Introduction

The DVD-2500BTCI is one of several Blu-ray players that Denon is offering in their current lineup.  Unlike the  DVD -3800BDCI which features a Realta HQV video processing solution and internal decoding of Dolby TrueHD and dts-HD Master Audio, the DVD-2500BTCI is billed as a digital-only transport that offers playback of BD discs as well as output of  the audio signals on the disc in raw bitstream format using its HDMI 1.3a compliant connection.  There have been only a few players available on the market that can perform such a task, but more and more players are now offering this feature.

The 2500BTCI does not have any analog connections and it is designed to be mated with an advanced AV processor that can decode the bitstream signal into its various native HD sound formats.  This includes Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD, and dts-HD Master audio.  Products such as Denon’s  AVR-4308CI  or Integra’s DTC 9.8 along with a number of others, would be natural choices to use with this unit.  Between the three Blu-ray players that Denon offers, the DVD-2500BTCI would be the rational choice if you already own an AV processor that delivers  sound and video in spades.