DVD basics (very basic)

buy a tag mclaren dvd32R and use it as your cd player as well.



pisses all over almost everything, and the best build quality you will ever see. (buy a chord DAC64 for the optical ouput and you will be even more happy)

naim de plume

I know it looks suspiciously coincidental that another poster should recomend the TAG DVD32/Chord DAC64 (on a Naim forum and all) so soon after I mentioned it in the other thread, even more suspicious because its the above posters 1st post, but I guarantee that wasn't me. Honest !

Allan

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Originally posted by plynnplynn:
I am not really interested in 'sound effects' and lots of 'noise' to go along with the films I may watch - OK I am a boring old ****.

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I am exactly in the same position as you - don't care much about all that 5.1 hype.
I bought the cheapest DVD I've found, a LG at 150 EUR (£100) and I'm very pleased with it. Especially to watch those wonderful mono 40s Bogart movies!!

Jean-Marc

The Toshiba DVDs get a good review - the new 520se is about £220 and has all the bells and whistles you could want for.

I think you will be disappointed with the sound quality of a £60 Tesco job.

I can't imagine spending £5k on a DVD / DAC unless you are a real movie buff, with a home theatre room, projector/ screen and all the gubbins. Anyway, the Chord is 2 channel, for the movie experience you need at least 5.1, if not 7.1 for the latest blockbusters.

DS

ITC Phillip Glass - Descent into the Maelstrom

quote:

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Originally posted by Jean-Marc:
Especially to watch those wonderful mono 40s Bogart movies!!

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Well, you know it's only a matter of time before they remaster those into 5.1/6.1/7.1 channel surround sound - like they did with Jaws, which was originally mono.

Chris L

I have just bought a Grundig Livance. It works great, very good sound and vision, and looks very good, the same style as Linn. At 200 euro's you can't go wrong!

quote:

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Originally posted by J. A. Toon:
Watching films with the full setup really does make a dramatic difference to the qualititative experience of the film. It is much more immersive, exciting, and dramatic.

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Funny, because I hate surround sound: either for music or films, or home or cinema venues.

All the visual action is happening on the screen in front of me, I expect all the sound to come from there, too. I find it quite disconcerting having sound coming at me from all directions.

Two particularly extreme examples come to mind: I went to see "Lord of Rings: The Two Towers" the other day. At one point in the film, one of the characters was talking, and was visible in front of me, on the right side of screen, but his voice was coming to me from slightly behind me on the right!

The second was at the Naim BBQ in 2001, when we had the demo of the surround processor, and one of the discs was a live show by Moby (I think). Now, with the "action" happening on a projected screen in front of me (Moby on guitar and a bass and drums, I think), I swear that the sound of the bass guitar was coming from behind me.

These are extreme examples of bad mixing/mastering, but I feel the same to a greater or lesser extent with all surround sound tracks - until we have surround vision, you can keep surround sound

At most I'd have three channel: left, right and centre.

Chris L

What kind and size of tele do you have? If you have a tele that will accept a 'progressive scan' signal, then a prog scan player is an option.

If the tele is a 16x9 (widescreen) set, then having scaling in the player can also be an advantage.

If neither of these is the case, then the ability to play all or nearly all DVD disks (less of an issue now but used to be a bugger) and reliability are key. Most any Toshiba will fit the bill nicely.

I have a Panasonic which I preferred for sound over a Tosh but the Tosh had the better picture. In retrospect, I should have gone with the Toshiba. The sound from the Panasonic is not nearly good enough to serve as a music source, IMHO.

Oh, both the Pany and Tosh were in the $200 range.

- GregB

Insert Witty Signature Line Here

Thanks for all the helpful comments about progressive scanning, RCE compatible, scaling etc. Must find out more about these - know nothing at the moment - but from adverts I see that many come with options.

My TV is a 10 or 2 year old Solara. No wide screen sophistication yet in my house. Actually the picture distortion I see in almost every home electronics shop on TV screens makes me wince. People don't seem to wory that they have their TV on the wrong 'setting'. I will probably go for plasma once the Solara TV dies in another few years.

Sorry haven't a clue about 5.1, 6.1, 7.1 stuff and have no desire to play CDs through the DVD. I am happy with the CDX. I aspire to the CDSII or III.

The players which seem applicable at the moment from comments include the following. The players appear to lie in the range £100-£250.

Toshiba 220
Toshiba 520
Yahama - found a 520 at Richer Sounds? Is this the recommended player? There is also a 530.
LG 4950?
Grundig Livance- having difficulty tracing this one.
Panasonic XV10EBS? or RA82EBS?

What about the JVC XVNA7SL and Sony players?

Anyone got any further helpful comments. All are very much appreciated. Thanks

I note also that a few people say buy a better scart cable. Does it make any difference with a £200 DVD player?

Terry

Terry, the Grundig is also called GDP 3100 or GDP 3200. Good luck!

Are there any DVD/VCR combos that can be recommended? My VCR is on its last legs. I need a replacement as my 2 young children will still want to watch their sizeable collection of cartoons on VCR. At the same time I would like to join the 21st century and get a DVD player but do not want yet another black/silver box. I see Toshiba does a SD22, anybody got experience of this?

plynnplynn,

The Toshiba 220 is the best value dvd you can buy for under £250.

I have just bought a Sony DVPNS705 for £200, which is very good.

A scart lead like the QED ones will give you more of a difference in picture quality than you will notice between dvd players upto £300.

"What about the JVC XVNA7SL and Sony players?"

"I note also that a few people say buy a better scart cable. Does it make any difference with a £200 DVD player?"

Hi Mr Plynnplynn,

I've had both a 'top-end' Panasonic DVD (I broke it horribly trying to make it multi-region) and currently have a mid band Sony (NS705).

My advice is based on 2 years of fiddling around (earth loops and all)...

First - I think just about any player over the £100 mark will look fine quality-wise on your existing TV - picture quality issues surface on the larger screen sets and projectors, and even if you extravagantly upgrade the TV, a £150 machine is going to do pretty well for you.

Second - for myself I was very disappointed with a 4:3 29" TV, the widescreen presentation turns into a ludicrously narrow stripe, where you only seem to use about 1/3 of the 4:3 screen - it 'made' me go out and get a basic (i.e. only stereo sound) 32" widescreen set (Sony KV32something).

Thirdly I have found multichannel sound pretty compelling - when set up nicely - although I also have found it very easy to mess up!!!

If you do eventually follow this path and try to integrate the AV and HiFi elements, you have to be really careful of earth loops.... I'm afraid I have to unplug my LP12 earth strap from my 62 when doing the movie thing, and it is equally vital to unplug the AV set from the 62 when doing a bit of music playing.

Finally - I splashed out on an expensive (£45) scart lead, and to be honest, I can see no difference in image terms at all over my old cheapo job - it might be that the stereo sound coming out of the TV speakers is better catered for. However the TV sound components are so crummy that I can't tell any actual difference here either.

- It felt like I had succumbed to a bad attack of 'Emperors New Clothes'!

Hope this helps !
Chris

quote:

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Originally posted by J. A. Toon:
The whole point is that the effect of surround sound, when _done properly_, is to bridge the experiental gap between you as a passive observer, and you as someone who is actually "there", thus making the effect of the film more powerful. Obviously if the surround sound is done badly, wherein the case of a sound does not correspond with where you would expect it spatially, then it is useless.

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Oh I know that's how it's supposed to work, but for me it just never has. I find, even when the mixing is done properly, it has the same disorienting effect as the horrific examples I gave, only less so.

I've never experienced a surround sound performance that made me feel "more there", as it were.

I realise that I'm in the minority on this, but I am interested that surround sound does nothing for me, and sometimes has a negative influence on my enjoyment of the film, and yet others find it highly worthwhile.

Chris L

Thanks for all the helpful comments about scart leads, TVs, picture and sound quality and so on.

I think that (from my limited experience of wide screen TVs) I am of the same opinion as you Chris about 28 inch screens.

Comments have been helpful in confirming that sub £250 DVD player is suitable for my application. I appreciate the benefits that others mention with regard to Arcam etc but I suspect that a cheaper system will be fine for me.

The player which seems to be appealing most to me is the Toshiba 220 but I will have another quick look at Yahama, Sony, Panasonic products on the Internet before taking the plunge.

I think that I will start with standard scart cable then perhaps upgrade it later if I am unhappy about any aspect of video or audio.

Terry

...wrote:

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Don't buy a cheap DVD player as you will get problems with some disks (eg double density).

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Is this based on current experience? This was a big issue in the "Early Days" of DVD, but now it seems any 'name' brand player (leave out the $89 no-name jobbie) will play all DVDs without a hitch, regioning excepted.

- GregB

Insert Witty Signature Line Here