AVS Members DVD Players and Displays (Look here for player/TV opinons)

DVD player: Denon 2910
Resolution: 480p/576p/720p/1080i
Connection: DVI
Display: Sony HS10 projector
Calibration: DVE, ISF coming soon

Comments: 1080i via DVI is Stunning

DVD player: Denon 1920
Resolution: 720p
Connection: HDMI
Display: Toshiba MT700 HD2+ 720p Front Projector
Calibration: Avia

Comments: Unfortunately this combo has visible macroblocking. I also found macroblocking with a Panasonic S97 I auditioned for 2 weeks. The 1920 has power on/off issues, is a little loud during playback, and has slightly more noise than the S97. Otherwise it is a nice universal player at its price point. I liked both players, but macroblocking is an unfortunate (and expensive) dealbreaker. Therefore, I'm currrently waiting for a Pioneer 79avi to arrive.

720p looks best killer picture

Connection: Component
Resolution: 480P
Calibration: ISF on Mits, DVE and Avia on 79AVi


After 47Ai, NAD T534 and 2910 I think I found a winner.

DVD player: Oppo Digital DV971H
Resolution: 1080i
Connection: DVI->HDMI
Display: Panasonic TC-22LH1 direct view LCD
Calibration: DVE / Avia

Comments: Virtually artifact free picture. Smooth color gradations. Excellent low-level detail and color reproductions. Minimal macroblock enhance.

DVD player: Panasonic DVD-S97S
Resolution: 1080i
Connection: HDMI
Display: Pansonic TC-22LH1
Calibration: DVE / Avia

Comments: Virtually artifact free picture. Smooth color gradations. Excellent low-level detail and color reproduction. Minimal macroblock enhance.

DVD player: Sony DVP-NS975V
Resolution: 1080i
Connection: HDMI
Display: Panasonic TC-22LH1 direct view LCD
Calibration: DVE / Avia

Comments: Mostly artifact free picture. Some bad edits noted, subtitles comb. Accurate color reprodcution hampered by HD/SD color matrix conflict resulting , most notably in reduced green output. Excellent low-level detail. No macroblock enhance.

DVD player: Oppo 971
Resolution: 720p
Connection: DVI->HDMI
Resolution: 720P
Display: Panny AE-700
Calibration:Avia

Comments: Occassional lipsynch on HK-635 via coax. AE-700 has 81EF filter. Small amount of MB but rarely noticed unless you know where to look for it. Super fast layer change and remote control.

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DVD player: Momitsu V880
Resolution: 1080i
Connection: DVI -> HDMI
Display: Panasonic TC-22LH1 direct view LCD
Calibration: DVE / Avia

Comments: Mediocre deinterlacing performance. Artifacts abound: no 3:2, bad edits seen, not motion adaptive. Good color reproduction. No macroblock enhance.

DVD player: Oppo
Resolution: 720p
Connection: DVI.
Display: Samsung hl-p5674 dlp
Calibration: ISF by Eliab @www.avical.com

Comments: No problems so far, but I wish they wouldn't have messed with the default brightness settings in the previous firmware update. Still, the pq is stunning. YMMV,
b.

DVD player: Pioneer DV-79Avi
Resolution: 720p
Connection: HDMI (12 bit)
Display: Samsung HLP5685W, DLP HD2+ chip, DNIE turned OFF
Calibration: DVE

Comments: No Macroblocking, no audio/video sync issues, wonderful picture (after calibration and after turning off DNIE on the Samsung). I found the remote well laid out and very easy to use. Layer change is sometimes noticeable but faster than my other dvd player, a Samsung HD-841. I also find both 5.1 analog audio and 2 channel analog output excellent on this player.

With DVE, it appears the default "Direct" settings does not pass "BtB" so I followed Carl Sundbom's suggestions on the 59AVi thread. I used "Direct" as base settings on one of the programmable memories and changed IRE from 0 to 7.5. I also set the white level to the left most notch (minimum) and the black level to one notch above minimum. Video was a little bit on the soft side with the DNIE on the Samsung turned off so I compensated by turning the HDMI Details to max and Details to 50% on the Video Settings. These settings gave me a PQ close to HD levels on reference DVDs.

DVD player: Pioneer 59avi
Resolution: 1080i
Connection: HDMI
Scaler: none
Display: Mitsubishi WD-73727, 1080p DLP RPTV
Calibration: DVE

Comments: It's outstanding!

DVD player: Panasonic RP82
Resolution: 480p
Connection: Component
Display: NEC HT1000
Calibration: 6500k

Comments: The HT1000 has excellent onboard Faroudja processing, but the 480p input from the RP-82 is still a little nicer than the 480i.

DVD player: Panasonic XP-30
Resolution: 480i/480p
Connection: Component
Display: NEC HT1000
Display: Sony HS-51
Calibration: 6500k

Comments: This is basically a mirror image of the RP-82 and a welcome alternative to the RP-82 which has/had become hard to find or expensive. The XP-30 still remains my primary back up player as I have bought/sold numerous upscaling players for testing and review. The XP-30, although not perfect, presents a very solid image with just a touch of edge artifacts.

DVD player: Panasonic RP91
Resolution: 480i/480p
Connection: Component
Display: NEC HT1000
Display: Sony HS-51
Calibration: 6500k

Comments: The RP-91 does not have the same jaggie free deinterlacing of the RP-82/XP-30, but it offer a very competitive PQ, perhaps even superior in some respects. The main thing I like about the RP-91, is the range of sharpness and edge detail controls under 480p. These controls offer a very wide range, and can effectively reduce excessive edge enhancement on poorly mastered DVDs.

DVD player: Panasonic RP91
Resolution: 480i
Connection: SDI
Scaler: Iscan HD
Resolution: 1024x768/NEC & 720p/Sony
Connection: DVI
Display: NEC HT1000
Display: Sony HS-51
Calibration: 6500k

Comments: Adding the SDI output and Iscan deinterlacing/scaling to the RP-91, take the image quality up a notch. There is an apparent reduction in noise as well as boost in color/contrast performance. I have the RP-91 RGB component and SDI outputs routed to the Iscan HD. I then have the choice of sending 480i SDI for the cleanest signal, or 480p component for the use of the RP-91 sharpness & edge detail controls. I find the 480p component feed with sharpness controls in effect, can roll of a great deal of the high end frequencies, but in a manner that produces a smoother & cleaner image thru the Iscan, than the 480p component directly to the projector. It's an awesome combination.

DVD player: Denon 2910
Resolution: 720p
Connection: DVI/HDMI
Display: NEC HT1000
Display: Sony HS-51
Calibration: 6500k

Comments: The 2910 was a very interesting player. The 1st thing I noticed was the excellent performance of it's 480i component output. Easily the best performance I have seen since the Sony DSP-7000. On the other hand the 480p component was not very good. Switching over to the DVI/HDMI outputs, I could find no advantage to running HDMI versus DVI. Both performed equally well. 480p DVI/HDMI was excellent, with 720p offer better resolution with a touch of Y/C error and edge noise. 1080i was till better with resolution, but with a bit more Y/C error and edge noise. I assume the 2910 has corrected these short comings thru a more recent software update, but I can not confirm. The HT1000 could handle the 1080i signal with easy, while the HS-51 did a better job with 720p. I leave this observation to the quality difference of the scaling engine in the projectors, with the HT1000 being superior. Neither display exhibited macro blocking of any kind.

DVD player: Denon 3910
Resolution: 720p
Connection: DVI/HDMI
Display: Sony HS-51
Calibration: 6500k

Comments: The 3910 while like the 2910 in many ways, offered superior 720p/1080i DVI/HDMI improvement. While the 2910 had the increasing Y/C error and edge noise, the 3910 was much cleaner with perfect Y/C. Great image, great performance, great analog audio, great player. No MB on this baby either with my HS-51.

DVD player: Panasonic S97
Resolution: 720p
Connection: DVI/HDMI
Display: Sony HS-51
Calibration: 6500k

Comments: I have so thoroughly enjoyed the RP-82, XP-30 and RP-91, I had great hopes for the S97. Unfortunately the player does not deliver, IMHO. I found the image had a rough & processed look. It's almost like these is a layer of noise which can not be dialed back. I also noticed very minor MB, which may have been related to the noise observation. I chalk this up to the R&D to integrate the new FLI23xx chip set, and the inherent compromises encountered. It seems as we see later generation players implement the FLI23xx, they are doing a better job. Such has been reported with the Panasonic S77, but I have not seen it. I very quickly sold the S97, and dropped back to the XP-30.

DVD player: OPPO 971H
Resolution: 720p
Connection: DVI/HDMI
Display: Sony HS-51
Calibration: 6500k

Comments: I thought to my self, "what's everyone talking about", when I finally took notice of the OPPO 971H threads on AVS. I had waited long enough, for the more serious software upgrades to be made available, and decided to try the player with the D-1022 update. WOW. The OPPO DVI 480p, 540p, 720p and 1080i are the cleanest signals I have seen, among the combinations mentioned. The OPPO has very low noise, perfect Y/C at all DVI resolutions, and almost non-existent edge noise artifacts. I was expecting to see a wonderful image, but I was not expecting to see an image superior in many ways, to the Denon 3910 or RP-91SDI/Iscan HD combination. The OPPO 971H does appear to roll off just a tiny amount of high frequency at 720p and 1080i, especially with it's sharpness set to LOW or OFF. However, it's an acceptable amount in my view, as it only helps reduce the sharpness and edge artifacts I see all too often in other upscaling players. As I previously noted with 720p/1080i performance comparisons on the HS51, the OPPO 720p works best with the HS-51 as far as proper balance of deinterlacing and resolution reproduction. I have noticed some lip sync errors on a coupe of my kids movies, namely Madagascar. But I'm not clear if it's just a coax issue. I say this because since I switched to the optical 5.1 connection, I have not noticed any lip sync issues. The OPPO 971H is a player worth checking out. It can have MB issues on some displays, but it was clean as a whistle on the HS-51.

DVD player: Denon DVD-3910
Resolution: DVD player output upscaled to 1080i
Connection: HDMI
Display: Sony KDS-R60XBR1 (displays at 1080p)
Calibration: DVE

No apparent macroblocking or lip synch issues. Picture is near HD.

DVD player: Oppo Digital DV971H
Resolution: 720p/1080i
Connection: DVI
Display: Sharp LC-G5C32U LCD
Calibration: Avia

DVD player: Onkyo DV-SP1000
Resolution: 1080i
Connection: HDMI
Display: Sony KD34XBR960 CRT Tube.
Calibration: ISF

Comments: Looks like HD.

DVD player: Denon 3910
Resolution: 720P
Connection: DVI
Display: Hitachi Tx100 LCD projector
Calibration: Avia

Picture is absolutely beautiful. I love the 3910's pq and the image quality of the Tx100. Cant think of any reason to upgrade until PS3 is available for the HD stuff.