Denon 3910 Owners Thread - Page 105

I too, have been lucky to not use any warranties, but others have not. I have also purchased used items from low cost dealers, including eBay to save money, but choose to buy new high-end items from respectable dealers who will at least tell me that I am buying a gray market item, and who is not in the business of swapping serial numbers. The 3910 is not a cheap player and you are buying it because you want one of the best. Basically it comes down to "different strokes for different folks".

Remember the saying, you get what you pay for, and that is certainly the case for wheeler1629. IMHO

Pepar, I respect you opinion, and you must have saved alot of money and have extra cash to build that beautiful HT you have. Really nice!!!!

Audio Video Solutions on Route 1 at the intersection of Cherry Lane. They carry Denon, Rotel, Anthem, Paradigm, Thiel and Bryston along with a few other lines. Not quite as high-end as Soundworks in Kensington or JS Audio in Bethesda but much better than BB or CC.

Craig Hyatt is the salesman that I deal with.

You're right they didn't come down that low but I though he made a mistake when he quoted me the price he gave me.

I think the B&M vs. internet debate has been beaten to death so there is no point in rehashing all over again.

Thanks for all the info guys. I certainly knew what I was getting into and am willing to "suffer" the consequences, if any. I definitely fall into the camp of "why pay more if you have to" and I've never had a warranty issue with any electronics I've ever owned, but to each his own. The serial swapping is a new one by me, but I guess its unfortunately pretty common. Incidentally the player works great, with the exception of the BTB issue.

Understood and understandable. I checked as many dealers as I could without finding anyone who was willing to come off the list price much with my guideline being prices mentioned here by other posters. I checked with an authorized "B-stock" dealer and they wanted almost list for a refurbished unit. I considered all of this and the price avalable on ebay and then I made my choice. Ya rolls the dice and ya take your chances. I am not recommending this choice for anybody else; I am just relating my experience.

I am not looking to rehash the internet vs. authorized B&M issue nor do I have an opinion on what others should do. I made a decision based on my experience and I am willing to live with it.

There is potentially another way to get a good price on gear. If you work for a fairly large corporation, check with your purchasing dept. Businesses typically get 20-30% off retail and you may be able to purchase it through your work (or your friends work, etc.).

Even though our company extends the discount to its employees, the privilege isn't advertised and many don't know about it.

Cheers,

- Tim

Can someone please explain why some "sellers" are swapping serial numbers? What does it do for them?

Presumably keeps the unit from being tracked back to the original dealer who's not supposed to be selling on-line. But I bet it's in there somewhere. Some states don't allow exclusions of warranty so I'd not give up too easily if I had a problem. Often, when an item is clearly in it's warranty period, based on how long it's been manufactured for instance, the service dept isn't going to go to any lengths to verify. If it was mfgr'd in 2003 and it has a 2 year warranty, there's no need to even look it up until 2006. And even if they did, surely the charge for a firmware load would be minimal, hopefully.

I just purcased the 3910. I skimmed thru some of the posts but I don't have time to read them all. My Q's are:

I am having trouble with a long HDMI cable that works fine when connected to my HDTivo, does the 3910 have problems with long feeds? It's a 50ft cable running to a front projector(AE700).

Also I have it set up with a short cable now in the back of the room seperated fromt the rest of the gear. But if I run a long firewire cable for audio, what will it pass thru firewire? I need it to pass DVD-Audio, SACD, DTS, and the usuall D.D. 5.1. Will it do all?

Also how do I find out what Firmware I have?

Thanks to all in advance.

everything passes through firewire/IEEE1394/iLink
SACD,DVD-A,CD,DTS,DD etc.
That's why i like it (pity about the stupid dropout glitches i am still having with iLink though, i hope this new firmware release fixes it. )

And to check your firmware version:

1. Turn the small power button off on the front of the unit.
2. Hold down the PLAY and OPEN/CLOSE buttons on the front of the unit, both at the same time.
3. Turn the power back on and continue holding the buttons for 3 seconds, then let go.
4. After >II LOADING shows on the display, press the 3,2,6,5 buttons on the remote (in that order) and then press the MENU button to see the version. Press MENU again five times to see the other settings for the firmware.

Sorry, but and i am not to sure about the HDMI cable and the length, maybe somebody else can help you out with that question

Cheers
KJ

Thanks KJ,

Looked up firmware and this is what I have:

ESS 6609-A
Make Day 302
030825
Sysytem 6767-4
DSD 6770
CNE 20040609

I take that the first number is the firmware. What is the most up to date? The website says I am current. Anything newer out there?

KJ, what receiver/pre/pro do you have that accepts iLink?

Quick question with regards to firmware. I'm on page 44 and reading up, but I was wondering if firmware still needs to be sent from Denon? I know Denon has a support page for firmware. Is it possible to simply download the firmware, burn to disc and then flash?? <-- I assume this to be true, but all the posts I've read thus far suggests firmware sent on a disc by the manufacturer.

Thanks!

There's an open box 3910 at my local Good Guys that I want to purchase and test to see if it's worth the additional $$. Sounds like the audio components in addition to video outweigh the problems.

You can download them. I just did. You just enter the serial number and model umber and it tells you if you need it or not. Mine was already installed by someone but it thought I needed it anyway.

I have the 3910 hooked up to a Yamaha Z9.
I have gone into a lot more detail in this thread HERE Mainly see the letter I sent to Denon for the best description.
A few others also seem to be experiencing similar problems, . . .
Jazzcat, if you have any suggestions, it'd be most welcome

Thankyou

Cheers
KJ

Hi KJ, the only thing I can say is that IEEE-1394 is not quite ready for prime time. Of the 2 Pre-Pro's I am looking at, one flat out won't equip their processor with it at this time and the second stated they will have an upgrade soon, but may reconsider as there has not been a lot of demand.

Firewire will pass SACD; HDMI will not. I like SACD. I own a number of them and plan to still buy them. I really don't care if some say that format will die out; I will still enjoy the music they produce.

There'a a thread about someone who has the 5910 and 5805 AV receiver and is having issues too.

Sometimes I wish that I was just an average Joe 6 pack that is just tickled pink about their $450 complete home theater! A LOT less stress!

Ciao,

Mark

Amen to that!

Dave, did you get your player back?

And a LOT more beer money!

BURP!

Hello.

I've an Panasonic AE700, an 15m supra HDMI cable and a denon 3910.

This is my second atempt with an AE700. In the first one (in september-octobre 2004) i turn it back because of the 'white flash' issue (solved with the new firmware), and now I have bought it again with the new firmware, and found a synchro problem when working with 3910 (every 4 seconds or so i got a signal mistake or even a lost signal).

The first time (in october 2004) and with the same cable and dvd player (and an ae700 PJ with the old firmware) this problem didn't occur at all.

This only happens when using HDMI connection. To me it seems like the two (dvd player and PJ) aren't communicating the rigth way (syncro problem ?)

I've never done any upgrade on denon's firmware. What do you recomend me ?

Ah...I have finally caught up after reading 150+ some odd pages.

I am the new owner of a 3910. I also purchased a Panasonic S97 do to a side by side comparison. One of them is going back...but it's not going to be the 3910..... Well the 3910 may be going back, but not permanently.

I know some may think I'm crazy comparing a $300 player to the 3910. However, my original intention was to get an upconverting player to replace my Sony NS700P. I also wanted to utilize the DVI interface on my GWIII KF50WE610. The goal was to get a reasonably priced player that increased PQ since we watch quite a few DVD's.

Anyway, I was contemplating between the 2910 and the S97. During my search, I stumbled across an open box 3910 that was just returned and was in impeccable condition. I couldn't resist.

Now for the issues:

I just calibrated using DVE and unfortunately, I have a unit that is plagued with the BTB problem. I'll see if I can exchange it for one that doesn't based on an earlier post using the circle check on the box.

I also have a problem adjusting sharpness using the DVE test pattern. No matter how much I increase/decrease sharpness values in my GWIII or the 3910, I cannot see a difference. This is through DVE so I'll have to check it again through component. Has anyone else noticed this?

I also see artifacts that one may term as grainy, but I wouldn't define this as MB. From my understanding of MB, I didn't notice much of it.

The last minor irritation is that it can't play DVR+R discs. I know some have been successful with various brands of media. The NS700P played everything I could throw at it.

Despite the minor issues, I am so impressed with the 3910. I was pleasently surprised by the improvement in sound and the detail/clarity of subtle sounds. Okay, I wasn't just pleasantly surprised, I was blown away!! The sound alone makes it worth the price differential.

Firmware is updated to the latest revision. The instructions say to use a CD-R. Wondering if anyone tried using CD-RW or DVD-RW with success? I don't like wasting two discs with 700MB of space each for files that are 130k and 1.37MB.

It's perfectly logical - and prudent - to compare a $300 unit to a $1500 unit. The lesser expensive DVD decks these days are attracting a large audience, and justifiably so. If one cannot hear/see the difference, then why spend the extra dinero? The burn rate in this hobby is high enough.

And you're right, some of the pages are odd.

The instructions I have say you can use a CD-R or RW. But considering you just wasted $1500 on a DVD player what's a couple of CD-Rs. Just drive past the Starbucks on your way to work on Monday and drink the swill in the office breakroom and you'll have covered the cost of the CD-Rs.

Congrats on your new player. If you are having problems with DVD+R discs, it is with the burner you're using, not the 3910. Are you setting "Book Type" to DVD-ROM when you burn +R discs? This will ensure 100% compatibility with virtually all players including the 3910.

I have found that CD-RW discs don't work as well when updating firmware. I'd recommend using regular CD-Rs considering how critical the application is.

Matt,
I noticed the same thing regarding sharpness. I am using the DVI connection and assumed that sharpness doesn't affect the digital signal.

I also noticed the graininess but it is only on certain DVDs so I assume that it has more to do with the quality of the transfer than with the DVD player.

I picked up several SACD titles and a couple more DVD-A so I could compare the two types of discs. I have to say that audibly there is no discernable difference to my ears between the two formats. I will probably get mostly SACD discs in the future, though, because of the fact that I can play them in my CD player in my car (they're hybrid SACDs).

I spent several hours thus morning reading while I listeded to the SACDs and it was quite an experience.

Matt,
Your Sony still has a D/A conversion in it's process. I don't believe that it shows a native digital signal. Try sending it a 480P component signal and see how the picture looks.

Also...if you have upgraded your firmward to 9A, everyone better double check their settings, it changes the color output of the player.

Dave

It's possible or even lilely that your system has now been upgraded to a point where the limiting factor is now the DVD transfer (where previously it had been your DVD player).

does it eliminate the green push over DVI?