Well, here's the thing. I have the HD DVD player for the Xbox 360, and I'm waiting to see what the future holds for Blu Ray and HD DVD. I watch 98% SD DVD's, so I decided to buy the Denon 2930, even though it costs a bit more than I usually spend on a DVD player.

My first impression was very positive. I don't use it for music, so picture quality and movie soundtracks is all I care about, and the 2930 did a superb job on both. However, I started seeing deinterlacing problems on a few DVD's. I first thought it was bad encoding, but switching to interlaced made the combing (if that's the right term) disappear. It doesn't happen very often, but it's distracting when it happens, so I've decided to return the 2930. I had a hard time deciding what to do, because the player is otherwise great in every aspect.

So, enough babble, what are my options?

Since I'm not going to buy a HD DVD or a Blu Ray player any time soon, I'm looking for a DVD player that can match the 2930 on PQ and movie sound without costing too much. I guess that's a lot to ask for, but I watch a lot of DVD's, so it's really important that the player doesn't have any problems that can be distracting to someone who watches a lot of movies.

I hope someone can give me some tips. Thanks.

have you ever thought of going to a scaler? new they cost a lot, but you can get an oppo 970 (or is it 971) and use it as a transport for 480i into the scaler. that will give you the best video performance you can get. look for used pieces, it will come in and around a new 2930 in cost, but will give you much better performance. or, you can go the media server route and rip all your dvd's to iso format and stream them to your tv and if you wish, could also get a scaler to improve video quality even more. other than that, the 2930 is a really good dvd player, you won't find another unit that is cheaper and better i can assure you.


or, you could get a pioneer 59 or 79 avi player and maybe you might like it better.

I'm surprised about your findings with the 2930, because it is one of the best out there. The 79ai has deinterlacing errors, so I would stick with the 59ai or the Denon 3910 (both are old models, so you should be able to get a good deal on them).

Bookhouseboy,
Can you give timestamps of the DVDs you were watching when you saw the problem? What display? Were you using 480p output before switching to 480i?

larry

I live in Europe, and I have only seen this problem on PAL DVD's. I've seen it on several DVD's.

I've read about many who have experienced the same thing as me, but not on american forums. It could be an issue with PAL DVD's, but I'm not sure. I'm hoping for a firmware update that can address the problem, but i don't know how long I want to wait.

BillP:
I could get a cheap 3910, but I'm concerned about the macroblocking problems this model is "known" for. I've never seen macroblocking on my projector, though.

Anthony A:
A cheap DVD player that ouputs interlaced over HDMI and a scaler could be the solution. It's probably gonna cost more than the 2930, but it may be worth it.

PooperScooper:
One example is the mountain in the left corner of the frame in Ice Age, when the squirrel gets squeezed between the two mountains. You can see it when he flies out of the crack between the mountains. It's at 02:48 minutes (PAL).

I've just finished watching the first season of Entourage, and it happened in pretty much in every episode.

The combing effect doesn't last more than a split second, but I see it and it's
distracting.

I've tried 576p, 576i, 720p and 1080i, my projector (BenQ 8720) doesn't support 1080p, and the combing effect only appears when progressive signals are sent, interlaced signals works perfectly. Too bad 1080i looks bad compared to 720p. I've also tried component with the same results.

Thanks for your answers, guys. As I said above, the 2930 produces a tremendous picture, better than anything I've ever seen, except HD DVD of course, but this deinterlacing problem is annoying.

I could get a cheap 3910, but I'm concerned about the macroblocking problems this model is "known" for. I've never seen macroblocking on my projector, though.
The Faroudja chip in the 3910 is an excellent deinterlacer, but yes, with some displays, it can cause MB. But, MB is generally seen with DLPs and plasmas. If you can buy the 3910 from a place that will allow easy returns, go for it.

Bookhouseboy,
Ok, PAL, that could be the reason. PAL output at 50hz is 2:2 pulldown. Does putting the player in "video mode" help? I don't now what kind of options there are but is there a choice between flag reading and cadence? I wonder if there discs have incorrect flags in the problem areas. I would think the player is smart enough to detect PAL, but it is a whole new "engine" and firmware.

larry

Using the 2930CI I can't speak for PAL, but leaving the default mode in "Auto" created some issues for me on some film-based DVDs (such as Star Wars: A New Hope) - changing it to Video 2 resolved the problem.

It appears "Auto" drops out of the film mode on some discs.

BillP:
The BenQ8720 is a DLP projector, so it might become an issue. It also has the Faroudja chip, and my last projector did as well, so I agree that it's a very good deinterlacer. Better than the Reon chip on some things it seems.

PooperScooper and DavidHir:
I haven't experimented with "Auto", "Video 1" and "Video 2", but isn't "Auto" the correct setting for DVD's?

Cadence means that the player is detecting video and film material, while flag reading means that the player uses the flags on the DVD to decide which material is processing. Am I somewhat right, or am I way off?

Anyway, this has been mentioned on a European forum, and I'm pretty sure it's the cause of the problem. But someone mentioned that using a differen't setting than "Auto" is wrong and would degrade the picture quality.

"Auto" just automatically selects either Video 1 or Video 2 - depending on whether you are watching a video-based DVD or a film-based DVD.

There is a bug with the "Auto" because it appears to go into video mode (Video 1) in some film-based DVDs.

So using "Video 2" doesn't affect PQ?
But what if a DVD has both video-based and film-based materiale, wouldn't that be problem?

I remember watching an Australian movie, and there was a collage of many differen't sources, and the combing effect happened several times. I guessed it was because some of the material was video-based, and that it was a cadence issue. If I use "Video 2", which is film mode, wouldn't DVD's that have video-based scenes be a problem?

I really appreciate your help, because I'm pretty blank when it comes to video processing. Thanks, guys.

So using "Video 2" doesn't affect PQ?
But what if a DVD has both video-based and film-based materiale, wouldn't that be problem?



Yes, it would. I only watch film-based material, so I just leave it at Video 2. Now, keep in mind the issue of it dropping out of mode may only happen on very few discs. Star Wars was the only one I encountered.

DavidHir:
I see. I'm afraid that the problem I'm experiencing is affecting more DVD's. I'm gonna contact the retailer and hear if it can be something wrong with my player.