Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners Need help choosing an upscaling 5 disc DVD player

I know an upscaling carousel DVD player isn't everyone's cup of tea but purely for ease of use (accessibility) it's become apparent that I need one. Long story short, my previous SD DVD player which was a five disc carousel was perfect because I could get someone to load five DVDs in and watch which ever one I wanted at my leisure, but now that I have my single disc Samsung it is proving to be a hassle because I can't just throw a disc in if it's not the one I want.

That said, I've done some looking around and it seems like the Denon DVM-2845CI here looks like it would be my best bet as far as performance goes and I also found these players at Amazon. I will be purchasing the Oppo BDP-83 when it becomes available, so Blu-ray isn't an issue. I know the Denon is expensive, and both units together will cost me over $1000, but that's the nature of the beast.

Sorry for the long message, but I thought a little background would help understand my reasoning.

Any info would be greatly appreciated because I'm out of the loop when it comes to technology in players i.e. processing chips etc.

Thank you very much guys.

I have a Yamaha DVD-C750, which is a universal DVD changer. I don't think it does upscaling, but the C950 does. (if either is even still on the market.) It's a decent unit, but I'm unhappy with a few things; namely that the resume play feature is fairly iffy, the shuffle is seriously questionable, and the fastforward/rewind controls are a joke.

a) Resume play: you have to hit it at the exact correct time in order to get it to work. Too late, and the restore point is gone.
b) Shuffle-CD only (no DVD-A or SACD) and it switches disks every time-1, random song, 2, random song, 3, random song etc.
c) You have to hold down the appropriate skip chapter button in order to get ff/rewind to work. I have not found a workaround, even with a universal remote.

Since it doesn't sound like you're looking for a universal player, you're going to have better luck than I.

First, I resent you calling your post long. If that is long, I'm near banned for some of the unsupported articles I post. That said, if you are going to be getting a BR player for those critical viewings, and one main goal is reducing trips to the player, have you considered one of those Sony Mega-Changers? I think they have 300 disk DVD players. Not sure on the scaling, but that would free you from the 5 disk rotation, and let you pull from the entire library. Just a thought, and you might have to go garage shopping on the net to find one, but your situation seems perfect for that.

Otherwise, in Denon i trust. It may be expensive but you know what you are getting.

I was wondering about one of those mega-changers as well, but I have no idea if the PQ is any good?

Well, Sony aint my cup of tea, but if I'm buying Sony, its on the video aisle. I don't know that I have seen an upscaler, but I know Best Buy has a mega changer on clearance here. I'm curious if a used external upscaler plus the changer would equal the Denon 5 disk changer? i would prefer that over the 5, and since he has BR for those big nights, its not like he needs the best upscaler on the market.

Never mind, it does upscale, at least to 1080i. Cam, I'd get this for under $300 and never wait for another update to the 5. Cam's Mega SONY

I have looked at those Sony changers but the reviews aren't very favorable. Zimm, you are absolutely spot on with ease of use as I have their 300 disc CD carousel.

I've been searching the net for a couple hours today and I'm finding that professional reviews are virtually nonexistent.

Ken, I checked out that Yamaha you recommended and as far as I can see it upscales to 1080I, and the Denon upscales to 1080P; I don't know how much of a difference that makes.

The Sony 400 disc MegaChanger was my first thought, nice units ... I've had a couple of their 300 disc CD MrgaChangers for several years and am happy with them, 'cept that they are a little too sensitive with the least imperfections on a disc, the DVD players will probably be better.

I'm thinking maybe Tom (Tomtuttle) may have a couple of the 400 disc changers?

I think he does. I had two also, until I sold them and ripped everything to a hard drive.

Cam, as has already been suggested, you should consider the Sony megachangers rather than a 5-disc player. I wouldn't be without the convenience of my megachangers and this factor would be even more important to you.

Well, I'm going to take your guys advice and buy the Sony DVP-CX995V suggested. I went through the official thread for the player on AVS forum and people seem to be happy with the picture quality. I found it here for around $400 Canadian including shipping, hopefully I don't get hit with too much duties and taxes.

Edit- I think I'm going to take some time tomorrow to shop around and look for a better price online although I don't think I'll find one; shipping for the unit is killer at $80. Future shop sells it for $500+ taxes, so hopefully I don't get charged with that much in duties etc.

Cam, make sure you're aware of the size of this component!

I'm not sure of the ones you're looking at, but the two 400-disc ones I had were deeper than any cabinet I had. I had to open up the bacl of the cabinet to let them hang out the back!

to bad it is not a bluray player as well, that would be awesome.

I have not found anywhere that lists yea or nay whether the Sony DVD jukebox plays dual layer discs...anyone know for certain?

Dual-layer, certainly yes, that's always been a feature of DVDs.

Double-sided? I'd say no, I don't see how a disc could be flipped over inside the machine, and they are rare enough I don't think they'll go to the extra work to build that feature in.

But because they are rare, and even more rare are dual-layer, double-sided (most made this way, Farscape comes to mind, had a huge number of defective discs), so the most you'll see is dual-layer on one side and single on the other. It is easy enough to copy the single-layer side to a DVD-R and store it as a separate disc if you really want to watch its content.

Hey guys,

Well the DVD player was dropped off today and I'm hoping to get it hooked up tomorrow or Thursday and I was hoping I could get some input on connecting it properly. On the CX995V forum on AVS there is a lot of discussion on whether or not to use Component or HDMI, and I was wondering why I would go any other route other than HDMI? I've read through many many pages in the thread and there's suggestions to connect via Component at 720p etc., and also connecting via HDMI at 1080i. I don't understand the technical aspects but it's mention to connect via Component to allow the TV set to do the scaling, and I don't know (if I am supposed to go the Component route) if the player has to be connected directly to the TV in order for it to do the scaling therefor eliminating my AVR.

I hope this makes sense, and maybe you guys could steer me in the right direction. I posted a message at AVS basically asking the same question but that thread is fairly slow and I don't know when I will receive an answer.

Thanks guys and I appreciate all the input.

I would route through AVR via HDMI - problems with the unit aside. Far too easy to let the 3808 control everything, as opposed to running video to TV and audio to AVR.

Thanks Zimm, that's the way I'm going to go, I was mainly worried about image degradation.

Here's a suggestion that I just received from a user on AVS:

"Cam I cannot definitively answer your question...

However, I have hooked my 995 up via both Component and HDMI and I feel the image is a bit "crisper" via HDMI. Originally I was using Component into my AVR at 480i and then allowing the HQV Reon chip in my Onkyo to de-interlace and upconvert to my projectors native 720p.

Personally I was disappointed in Onkyo's implementation of the Reon chip and started sending 720p out of the 995 via HDMI.

Then I purchased a DVDO Edge and now I run 480p from the 995 via HDMI to the Edge which then interlaces the signal back to 480i before it "properly" de-interlaces and scales the signal to 720p.

This last solution has worked the best for me.

I believe your 3808 uses the older ABT chip, but I would try it both ways output 480i via Component, 480p via HDMI, and 1080i via HDMI) and see which looks best to your eyes.

Pretty simple menu changes so you can see which looks best... for ease of use I would definately run it through the 3808 however."

I guess I'll use this as a starting point unless you guys think otherwise.

Seems reasonable to me, but I haven't made the HD jump.

Take it from me, it's been 12 years and I've come to the realization that there's nothing special about taking a jump

It isn't about image degradation, but that person trying to get the best picture possible.

DVDs have their picture encoded at 480i. Some scalers/deinterlacers do a better job than others. Also many players can not output video over HDMI at 480i, but a minimum of 480p.

If the inbuilt deinterlacer does a poor job converting 480i to 480p, no matter what you do to scale afterward isn't going to look good.

That was until ABT released their newest chip, which can take a 480p image which was created poorly and turn it back to 480i and do it right.

Really, judge with your own eyes, since you're the person which will be watching it.

FYI, just got this notification for a Blu-Ray changer:
Crestron Blu-ray changer

Pricey stuff

Agreed. I'd rather put my money into system sound or picture quality (or a vacation) and get up every once in a while to change discs!

I'll find a way to get up and change discs myself before I spend that much money!

So all this time, it's been about money?

Hey boys,

My mom hooked up the new DVD player and I'm really happy with it so far (more tweaking required); it has a far better picture than my Samsung DVD-1080P8, and the audio is just phenomenal!

As I mentioned in a previous post, it was suggested to try HDMI (which I'm currently running at 1080i) at 480p to see which gives me a better picture, but 480p doesn't qualify as high definition television. Is the only reason the picture may be better is that it's a progressive video format? I believe the unit can also output 720p, so shouldn't I try that resolution also?

Thanks again everyone.

No matter what resolution you choose, if the picture fills your TV screen then it is being scaled somewhere.

The reason to choose 480i/p, is because that is the resolution stored on the DVD, which eliminates the scaling done in the player and allows the AVR (if it supports scaling of the HDMI input--many don't) or TV to do the work.

720p, isn't all that great of a choice because it is only half-scaled, and then the picture has to be processed again by the TV to get it up to the screen size. But have a look, some people swear by multiple smaller scaling steps in Photoshop (I don't).

Thank you very much for the detailed description Chris, I was beginning to think it was a stupid question and something I should know, but I learn from you guys. Right now I've only watched a couple DVDs via HDMI at 1080I and I really can't imagine the picture getting any better, hopefully next week when I'm up again I'll be able to try it at the other resolutions.

I know I've mentioned in my last post about how impressed I was with the sound, but I had a chance to watch Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds Live at Radio City and I was absolutely blown away; I heard things that I've never heard before, it's really that good. The surround sound is more enveloping, and I could make out what Dave and Tim are saying to their stage hand and each other, along with audience members hollering at them. For the price it's an amazing player, I just hope I can operate it fully with my Harmony 1000 because apparently isn't possible as per Logitech and their forum members.

I just went through the manual and under the audio setup there are two different options-48kHz/16bit (the default) and 96kHz/24bit; should I change it to 96kHz/24bit?

Thanks

I think so, as that lets a 96/24 signal go to your AVR. I think!

Thanks Zimm, I thought so too. I was just worried about the possibility of getting weird feedback or something if I changed the setting. I also thought that most DVDs with exception to Superbit DVDs, or the like, are in 48kHz/16bit, therefore without changing the setting it would lower the audio quality.

I think!