navigation was a bit on the sluggish side with menu navigation and chapter skips. The player also has a “fade” feature that shows up when you navigate, and that contributes to its rather slow operation. While at first I thought this was rather neat looking, it became slightly annoying when trying to navigate test discs. The video frequency response of the player was quite good with only a slight rolloff at higher frequencies, but this didn’t seem to affect detail in playback.

Overall the DV-78 is a solid offering that is improved upon with their flagship DV-27A. The 27A will be featured in our next benchmark report.

Video Frequency Response
Arcam