A few months ago I got the crazy idea that my Denon 2900 wasn't good enough. Why? Probably for nothing better than creating an excuse to buy something new. A bit of the digital bug had bit me and I wanted to try something with an HDMI or DVI connection.
Enter the Sony DVP-NS75H. Figured for a little over a hundred bucks it would be a nice experiment. Thank goodness for Monoprice.com for the budget friendly HDMI cable. I almost laughed out loud in the store at the Monster Cable prices (I think they were even THX certified
).
Side note--my brother-in-law used to sell audio gear at a now defunct chain (we'll call them Good Fellas) and said he'd make more money off of cables even when his customer would spend a couple thousand on components versus a few hundred on cables. That'll give you a hint as to the profit margin. Almost makes me want to get in to the cable business.
HDMI is great in concept--one cable for video AND audio, but something seriously fell through in the application. Namely, not too many receivers feature HDMI switching. A quick search on Google reveals that this is changing slowly. Options are limited if you have multiple sources with HDMI connections. The one problem I have with hooking up the DVD player directly to the TV is that there is no way to turn the audio portion off, unless I mute the TV or turn the volume all the way down. This may seem a bit ticky-tacky on my part, but it really bugged me.
I admit, I don't have a giant state-of-the-art projection screen, but I like my Sony KD-34XBR960 crt (the pinnacle of state-of-the-art-retro-technology, I guess). After the requisite Avia calibration I was all set to go. My first impression was that colors appeared a bit more vibrant, but the blacks not quite as deep and rich--and, yes, I did fiddle with the brightness and picture settings. I popped in DVD after DVD, but didn't have any further ground-breaking epiphanies. I had to ease up on the critical eye because I began paying more attention to the picture rather than the movie. I decided to let things ride for a few months to get a better overall impression. Yes, I excell at being a lazy critic. I can only fiddle with certain things for so long (Mom, you're not reading this, right?).
Well, I've spent a few months with the Sony, and last weekend switched back to the Denon. Verdict--gonna stick with the Denon via component hook-up. The picture is quite a bit smoother and more natural. It all seems to flow a bit better--color gradations, hard edges, detailed blacks. The one movie I found most telling of the differences was "Finding Nemo." Through the Denon, the scaly undertones of the fish show up more prominently. Although the colors were more vivid with the Sony, the vividness kind of blotted out the scale details. Not to say the Denon has blah colors, but the Sony seemed to pop a bit more.
Up close, the HDMI has a noticeable pixaleted look, which disappears further back. I know this is how digital signals are, and I'm not saying this as a knock on digital connections, but just offering an observation. I can see how this may be a problem with a screen that is too large for the viewing distance. Certainly something to consider.
Also, I didn't see any noticeable difference between the upscaled formats. Tried 720p and 1080i, but always went back to 480p. From the forum here I remember that upscaling is better for large screens. I think.
So, for the time being, I'm gonna stick with the Denon 2900 as it is a fine DVD player. I guess I didn't realize how good it really was (for me, at least) until I tried something new, but not necessarily better.
