One way to improve the performance you get out of your home theater is with a component that can be adjusted in so many ways, you can enhance the whole system just by setting it up right. That's what Denon's hyperadjustable DVD-3910 does for multichannel music and movie soundtracks.

Fast Facts

DIMENSIONS (WxHxD) 17 1/8 x 5 1/2 x 16 inches PRICE $1,299 MANUFACTURER Denon Electronics USA, usa.denon.com, 973-396-0810

Key Features

• 3 different digital audio outputs, 2 digital video outputs • Bass management and speaker-distance compensation for all formats • outputs HDMI, DVI, IEEE 1394, and Denon Link; component-, composite- and S-video; optical and coaxial digital audio; multichannel and stereo analog audio

Some of the player's flexibility stems from its ability to play Super Audio CD (SACD) and DVD-Audio discs not only through the usual multichannel analog outputs but also through three (!) different digital connections. There's Denon Link for compatible Denon gear, an IEEE 1394 (a.k.a. FireWire or i.Link) interface, and an HDMI port, which can also carry digital video. There's also a second output for digital video, a DVI port. All this gives the player an unusually crowded rear panel and an abundance of hookup options guaranteed not to degrade DVD quality.

Much of the rest of the player's versatility shows itself in setup features and options. For audio, the most valuable feature is its unusually consistent bass-management/speaker-distance compensation system. Once you've set this up, the same processing will be applied to everything the DVD-3910 can play — from the lowest-fi MP3 and WMA files, through standard CDs and Dolby Digital or DTS soundtracks, right up to the best multichannel music recordings on DVD-Audio and SACD!

Proper bass management routes deep bass to the subwoofer when you're using a subwoofer/satellite speaker system. And distance compensation is essential for getting the most solid and detailed imaging — especially across the three front speakers — from both movie soundtracks and surround sound music recordings. Denon is one of only a handful of companies to provide distance compensation for SACD playback. The DVD-3910 even applies distance compensation to its subwoofer output and offers a range of common crossover frequencies to choose from — features usually found only in high-end receivers.

Video also has its share of adjustments. You get four types of progressive-scan con version (two optimized for playback of film-derived DVDs, and two for discs from video sources) as well as adjustable presets for the common video parameters (brightness, contrast, and so on) plus a gamma control to fine-tune the gradations between light and dark parts of the picture. By the way, I don't recommend messing with gamma for casual viewing, since all controls of this type are easy to screw up. But this is another way you — or a professional installer — can tweak video performance to the nth degree, particularly if you have a plasma, LCD, or DLP TV.

SETUP Once you figure out which of the outputs is best for your system, setup is pretty straightforward. If you use the DVI or HDMI output for video, the player will upconvert video from the DVD to either the 720p (progressive-scan) or 1080i (interlaced) HDTV format.

While the traditional analog and digital audio connections work as usual, using the IEEE 1394, Denon Link, or HDMI options might mean having to forgo other features. For example, when you use the IEEE 1394 output to a receiver, the player's analog outputs as well as your speaker-balance and speaker-distance-compensation settings are disabled, since the player assumes these functions are being handled by the receiver (as they usually are). And if you use the HDMI output, it will carry stereo audio from the CD layer of hybrid SACDs but not multichannel audio from the other layer.

The remote is comfortable to hold and nicely laid out. But only the cursor/menu controls and the basic transport buttons in the center are backlit.

MOVIE PERFORMANCE Images looked superb. Even the deep shadows, expanses of empty sky, and featureless walls throughout the new Ed Wood DVD (reviewed on page 109) were smooth and clean. I found no evidence of progressive-scan problems like jagged diagonals and color-smearing.

Black-and-white DVD movies like Ed Wood can challenge even topnotch players, like the Denon DVD-3910.

After using test patterns and Ed Wood to adjust the gamma for playback on an LCD TV, I was able to see details in near-black shadows, without increased picture noise or major distortions. This also had a big impact on playback of the BBC/Opus Arte DVD of the Berlioz opera Les Troyens (The Trojans). One of very few opera productions recorded live in high-definition video — most movies aren't as full of fine detail — it looked especially lifelike and vivid.

MUSIC PERFORMANCE The multichannel soundtrack of Les Troyens was also superbly lifelike. Everything I played on the DVD-3910 — from CD to DVD-Audio and SACD — sounded equally clear and clean. Proper bass management paid its usual dividend in solid lows from such over-the-top multichannel productions as the DVD-Audio disc of Blue Man Group's The Complex. And while Thomas Tallis's Spem in Alium is pretty esoteric, the Tallis Scholars' multichannel SACD of this and other a cappella Renaissance music has imaging properties that make it much more demanding of a surround setup than a typical pop production. With speaker-distance compensation set properly on the DVD-3910, I heard stunning polyphonic clarity within a reverberant cathedral ambience. I almost felt I could point to each of the 40 singers!

PLUS Superb audio and video quality. Consistent bass management and distance compensation for all formats! Many picture-quality adjustments. Complete set of digital outputs. MINUS Expensive.

BOTTOM LINE  From its wide range of outputs to its wealth of adjustments, the Denon DVD-3910 is the most versatile disc player I've ever reviewed. Most of us will be happy with the factory settings, but inveterate tweakers and pro installers will have a ball fine-tuning them for the best possible performance. And while it's pricey by megastore standards, it's one of few players at any price that can deliver well-adjusted multichannel audio from all discs to any sound system. Add in its topflight audio and video performance, and you'll see why it's now my favorite universal DVD player.

PDF: In the Lab