Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems DVD king: G98, Oppo 83, Denon 4010UD or Pioneer LX52?

Hi,

Has anyone compared the DVD playback quality of the G98DH, Oppo 83, Pioneer LX52 (BDP-23FD in USA) and the new Denon 4010UD?
(I'll also purchase a HD621 soon).

My questions is:
Which of the above is the best choice purely for DVD picture & sound? (loading times, sacd, DVD-audio & networking are not important to me)

Ps. If the G98 is the real DVD champ, I'll buy & use it for DVD & CD playback and get me a midrange blu-ray player for blu-ray duties.

Please advice which player I should buy for my many DVD's.

Thanks in advance!

Best regards,
Bob

And what about the G96?
Better de-interlacing/ scaling than G98DH?

Unfortunately Meridian's video fidelity skills aren't on par with their audio "chops". I suspect that either the Oppo or the new Denon would offer the best upscaling of DVDs for HiDef monitors or projectors. Both companies' products have been at the top of the HT Secrets "DVD Benchmark" tests for a few years. Now when it comes to sound, well thats where Meridian shines but for movie playback, the visuals are at least as important as the audio, most would claim more so.

Happy Trails!
Vince@Freewheelcycle.com

Check out the Pioneer BDP-09FD (BDP-LX91 - Europe). IMHO, this is the best player on the market for upscaling DVDs. Although I haven't evaluated all of the good/great Bluray players on the market, I have tried out several in my home (not the Denon) and none of them beat the the Pioneer BDP-09FD for upscaling standard DVDs.

I don't know if the Pioneer LX52 uses the same upscaling technology as the 09FD.

Good luck.

Nick

You could buy a Philips 963 with and SDI output and a Crystalio 3100 scaler if you want top drawer DVD playback for less than these other players.
I still think it has the best image from DVD.

I know the Pioneer LX-91 well, and have the Denon 3800 myself, they are both good with DVD but not as good as the Philips/Crystalio combo.


However, and don't take this the wrong way, I think any of the above Bluray players you mention above will be more than adequate on your 500M, the Pioneer is excellent in many areas, but it does have a fair amount of PWM noise in the image, especially in 50hz mode, that masks the very finest details that would seperate these players you mention.

I've already decided to stick with the Philips 963 SDI/Crystalio combo for DVD, feeding a JVC HD750. Really excellent picture.

Cheers

George

It is stunning, it has such a clean image to it.
I have had many people think it is HD.

Thanks for the info & advice!

Regards,
Bob

Hi gIzzE,

Could you please tell me which 50" plasma or LCD will beat the latest generation Pioneer Kuro at displaying the 'very finest details' (DVD sourced)?

I really do want to be able to seperate the players I mention.

Hope to hear from you soon!

Regards,
Bob

LCD I would forget unless you can sit directly in front of them, they colour shift so badly as you move slightly off centre, I have a Samsung LED in the conservatory and it is great in there, but we were moving rooms and I stuck it in the living room for 3 days and it was awful compared with the plasma.

The only screen that really does shine is the Panasonic VX100 or the PF12 which is pretty much thesame screen but aimed at commercial installs rather than custom av installers (no 50" though as they have delayed the launch as there will be a PF20 using the Kuro panels).
These do a very simple per pixel scaling so very sharp with SD material and it is an extremely clean image. I had the PF11 and the 500M and the PF11 made the Pioneer look like it was showing very, very good scaled SD rather than HD, the Pioneer is quite soft in comparison.

However the Pioneer does have better blacks and other areas where it excels, it is all very personal and I wouldn't suggest swapping a 500M for a PF11/12, maybe consider the PF20 when it is released?

Basically the PF20 is a VT25 Panasonic in a commercial case with no tuner etc. and a decent power supply and a much better build.

I think the Toshiba HD-DVD XA2 is a stunning upconverting DVD player and can be had for a song if you can find one. It is what I use, and I don't own a single HD-DVD. Barring that, I'd go with the Oppo with its ABT-102 video processing. It also outputs 480i in case you want to use an external scaler.

Aren't the new Panasonics designed by the team who designed Kuros? I read on AVForums that when Pioneer closed down their Plasma team they all went to Panasonic.

I have in the back of my mind a Panasonic 60" but I am not sure when I will manage it. And as the apartment we looked at is full of sloped ceilings and walls (German Fachwerk from 1650) I don't know where I will put it...