[Ben_Wood]

What are some budget priced but good performing universal dvd-a / sacd players available? What are the chances that Sony will come out with one? Thanks!

 

[DblHelix]

Virtually no chance of Sony coming out with one. The only one currently out that I would consider is the Yamaha 2300. I believe it is the only one with DCDi processing and I think it uses the panasonic mpeg decoder so no chroma bug. The other ones may sound a bit better but none of them will be any close on DVD performance. My recomendation though for about the same price (actually less) than this unit is to get a Sony SCD-C222ES SACD/CD player and a Panasonic XP50 DVD-V/DVD-A player or an RP-82 if you can find one. Even if you need to get a 5.1 channel switcher to use both with you receiver then you will still be around the same price as the Yamaha with alot better sound in both formats and probably a bit better video.

 

[Alex Prosak]

I don't believe there are any budget priced universal players yet. Panasonic is supposed to be releasing one in I believe June. I think the anticipated MSRP is $249.

 

[DaveFi]

I had the discontinued Apex one for about 2 weeks before I returned it. The biggest piece of poo I've ever wasted $300 on. Not only couldn't it play most SACDs or DVD-As right, it couldn't even handle DVDs.


Apex=crap.

 

[Patrick TX]

Pioneer is coming with a $350 universal this year they say. It has been discussed here already I think. It was at CES.

 

[welked]

I recently got the Pioneer DV-655A. It's the Australian version of the DV45A, I think. It has prog scan, DVD-A and SACD. So far I've seen no chroma bug, jaggies, or any other video problems. I've tested it with Toy Story, Fifth Element, AOTC, etc. The sound from both DVD-A and SACD is great, but I have no other players to compare the audio performance against. Next week I should receive a Panny XP30, so I'll have a player for a video comparison. If, in fact, the 655A is the DV45A in a non-Elite package, (and I welcome any information to confirm or deny this) either of them would be a great, low-cost performer in a home theater. The 655A may not be readily available (I got mine through the military PX/BX system) but the DV45A is. When I get the Panny, I'll try to do a thorough comparison and report what I find.

Ed