Came across this article that readers might be interested in:
the link

Heh. I linked that earlier in a thread in the stereo forum. While great for those concerned about video, it didn't really cover audio in any shape I could find.

Chess, my illusions continue to be shattered. First, about a year ago I had $2,000 saved up for a pair of bookshelf speakers, then I try the $320 Axiom M22s from factory outlet and find out that they sound at least as good.

Now, I happen to have $8,000 around, so I'm about to run out and get that $8,000 Krell DVD player because I want a "high-end" picture, when I find that I can save about $7,800 by buying that "crappy" Panasonic. Wonder how many DVDs and CDs I can get for $7,800.

Quite a few...

The problem with the Panny is that it's nearly impossible to find because it was discontinued. Seems it was canibalizing Panny's higher end sales. If you can't find it, I believe the 72 is the same internals but with a 5 disk changer.

That's a great way to look at it John:
$7800 extra for dvds,
at about $25 a pop...works out to312 dvds
at about 95 minutes average viewing time
comes out to about 494 hours of viewing.
Assuming you don't go to work but stop for regular breaks that is about 70.5 days of straight movie watching!!!

Personally i have a Panasonic and even though it is rated at the top, i'm not liking it and we're going to go looking for something else.
The picture is fine i suppose (not progressive scan though which is the primary reason it is leaving) but many other things about the Panny have turned me off.

I don't know how much stock i can put in that test they did but it sure looks more thorough than the standard video tests performed.

The RP-82 has been rated the top for video quality below $1k by every single reviewer I can think of.

The latest models from Denon (1600 and 3200 I believe) are very highly regarded. Pretty much all the manufacturers besides Panny and Denon are still shipping players with the chroma bug...

Personally I've never looked back since moving to an HTPC.

Good lord, man...with that kind of dough why not get yourself a projector setup?

I love my Toshiba SD-4700, has the chroma bug, but I guess I'm not that sensitive to it, so it's not a big issue. Great OSD, great flexibility, DVD-A, MP3, CD-R, CD-RW, DTS, progressive scan etc. I was looking for the Panasonic, but they weren't available. I'm not the least bit sorry I bought it, and it's a workhorse, with three kids constantly playing Toy Story, Monsters Inc etc, you begin to appreciate what a fine unit it is. Sometimes it runs nonstop for 12-14 hours easily, if I were to buy another DVD I'd really have to check out the Toshiba's again.

My big problem with the Panny is the layer transition time. Nearly 2 seconds is ridiculous and would slowly drive me insane. My Denon DVD-3800 is seamless at about .25s. If you don't know the exact moment of the transition and really look for it, you won't even know it's there. Even then, it's pretty hard to catch.

Considering the layer change only happens once during a movie, i just look at it as a good time for intermission and beer refill.
Mind you 2 seconds is not alot of time to do that either.

> Pretty much all the manufacturers besides Panny and
> Denon are still shipping players with the chroma bug...

From what I understand Panasonic makes the Denon DVD players. (Or at least used to) Which explains why neither of them have the chroma bug. I am really happy with my RP82, I haven't timed the layer switch but it is a lot faster then my previous two players. (Toshiba and Zeinth)

Michael

For the Toshibas model 3750 or higher with prograssive scan that transition time is definitely less than a second. I got the entry level older model 3750 and sometimes I never notice it or when I do its like a split second.

In reply to:

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From what I understand Panasonic makes the Denon DVD players. (Or at least used to) Which explains why neither of them have the chroma bug.

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No. The Denon had the chroma bug when they were first released. Denon had the foresight to make their gear software upgradeable. If you bought one of the first models, you can get a CD that will flash the player's software. If you bought one of the newer players, it's already had the fix applied.

And I've never seen anything to indicate that the Denon are made by Panasonic.

In reply to:

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I am really happy with my RP82, I haven't timed the layer switch but it is a lot faster then my previous two players

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1.75 seconds according to the article v. .25 seconds for the Denon. I had a Panasonic previously and it was enough to irritate me while watching. I don't like to be engrossed in a scene only to have a pause totally jar me back to reality.

Regards,
Semi

> And I've never seen anything to indicate that the
> Denon are made by Panasonic.

I may have remembered that wrong, but after a search my memory was jogged. The Denon 1600 was based on the Panasonic RP56, with some changes...

From: http://www.audioreview.com/DVD,Players/Denon,DVD-1600/PRD_130288_1587crx.aspx
"As many informed buyers will know, the DVD-1600 is a refined version of Panasonic's Faroudja based RP-56. Denon has made nominal improvements to the video section with quicker layer changes and the elimination of the flicker bug which plagued the RP-56. However, the audio section is pure Denon, and sports 2bit/192khz low-noise Burr Brown DAC's for CD and DVD-A playback."

I've seen similar information from various places, but this is the one I could find quickly.

Michael

I just got a new JVC DVD player and the layer change is almost unnoticeable. With our old Samsung player my wife and I would both yell "LAYER CHANGE" when the picture froze.

If you really want to get rid of layer changes, HTPC is the way to go. I haven't seen a layer change in 2 years.

There is a new DVD shootout on that website: http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/volume_10_1/dvd-benchmark-guide-to-progressive-scan-shootout-1-2003.html