I threw every DVD I own at the JVC, and am happy to report that I was very very impressed. So much that I think I can relax now and enjoy my movies. My first tests were on video and animated material. I had read that the JVC did not do as well with “video based†material such as XFiles DVD extras etc, BUT the JVC seemed to always go into film mode in progressive and the material looked incredible. Swapping to the Denon it looked a “bit†sharper, while the JVC had more of a “film†quality to the animation.
For a first test I inserted Harry Potter. This was the 1st movie I watched on my Denon 1600 and the one that made me return to the hunt for a different player. In particular I wanted to see the smoke coming from the Hogwarts Express train. Did it look like smoke, or a grey digital cloud? I was elated to see that it indeed looked just like SMOKE and not a crawlie cloud! Other scenes in this movie looked equally impressive. Now the JVC image was not as “sharp†as the Denon, that is to say it did not have a “hyper-crisp†and “eye-popping†look to it, BUT it resembled much more of a “window.†It looked more like a “movie window†than a “digital image.†Further tests included One Hour Photo, The Matrix, Fifth Element (no jagged red button either), Goldmember, Spiderman, LOTR, Signs, The Others and many others. The colors on The Wedding Singer were vivid and simply amazing! All had the same clear, filmlike quality. Crystal clear, and did not have a look like it was “trying†to make a great picture – it just does it.
Now, for scaling. The Denon does not scale, which irritated me on special features on some discs. The JVC does scale. On properly flagged discs, the image was properly adjusted to fit the 16:9 screen. There are two different 16:9 settings, Auto and Normal.
On improperly flagged discs, I wanted to give it a shot. I tested Titanic. In auto mode the disc was not scaled properly, however in normal, the movie scaled down and was displayed with black bars on all 4 sides of the image. This made the image scale properly, but was reduced in size on the screen. Enter the JVC zoom function. One click on the zoom and the screen was full with small black bars top and bottom with a proper image – no squished faces. There was also almost NO loss in PQ with the zoom used in this fashion. Titanic looked excellent here, with great detail, etc.
I did not test DVD-A, (no music discs!) but I DID hook it up. I am happy to see that after hooking up the 6 analog outs, I was able to access an audio menu that let me set speaker size (importance since I have satellites), delay, and decibel levels on the analog outputs. I would not use the JVC for music, but tested it anyway and it had excellent sound just as the Denon does.
Layer changes were very fast. As fast as the Denon, even with its reported 3 MB buffer. I compared layer changes on both players with Shrek, and the JVC was just as fast to me, and way faster than my old Toshiba.
Both players are excellent. Denon has better “digital reproduction†qualities and looks a tad better with animated stuff (and I mean a “tad†– my wife could see no difference when asked) On film stuff, the JVC smokes. The image is smooth, colorful, and looks like I am looking at REAL people, skies, mist, smoke, faces, etc vs. overly crisp digital reproductions. Wife confirmed this as well – and she was originally against the idea of this comparison testing.
Some other COOL features on the JVC - press the play button while watching the movie and you get am instant 5 second repeat of what you just saw. Excellent. If I had a dollar for everytime my wife said "what did he say?-rewind it!" I could pay for my entire setup. This feature scored high on the waf, and will prevent me from having to fiddle with rewind, play, etc...just one press. Another cool feature is that all of the setup screens are avaliable while the movie is playing. Color, contrast, etc can be tweaked while you watch the movie.
In my setup, and most importantly to my eyes, the JVC wins – no contest. With all respect to Secrets, etc reviews, this exercise proves to me that there is no substitute for seeing a player in your watching environment no matter what the chips are, stats, etc. I tested all of the same scenes they show on the secrets page and was happy with all of them on the JVC . Maybe the Denon has the better stats, innards, etc, but who cares if the image is not pleasing to my eyes. Maybe the Denon will “properly†play more discs….but again, no big deal. I will take a once a year non-properly-playing disc over an everday very sharp but almost 2-D looking image.
It is also a very nice looking player. I can also dim the display or turn it off completely. (cannot do that with the Denon) This was good as the unit sits just below my TV.
MY disclaimer for this review: try the player yourself from a place you know you can return it to. After all this, I am less likely to blindly recommend any player now. Seeing is believing.
For a first test I inserted Harry Potter. This was the 1st movie I watched on my Denon 1600 and the one that made me return to the hunt for a different player. In particular I wanted to see the smoke coming from the Hogwarts Express train. Did it look like smoke, or a grey digital cloud? I was elated to see that it indeed looked just like SMOKE and not a crawlie cloud! Other scenes in this movie looked equally impressive. Now the JVC image was not as “sharp†as the Denon, that is to say it did not have a “hyper-crisp†and “eye-popping†look to it, BUT it resembled much more of a “window.†It looked more like a “movie window†than a “digital image.†Further tests included One Hour Photo, The Matrix, Fifth Element (no jagged red button either), Goldmember, Spiderman, LOTR, Signs, The Others and many others. The colors on The Wedding Singer were vivid and simply amazing! All had the same clear, filmlike quality. Crystal clear, and did not have a look like it was “trying†to make a great picture – it just does it.
Now, for scaling. The Denon does not scale, which irritated me on special features on some discs. The JVC does scale. On properly flagged discs, the image was properly adjusted to fit the 16:9 screen. There are two different 16:9 settings, Auto and Normal.
On improperly flagged discs, I wanted to give it a shot. I tested Titanic. In auto mode the disc was not scaled properly, however in normal, the movie scaled down and was displayed with black bars on all 4 sides of the image. This made the image scale properly, but was reduced in size on the screen. Enter the JVC zoom function. One click on the zoom and the screen was full with small black bars top and bottom with a proper image – no squished faces. There was also almost NO loss in PQ with the zoom used in this fashion. Titanic looked excellent here, with great detail, etc.
I did not test DVD-A, (no music discs!) but I DID hook it up. I am happy to see that after hooking up the 6 analog outs, I was able to access an audio menu that let me set speaker size (importance since I have satellites), delay, and decibel levels on the analog outputs. I would not use the JVC for music, but tested it anyway and it had excellent sound just as the Denon does.
Layer changes were very fast. As fast as the Denon, even with its reported 3 MB buffer. I compared layer changes on both players with Shrek, and the JVC was just as fast to me, and way faster than my old Toshiba.
Both players are excellent. Denon has better “digital reproduction†qualities and looks a tad better with animated stuff (and I mean a “tad†– my wife could see no difference when asked) On film stuff, the JVC smokes. The image is smooth, colorful, and looks like I am looking at REAL people, skies, mist, smoke, faces, etc vs. overly crisp digital reproductions. Wife confirmed this as well – and she was originally against the idea of this comparison testing.
Some other COOL features on the JVC - press the play button while watching the movie and you get am instant 5 second repeat of what you just saw. Excellent. If I had a dollar for everytime my wife said "what did he say?-rewind it!" I could pay for my entire setup. This feature scored high on the waf, and will prevent me from having to fiddle with rewind, play, etc...just one press. Another cool feature is that all of the setup screens are avaliable while the movie is playing. Color, contrast, etc can be tweaked while you watch the movie.
In my setup, and most importantly to my eyes, the JVC wins – no contest. With all respect to Secrets, etc reviews, this exercise proves to me that there is no substitute for seeing a player in your watching environment no matter what the chips are, stats, etc. I tested all of the same scenes they show on the secrets page and was happy with all of them on the JVC . Maybe the Denon has the better stats, innards, etc, but who cares if the image is not pleasing to my eyes. Maybe the Denon will “properly†play more discs….but again, no big deal. I will take a once a year non-properly-playing disc over an everday very sharp but almost 2-D looking image.
It is also a very nice looking player. I can also dim the display or turn it off completely. (cannot do that with the Denon) This was good as the unit sits just below my TV.
MY disclaimer for this review: try the player yourself from a place you know you can return it to. After all this, I am less likely to blindly recommend any player now. Seeing is believing.
