Now’s this for a cutting-edge shopping list: bread, milk, a dozen eggs, strawberries, zucchini, orange juice, chicken, sirloin, DVD player, spaghetti, ice cream, puppy chow. Yep, buying a DVD player these days can be as uneventful as picking up a quart of milk. And with low prices like $49, it is ridiculously tempting to pop one of ’em in your cart.
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But whether you’re shopping for your first, second, or even third DVD player, you should consider spending a few extra bucks on one that offers more than just the basics. For instance, you could pick up a five-disc changer or one that plays DVD-Audio discs. Or you could get a DVD player that doubles as a VCR — or one that packs an all-digital DVI connection for the best possible DVD picture on your new HDTV. Wouldn’t that be worth the extra money?
To find out, I rounded up four players that each bring a different twist to the DVD party: Panasonic’s DVD-F87S five-disc changer ($130), which also plays DVD-Audio discs; the RCA DRC510N five-disc changer ($99), which also handles CDs with MP3 and WMA (Windows Media Audio) music files as well as JPEG photo files; Toshiba’s SD-V392 DVD/VCR combo ($130); and the V Inc. Bravo D2, featuring one of those spiffy DVI (Digital Video Interface) connectors ($249).
Panasonic DVD-F87S
You can spot carousel changers like Panasonic’s DVD-F87S a mile away because they’re so big. But giving up some real estate in your A/V rack gets you a player that handles five discs instead of one. The F87S embraces the mirrored styling theme that seems to be taking over the DVD world. (When’s the next styling breakthrough?) Among the smattering of buttons on its slim faceplate is one to engage CD mode, which skips over any DVDs or photo discs in the carousel, and numeric keys for direct access to CD tracks or DVD chapters.
Besides CDs and regular DVDs, the DVD-F87S plays DVD-Audio music discs, which deliver the same sort of surround sound experience you’ve come to expect from movie soundtracks. It’s also one of the first DVD players to support HighMAT (High-Performance Media Access Technology), a file format that lets you share digital media between PCs and consumer players. Throw in compatibility with MP3 and WMA music and JPEG photo files, and you have a nice bridge to your PC.
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Hitting the remote’s Menu button provides access to four processing options: Bass Plus adds oomph to the low end, Cinema automatically adjusts picture contrast to improve the visibility of details in dark scenes, Multi Re-Master is said to improve the sound quality of MP3 and other compressed music files, and Depth Enhancer reduces video noise. All of these perks are available through the player’s serviceable but ultimately plain-vanilla remote.
Music Performance I immediately fell in love with the changer’s fast-forward/reverse modes, which can rocket through songs and scenes. I cued up the surround sound version of the Styx comeback album, Cyclorama, on DVD-Audio. It has plenty of head-banging guitar licks and mighty walls of drums, and the sound quality was first-rate.
Since more and more music we listen to is stored in MP3, WMA, and other compressed audio formats, I was anxious to check out Panasonic’s Multi Re-Master processing. When I popped in a CD loaded with WMA files and hit the Multi button, I was impressed with how it gave the treble a more natural sound. And I could select from Light, Medium, and Strong settings to get just the right tone.
Movie Performance Ready for some movie action, I cued up the DVD of Equilibrium — a Metropolis meets Brave New World meets Minority Report movie about a society where everyone takes medication to block emotions and enforcers maintain order. When enforcers raid an artists’ den in Chapter 1, guns blaze, windows explode, and smoke fills the air. Everything looked chillingly real — especially the gradation from light to dark areas, which can reveal playback problems in lesser players. I also appreciated the player’s Cinema mode — as advertised, it brought out detail in the dark areas. The Dolby Digital processor did a terrific job of reproducing the movie’s dark and gloomy soundtrack. Be sure to check out the shrieks as the Mona Lisa goes up in flames.
Panasonic’s DVD-F87S is an impressive player that accommodates a variety of disc and file formats and offers a well-thought-out set of features. Add to that its five-disc capability and low price, and you’ve got a winner.
PDF: Features ChecklistPDF: In the Lab
RCA DRC510N
In a world increasingly populated by iPods that put thousands of songs in the palm of your hand, RCA’s DRC510N is a behemoth. On the other hand, it is a changer that holds five discs and plays MP3, WMA, and JPEG files. And it takes the mirrored aesthetic to the extreme — fried-chicken lovers beware.
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Compared with the Panasonic changer, the DRC510N is a no-frills model with a modest set of features and a simple (yet elegantly styled) remote control. You’ll find Introscan for previewing CDs, picture zoom (1.5x, 2x, and 4x), a virtual surround mode for two-speaker setups, and a slide-show mode that lets you display JPEG snapshots while listening to MP3 or WMA music. RCA keeps things simple in terms of picture-adjustment options, too, providing only a black-level control.
Music Performance Starting with music, I loaded in Velvet Revolver’s Contraband CD and braced for an assault. What else would you expect from a band that brings together Guns N’ Roses and Stone Temple Pilots? In “Spectacle,” the electric guitars were ablazing and the drums apounding, sounding every bit as big and bad as you’d expect.
Movie Performance For movie magic, I returned to Equilibrium, picking up as the chief enforcer tirelessly works to eradicate any trace of emotion or humanity from society in Chapter 2. People sit motionless in long rows as they’re lectured on the evils of humanity. These stark scenes use muted colors that might have looked too dull and muffled, or too pronounced, on some players. Here they looked just right. On the other hand, with progressive-scan output, I saw some color smearing on menu screens as well as traces of this in some movie scenes.
If you’re looking for a basic player that’s simple to set up and use and are more interested in spinning discs than futzing with menus, RCA’s DRC510N changer will appeal to you.
PDF: Features Checklist
PDF: In the Lab
Toshiba SD-V392
It’s easy to forget just how powerful VHS was (and is) now that tape is fading into the sunset. Fact is, billions of videotapes are still in circulation, and you’ll find a working VCR in eight out of ten American homes. Furthermore, the VCR is still a great way to record video on the cheap. So Toshiba’s SD-V392 DVD/ VCR combo makes a lot of sense.
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Its utilitarian faceplate abandons any attempt at styling — no mirrored surfaces here. Among the player’s few features is Spatializer virtual surround sound for two-speaker setups, a black-level picture control, and a slide-show mode so you can cruise your JPEG snapshots on the big screen. Of course, the player also sports a component-video output with progressive-scan processing, which provides an image that’s a cut above regular (interlaced) DVD playback. The remote is typical for a modestly priced player, with extra buttons for VCR control.
The VCR is a four-head design with SP and SLP recording speeds. It’ll play tapes recorded at LP speed as well as those recorded on a Super VHS deck (but with standard VHS quality). There’s a handy Commercial Skip (CM) button that jumps ahead 30, 60, or 90 seconds as well as “one-touch” recording. The VCR won’t record copy-protected DVDs through either internal or external wiring schemes. But you can record on the VCR while you’re playing a DVD.
CD and DVD Performance I started by popping in Mark Knopfler’s Ragpicker’s Dream — a masterful recording and one of my favorite music “test” discs. Knopfler’s blend of country, blues, and rock sounded crisp and full, leaving no doubts about the Toshiba’s abilities as a CD player.
Moving on to DVD, I cued up Chapter 3 of Equilibrium, where the enforcer meets up with the very intimidating Vice Counsel. The two men are dressed in dark colors, in a dark room, and lit from above. Their pale faces don’t have much flesh tone, and the player properly conveyed their sallow hues as well as shadow details in the room. When the Vice Counsel closes a book sheathed in brushed metal, the texture of the metal was clearly visible, as was the type on the pages inside the book.
VCR Performance To check out the VCR, I loaded a VHS copy of the original Terminator and fast-forwarded to the climactic factory scene. While I was quickly reminded of just how inferior videotape is to DVD, the VCR put up a decent picture through its composite-video output.
Zeroing in on the movie’s raucous soundtrack, I thought the Dolby Surround tape sounded pretty good — although no match for the DVD’s enveloping Dolby Digital 5.1 track. When I recorded some off-air programs, the deck’s performance was typical of standard VHS recorders. Frankly, in this DVD age, it’s hard to get excited about VHS recording. Still, it’s a cost-effective way to time-shift your soaps.
There is nothing fancy about the Toshiba’s SD-V392. Its feature set is so sparse that the VCR has more features than the DVD player. But if you have a valued collection of VHS tapes that you still enjoy and also want a good yet simple DVD player, this space-saving combo will do the job for less than what you paid for your first VCR.
PDF: Features Checklist
PDF: In the Lab
V Inc. Bravo D2
V Inc. made a name for itself last year when it introduced the world’s first DVI-enabled DVD player. The Bravo D2 is a follow-up to the original Bravo D1 and the heavy hitter in this quartet, with a price more than double that of the RCA.
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Behind its very clean, mirrored (!) face is a simple but useful array of features. Highlights include picture controls for contrast, brightness, and color saturation, a slide-show mode for JPEG photos, and a menu for specifying audio, video, or photo playback that conveniently appears whenever you load a disc. The remote control is serviceable, with no special distinctions.
Like the other players in this group, the D2 plays MP3 and JPEG files, but it also adds DivX and MPEG-4 playback to the mix. Both of these compression formats are used mainly for sending video over the Web, but they can also be employed to burn video files onto CD-R using a disc-authoring program like Nero.
Unlike the other players here, the Bravo D2 has a high-tech vibe about it. Besides the ultra-modern look and cutting-edge DVI output, it has a menu button that lets hard-core enthusiasts check the version of the player’s operating system. The owner’s manual tells how to update this to add new features or correct any bugs.
So what’s all the fuss about that little DVI connector on its back panel? Instead of using lowly analog connectors, it gives you the option of sending a digital signal directly to your TV — that is, assuming you own a late-model high-def set with a DVI input. The payoff — at least in theory — is the best possible picture quality you can get from a DVD. Why? Because the signal avoids a cycle of digital-to-analog conversion in the player and analog-to-digital conversion in the TV, a potential source of signal degradation.
Another feature of the Bravo D2 is that you can scale its video output to a format that best matches the TV it’s connected to. In addition to standard 480i (interlaced) and 480p (progressive-scan), you can select the 720p or 1080i HDTV formats. Don’t get too excited, though — picture resolution is limited by what’s on the DVD, and 480p resolution is the best you can get from a DVD player. In other words, don’t expect high-definition from your DVDs, although the Bravo D2’s ability to send out a signal that matches your HDTV’s display pixel for pixel should result in improved picture quality. However, when you use the analog component-video output rather than the DVI port, you can’t upconvert copy-protected DVDs — which includes almost all movie releases.
Music Performance As usual, I started my performance evaluation with a well-known CD — Coldplay’s atmospheric Rush of Blood to the Head — to verify that the player’s stereo music chops were up to par. They were. But I was surprised and disappointed that track (and DVD chapter) numbers aren’t displayed on the front panel, or onscreen for that matter. To see what track you’re listening to, you have to press an Info button. And when you skip to the next track, the track-number display vanishes! CD playback was clearly an afterthought.
Movie Performance I liked what I saw of the D2’s progressive-scan DVD performance through either its component-video or DVI output. In Chapter 4 of Equilibrium, an enforcer is caught reading a book, and he recites a verse of poetry — a cardinal offense. The scene is full of detail, all of it clearly visible. Hooked up via a DVIconnection to a DLP front projector with a display resolution of 1,280 x 720 pixels, the Bravo D2 delivered very clean, crisp-looking images. It wasn’t high-def, but a casual viewer might be hard pressed to tell the difference. My only criticism is that the adjustment steps of the player’s picture controls are too coarse. You’ll be better off using your TVs picture controls for making adjustments.
V Inc.’s Bravo D2 is the player to get if your HDTV is DVI-ready and you want to squeeze every last drop of picture quality out of your DVD collection. Trust me, you’ll be impressed.
The Bottom Line
So the next time you’re at the grocery, you can give in to impulse and buy one of the DVD players stacked up next to the produce. Or you can do a little homework and step up to a player that offers a twist — or two. Depending on which features you can use, and how you weight them, each of these players offers something special for not a lot of money. And would you pick up a quart of milk for me?
PDF: Features Checklist
PDF: In the Lab