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| The well-produced Seabiscuit DVD provided plenty of challenges for these systems, from ripping fast motion to thundering sound effects. |
PDF: Key Features
Panasonic SC-HT1000
Panasonic bolts from the gate with the SC-HT1000 ($1,000), which doesn’t just play DVDs — it records them, too. To make the most of that ability, it includes a TV tuner with VCR Plus+ and an auto-setting clock to assist programming the recorder. The system records on both write-once DVD-R and rewritable DVD-RAM discs (either bare or in a cartridge). DVD-RAM provides much of the flexibility and “trick play” features — like pausing live TV or beginning playback of a show while it’s still being recorded — offered by hard-disk video recorders, while DVD-R gives you maximum compatibility with other DVD players.
| PANASONIC SC-HT1000 |
| • DIMENSIONS (WxHxD, inches) DVD recorder/receiver 17 x 3 1/4 x 15 L/R front speakers 9 1/2 x 44 3/4 (includes maximum stand extension) x 9 1/2 center speaker 12 1/4 x 3 3/4 x 3 5/8 surround speakers 6 1/4 x 8 3/4 x 4 1/4 subwoofer 6 1/4 x 17 3/4 x 16 3/4 • SYSTEM WEIGHT 63 3/4 pounds • PRICE $1,000 • MANUFACTURER Panasonic Consumer Electronics, www.panasonic.com, 800-211-7262 |
The SC-HT1000 offers five recording levels (comparable to the recording speeds on a VCR), trading picture quality for recording time. At the highest-quality XP setting, single-sided discs can store an hour of video. At the longest-play EP setting, you can cram 6 hours on a disc, but quality is comparable to what you get with the slowest speed on a VCR.
Setting up the recorder is akin to setting up a VCR. Tell it whether you receive programming via an antenna or over cable, and the channel-set feature does the rest. While programming for unattended recording is identical to a VCR, manual recording isn’t — recording starts and stops almost instantaneously, and you can view the results immediately without rewinding. I made a few recordings from analog cable on both disc formats using the SP (normal) setting. DVD-RAM recordings were nearly indistinguishable from the original. But freeze frame did show a little noise, and there was some jerkiness with rapid motion on the DVD-R recording.
For DVD-Rs to be compatible with other players, they have to be finalized, which takes about 15 minutes. Once a disc is finalized, you can’t add anything. And, like other DVD recorders, the Panasonic won’t let you copy commercial DVD movies.
The SC-HT1000 has matching, height-adjustable stands for the slender, columnar L/R front speakers. The center speaker is small, thin, and horizontal, the surround speakers are trapezoidal, and the subwoofer is tall but narrow. The rear-ported, side-firing sub, which holds the system’s amplifiers, connects to the control center via a thick, multiconductor cable.
You get both a clearly written and illustrated eight-page foldout guide and a beefy, dense manual, though things are practically plug-and-play as far as basic operations. The control center has only a few front-panel buttons, but the remote, which can also operate a TV, bristles with keys. Even so, you still have to press a shift key to access some piggybacked functions.
The SC-HT1000 includes some digital signal processing (DSP) tricks like Multi Rear Surround, which creates the illusion of multiple surround speakers from just the supplied pair — a subtle yet desirable effect. There’s a Virtual Rear Surround mode if you have to position the surround speakers forward of your listening position. And a Seat Position adjustment compensates for off-center listening.
Viewed on my 42-inch Toshiba widescreen HDTV monitor, Seabiscuit had fully saturated colors at the Normal (U.S.-standard) black-level setting and looked smooth and natural. The movie is filled with ripping fast motion, horses flying through the foreground or with the camera following them, causing the background to whip by. The latter is a good DVD-player torture test — which the SC-HT1000 passed admirably. The picture didn’t break up or show digital block distortion either in the background scenery or the shots of fan-filled grandstands.
DVDs also sounded natural, with firm, crisp transients. And the system went from hooves on soft grass to hooves pounding down the home stretch without apparent strain. Voices were realistic, without sibilance or chestiness, and the subwoofer helped to complete the illusion of horses running. Volume was ample, but it could have used more muscle in the bass.
Playing CDs, the Panasonic put up a detailed stereo image with a wide and deep illusion of voices and instruments, while the tonal balance and timbre sounded very natural. For example, I spun pop singer-songwriter Lucy Kaplansky’s new CD The Red Thread. Having heard her in person several times, I know the Panasonic was true to her voice. And just to expand the music spectrum, I listened to the Super Bit Mapped remastered CD of Miles Davis’s Kind of Blue. Although the sub couldn’t reproduce the lowest notes on the double bass with authority, the instrument was definitely there. And the percussion sparkled without shattering.
Panasonic’s SC-HT1000 packs a whole lotta features into a single package. It can’t match the volume capability of a full-size system, but it’s the first HTiB to throw a DVD recorder into the mix, and that definitely makes it worth considering.
PDF: Key Features
PDF: In The Lab
The Pioneer HDT-630DV system ($800) hops on the wire-cutting bandwagon by including a wireless surround speaker. A small transmitter plugged into the DVD player/receiver sends audio for the surround channels to the receiver/speaker module, which is about the size of a large loaf of bread and contains two drivers and an amplifier. (Of course, it isn’t entirely wireless, since you have to plug it into an AC outlet.) Flick a switch on the speaker module, and it becomes a semi-portable stereo extension speaker that you can use anywhere within the transmitter’s range (about 100 feet) — too bad there’s no battery option.
| PIONEER HTD-630DV |
| • DIMENSIONS (WxHxD, inches) DVD changer/receiver 16 1/2 x 4 7/8 x 17 3/4 satellite speaker 5 3/4 x 9 1/4 x 8 1/8 center speaker 12 1/4 x 4 x 3 wireless surround speaker 16 1/2 x 7 x 4 3/4 subwoofer 7 1/2 x 14 1/4 x 13 • SYSTEM WEIGHT 70 pounds • PRICE $800 • MANUFACTURER Pioneer Electronics, www.pioneerelectronics.com, 800-421-1404 |
The HTD-630DV also has a five-disc carousel changer that plays just about anything you feed it — even photo CDs. The changer makes this control unit the most imposing of the three systems, but Pioneer places the main controls on a beveled edge along the top of the front panel, simplifying operation when you’re standing above it. On the other hand, the subwoofer’s unprotected driver is exposed on its rear panel, making it vulnerable to damage by children or pets.
A quick-setup mode lets you tell the system whether your room is small, medium, or large and whether you sit in the front, middle, or back. You can also fine-tune the system conventionally, compensating for different speaker distances in 1-foot increments and balancing the channels using the internal test-tone generator.
The wireless surround speaker makes setup easy. Connecting the transmitter to the player/receiver and plugging in its AC adapter requires no expertise. In the master system setup menu, you have to remember to specify wireless surround, since you can also use the main unit with conventional wired speakers. Pioneer could have made this even simpler, though, by having an outlet on the back of the main unit for the AC adapter or, more elegantly, by building the transmitter into it.
The nonuniversal remote control resembles the Panasonic handset but is slightly larger and a little easier to read. I really liked the large horizontal volume bar above the diamond-shaped cursor pad. As with the Panasonic system, you have to use the shift key to access many functions.
The HTD-630DV provided an enjoyable movie experience, playing somewhat louder than the Panasonic and Denon systems. But the sound during Seabiscuit was boxy and vaguely hollow. While the horse gallops were a bit more resonant, voices tended toward chestiness. Getting the most out of the surround speaker module, which I positioned about 5 feet behind a loveseat in the middle of the room, required some adjustment. It was important to find the right volume, and it took me awhile to get used to the sound coming from directly behind me.
The Pioneer didn’t produce as sharp a picture as the Panasonic, and the images were a hint noisier, especially during darker scenes. There were no obvious playback artifacts, but for the briefest moment I thought I saw the rail become a little jagged during one of the race scenes.
The wireless surround speaker of Pioneer’s HTD-630DV is a nice perk that could bring true home theater to a room where it might otherwise have been impossible. The system was refreshingly easy to use, though I wish its remote was more versatile.
PDF: Key Features
PDF: In The Lab
Denon D-M71DVSX
A home theater setup with just two main speakers might seem like a step backward, but Denon’s $999 D-M71DVSXP is the first A/V system to use Dolby’s Virtual Speaker (VS) technology to simulate five-channel surround sound. You can buy the system without its powered subwoofer, but you’ll need the sub’s support for playing DVDs or hot audio CDs. Even the cleverest virtual surround needs something real to stand on. The main unit has center- and surround-channel preamp outputs in case you want to upgrade to six discrete speakers.
| DENON D-M71DVSXP |
| • DIMENSIONS (WxHxD, inches) DVD player/receiver 8 3/8 x 3 3/4 x 14 3/4 L/R speakers 2 3/4 x 8 3/8 x 6 3/8 subwoofer 9 1/8 x 18 1/8 x 15 3/4 • SYSTEM WEIGHT 32 pounds • PRICE $999 • MANUFACTURER Denon Electronics, www.usa.denon.com, 973-396-0810 |
The half-size receiver/DVD player has a somewhat unconventional shape, like a flattened shoebox, with 11 controls at one end that operate all of its functions. There’s a headphone jack on the front panel, and Dolby Headphone virtual surround processing is provided so you don’t have to give up multichannel excitement when you turn the speakers off.
All the information you need is displayed on both the main unit’s front panel and on your TV screen. The imposing 70-key universal remote, preprogrammed to control just about any A/V component, is intelligently laid out, with buttons differentiated by size, shape, and color — the most important ones glow in the dark. It’s by far the best remote in this trio of systems.
The satellite speakers and subwoofer are shaped like rounded, elongated triangles, but the narrow end faces forward on the sub while the wide ends face forward on the satellites. The satellites are equally handsome with their drivers exposed or hidden behind silvery woven grilles. The knee-high sub, completely enclosed in a simulated wood cabinet that matches the satellites’ end caps, aims its down-firing woofer at a wood base, which disperses the sound.
Video from the D-M71DVSXP looked very good, with no glitches as the camera rapidly panned and the horses flew by in Seabiscuit. The player operated smoothly and responded rapidly to commands from the remote.
On the audio side, I was impressed from the first notes of Randy Newman’s score. Considering the system’s modest 20-watt-per-channel power rating — even augmented by the 100-watt subwoofer — it played surprisingly loud, with no distortion.
Voices sounded natural and authentic. The narrator’s baritone resonated smoothly, and the music, which includes a brass band and plenty of “oompah,” sounded firm and robust. In the treble range, the triangle the radio announcer rings for effect sparkled almost as if it was in the room, yet without annoying brightness.
Of course, the system’s drawing card is Dolby VS processing. Whether made up of sounds from nature like rustling grass, a crackling campfire, and birds, or city sounds like streetcars, sputtering car engines, and general urban noise, the sound fields of Seabiscuit surrounded me, convincingly filling my room. In some respects the sound was better than from a six-speaker setup because I couldn’t pinpoint the source of these ambient effects. While foreground sounds, like the roar of the fans, didn’t completely surround me, they filled the front half of the room, while the dialogue stayed centered onscreen.
Denon lets you adjust the “spread” of Dolby VS using either the default Reference mode or the Wide mode. I preferred Wide because it accentuated the breadth of the sound field without making it seem gimmicky. The sweet spot for VS was so small, however, that I had to sit more or less in an equilateral triangle with the speakers. But I was pleasantly surprised when listening to CDs by the depth of sound revealed by the VS processing. I give Dolby VS a definite two-ears-up. Even with it turned off, the system’s two-channel stereo imaging placed vocalists in a natural perspective, with the instruments properly placed across the soundstage.
But as good as Dolby VS sounds and the Denon system performs, the combination just can’t play as loud as a full-fledged multichannel setup nor deliver all the nuances one of those can — and it shouldn’t be expected to. If you’re pressed for space, though, the D-M71DVSXP unquestionably provides an impressive experience.
By combining a DVD recorder and a traditional sub/sat speaker system, the Panasonic SC-HT1000 gives great value. The changer and wireless surround speaker in Pioneer’s HDT-630DV are convenient, but that speaker works better for music around the house than as a substitute for discrete surrounds. And if you just can’t stand lots of wires, Denon’s use of Dolby VS in the D-M71DVSXP makes a good alternative. But in a photo finish, Panasonic wins by a nose.
PDF: Key Features
PDF: In The Lab