DVD5

I think you may not get an answer from Naim on this one. I think their Dolby and DTS licences, or DVD licences, make them enforce Region coding on their DVD product. I would be surprised if they would actiavely tell you.

However, now for your dealer to accidently tell you, that's a different matter.

Roy.

If it is not multi region then I will never buy one.

But I suspect that Naim know this.


Nana

Naim would be commiting suicide not to do what the rest of the DVD world does. Dealers don't even charge for it nowadays. It is only necesary to say "I am NOT going to buy it unless you make it multiregion" and the deed is done.

Geoff

"Just trying to make a NAIM for myself"

Cheers Geoff, that's what I suspected, but it owuld be nice if it could be confirmed. Anyway got a email from my dealer today and in has a Demo DVD5 in stock, so looks like I may be shooting over there after work tomorrow or the weekend and have a look/listen!! Must make sure to leave my credit card at home though!!

I hope the DVD could be made multi region as after living in the USA 1/2 my DVD's are region 1.

I doubt if Naim could post here as it would probably be in violation of thier licence but until I get a PT or see it on a DVD Hack site I'd not consider it.

Also even if multi region will it play RCE discs as I've still two I can't play if I use the originals.

Simon,
Something tells me some of our stuff comes from the same shop.

May well see you if you go there later on Friday afternoon or maybe saturday...

I think it will be a popular venue somehow for a while.
Better tell them to get plenty of coffee n biscuits in.

Argh Steve, well if your shop is the one in the centre of Worcester, then it must be the very same shop that I frequent. It's actually a 60 second walk for me, so is always very (too) tempting! May catch you there Saturday afternoonish, after I've had time to wake up properly!!

Oooh more folk who know and like Maurice and Norman then - also my local shop

Arh yes, popped in there last week and bought a CDX2. Next difficult decision will be DVD5 or XPS2!!

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Originally posted by Bananahead:
If it is not multi region then I will never buy one.

But I suspect that Naim know this.


Nana

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Same for me + Macrovision Off as I would plug it on my screen with its BNCs in RGB/HV.

Hi

This is an interesting question as I too have a mix of regions.

Still people should go get a demo and take a variety of different discs with them.

After having DVD5 for a few days, I'd go and get one if I didn't have a working DVD player that was good enough for my requirements for the moment.

Steve.

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Same for me + Macrovision Off as I would plug it on my screen with its BNCs in RGB/HV.

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I don't think Naim can do anything about Macrovision. I think if a disk has macrovision you are stuck with conventional RGB component minus HV as a fact of life right now.

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Still people should go get a demo and take a variety of different discs with them.

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Yes in particular any that are "RCE" which can trip up simple region coding defeat strategies.

regards
GEOFF

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Originally posted by Geoff P:

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Same for me + Macrovision Off as I would plug it on my screen with its BNCs in RGB/HV.

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I don't think Naim can do anything about Macrovision. I think if a disk has macrovision you are stuck with conventional RGB component minus HV as a fact of life right now.

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99,9 % of DVDs have the macrovision stuff, what's the point of having RGBHV outputs on the player ... playing recorded DVDs ?

It's too bad not being able to use the second best output of player because it is dependant of anti-copy rules.

My dealer finally received his DVD5 this afternoon and the n-sats and n-sub. Strange to see how those speakers and sub are so small. N-stands are really beautifull, congrats to the designer(s).

He'll set them up tomorrow morning so that I can play with later in the afternnon.

Oh happy day ...

Question my dealer couldn't answer : Is the new firmware upgrade for the AV2 (sync with DVD5) out yet ?

Yes - The new firmware is available (AVC01-04)your dealer SHOULD know about it, it takes about 45 mins-1 hour to complete the upgrade.

I saw it ! and heard it.

I saw it plugged in a brand new unburnt SIM domino 30 in YUV, projecting the image on a 270cm screen. The DVD5 was also brand new. No adjustments were made on any of the too devices (contrast was clearly too high).
Oh man ! What can I say ? It's like watching a big big big TV ! Sometimes, you feel like watching the movie in a slow motion because you can see details you've never seen before. This is truly unbelievable. Looks like a masterpiece.

In audio CD I have been a bit disappointed, to me A CD5 we compared with was not better but nicer. The DVD5 (brand new, no burn) is vastly wider and a bit more detailled but the CD5 is more material and more musical.
And the last point is that DVD5 + Chord Coaxial signature + AV2 decoding is exactly the same sound and music that DVD5 + Naim analog. interconnect + AV2 as a pramp. There is truly no difference.

For sure, the DVD5 was brand new, and I have a second appointment with it next thursday to hear if, a bit burned, it matures.



... at the end of the demo, I listened to 252 + supercap + 250.2 on Fraim in order to compare CDX2 + Fraim/no Fraim. If I decide not to order that DVD5, I'll go for a Fraim

Karyboue,
Go back to your dealer in a week or two, obviously the DVD5 was not at its best. You should hear a difference with CD between analog playback (AV2 set in direct mode, not stereo) and digital through the AV2 (analog beeing much better).

Manu,

Yes I'll listen to it again on thursday, the player was too new but I really don't get how it could beat the musicality and weight of the CD5. I'll hear that next week.

We experienced that when the DVD player is set to multicanal instead of stereo in the menu there is an enormous gap in sound quality in favor of the stereo mode.

In that digital stereo configuration no difference could be made between the analog and digital connection. What is even stranger is that changing Naim's interconnect for an Esprit Structura the sound was still the same. We changed Naim's n-sat for Pierre Etienne Leon scenario and the scenario repeated again, really no difference can be made without a very very accurate listenning.

Next week we should use the AV2 + NAP 200 that is my stereo HiFi and JMR Offrande for speakers in CD listenning. I guess we should hear something.


I forgot to say a word about the n-system (sub hadn't been set up). Amplified with "only" NAP 150+V175, it rocks, they appear to offer a very very wide space, a very big scene behind the front speakers, no localization of the rears and pretty well detailled, it's quite astonishing for speakers of that size. They should have called them "spread-sats". A sub is also an obligation, I hadn't noticed when listenning because it is punchy but back home with big speakers but no sub, I instantly heard the difference. I would be a bit reserved about the center speaker that I found on some voices slightly flat, pinched or "nose speaking" (don't know how to say that) when it should be more profound. But the n-system was also brand new.

I thought you could turn all the digital stuff off if you were using the DVD5 as a CD player? Is that the case?

As Manu says there is a clear and significant difference between using the AV2's digital processing and the analogue inputs in "direct" mode. In favour of the later obviously. It was easy to hear with a Philips DVD player and 180/Royds so in your demo I would've expected the same.

Jay

I have found feeding my 32.5 directly from the DVD5 outputs (with all other signals switched off) to be extremely good. It trounces the AV2 for music production.. but that, I think should be expected.
Now feeding the AV2 with a DTS signal from the DVD5,and letting it works its magic on that is a whole different ballgame. Absolutely stunning.
Trying to feed the 32.5 with a DTS signal, would, I presume, present it with a significant decoding problem!

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Originally posted by Jay:
I thought you could turn all the digital stuff off if you were using the DVD5 as a CD player? Is that the case?

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That's also what I thought but all we founded is digital ouput set to multicanal or stereo. We have been looking for that "all digital off while playing CD" function. Where is it in the DVD5 menu ?

karyboue,

Every time I've been to a demonstation of the DVD5 at an exhibition or a shop open evening, it's always been stated that the internal DVD-specific circuits switch off automatically when the player is in CD-mode.

I don't think there's a specific switch anywhere that allows you to do this manually - if I have understood your post correctly. If not, apologies.

Cheers,

JR

karyboue,
I think there is some mix up here..
If you are trying to output cd stereo directly to a pre-amp(?) then simply connect the dvd5 directly to a pre via appropriate lead. I beleive the dvd5 then automatically switches ALL video processing circuitry off when an audio cd is inserted.
IF you are routing the pure cd music signal via the av2 to a pre amp then the av2 outputs need to be set to 'direct' so that no processing is applied to the signal..

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The direct option available to analogue inputs routes the signal directly to the output volume control, switching off and bypassibg any signal decoding. This is distinct from ''stereo'' decode option which digitises the incoming signal and uses internal processing to control speaker routing'

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This is from the AV2 manual.
The DVD5, I think, uses a completely seperate board for the cd decoding as oposed to dvd decoding, and utilises seperate power supplies to each etc...

Hope this helps.

I am going to try to be clearer on how we demoed the DVD5.

The AV2 is not only my usual preamp. but the one we used because my dealer's was defective.

What we did is plug the DVD5 analog connection in my "Tuner" input that has always been set to "direct" and still is. The digital coax in my "DVD" input set to "auto" automatically plays CDs in "stereo" mode. I am sure of that because for more than 6 months now I have been using my DVD player as a drive, waiting for the DVD5.

We were first surprised that the DVD5 outputed something in digital, we thought that only the analog output worked when playing CDs. In that case the analog output is far far better. The DVD5 is wide, clear and detailled in analog and "muddy" in digital

BUT when we changed the digital output in the DVD5 menu from "multicanal" to "stereo" (section 7.7.1 in the manual), it happens that the AV2 does a very good PCM decoding job and trully no difference could be heard.

So I guess and hope, as Manu said, that the analog section has to be burned to really perform.

Karyboue

I am very disappointed to hear your remarks about the CD sound quality of the DVD5. I was really hoping that the DVD5 would fill my need for a quality DVD player with quality CD sound. Would you still say that the CD quality ranks very high amoung the better DVD players.

On the plus side, when staff at my Naim dealer, here in Vancouver, hooked up the DVD5 they were all amazed at the huge improvement in picture quality over the unit that had been in place in the Naim room ... the Denon 3910.