jpcamb

I just jumped into the HDTV fray and want to upgrade my DVD player to progressive scan, don't care too much about CD-R or mp3 stuff as I have equipment to do that already. Anything good out there for reasonable money (well under 1K I hope...)

Janitor

The JVC XVFA95GD goes for less than $400 (actually, more like $350) most the time. It's a seven disk progressive machine and the JVC puts out a very good picture. Better on film source than video, but still very good.

kunert

Recently got the Pioneer Elite DV-C36 5 disc changer, region free and macrovision disabled for $500 shipped. I've been happy with it, although I'm not currently using the progressive scan capability.

jabbas

I second the JVC recommendation 2 posts up. I have the single disc model with identical circuitry, and it's the best progressive scan pictuire available for under $1000.

DavidY

Janitor,

Can you or anyone else expand on this? Film source vs. video source?

I have a 32 inch JVC D-series TV and am looking to upgrade my Toshiba 2108 DVD player. Looking for a new DVD changer that has a lot of features such as DVD-A, MP3, CDR/CDRW, etc. The progressive scan would be nice to have if I upgrade my 1 year old TV to a HD-ready TV.

Thanks.

Dave

Janitor

With a DVD made from film (a movie) source, the it's a bit hard to imagine a much better picture than the JVC (I've got the XVS60BK). It does a wonderfull job, and has some very nice to have features.

But with a DVD made from a video (TV) source, I like my old interlaced machine (Sony S7700) better. Even though the TV (A Mits 55809) doesn't have as good a line doubler as the JVC. And even though the Sony has it's own problems (like the Chroma bug). I just like the Sony better on video source. Not that the JVC is really bad, just not as good (imho) as my Sony. It's a little hard to get my arms around just what I don't like - maybe it's a bit soft?

All that said, with a non progressive TV, this wont be an issue for you. At least until you get a progressive display. I think the problem lays in the line doubler. Also - I may be convincing myself there's a video source problem to justify keeping the 7700.

The XVFA95GD does DVD Audio, MP3, CDR/W and has both DD5.1 and DTS.

A couple of other things you wont care about untill you get your 16:9 display

One great feature is it's scaling. This is almost a must to have if you've got a (16:9) TV that locks into a full 1:85:1 display whenever it detects a progressive input The JVC can scale it's output such that if you feed it a 4:3 program it will center that in a 1.85:1 "window" and give that to your TV so that it (the TV) doesn't have to stretch the picture to fit. While I don't use the scaling for that, I do use it to scale non anamorphic disks to fit the display as it does a much better job of this than my TV.

One problem it has is the automatic film detection mode for the 3:2 pulldown. On some disks (I've found two thus far, and they're both from Disney) it has a lot of problems recognizing that it's a film source. Keeps on slipping in and out of film/video, and I notice quite a bit of combing and stairstepping on diagonal edges. Easy enough to overcome by forcing it into film mode through the menus, so it's not a big problem.

Note : this is all based on a different JVC than the changer I mentioned above. But I believe the electronics related to the line doubler etc are the same in both of them.

dfriedland

Has anyone heard anything or used the Denon 4800 progressive changer?

DavidY

Janitor,

Thanks very much for the explanation. I have been looking at the JVC 90/95 changers....pretty sweet feature-wise, but kinda pricey (~CDN$550 or about US$350). At this time, I cannot afford it. But I will be keeping my eye on this one. Usually I cannot stand JVC DVD players...that 501 fiasco turned me off JVC until now.

Dave

Janitor

No problems Dave -

You know - while I was (blissfully?) unaware of the 501 fiasco, I did have a problem with JVC. But that was based on nothing real and I just kind of stuck my nose up at everything they made.

My own faullt. I've had my XVS60 for 2-3 weeks now, and love it. It's a great machine, imho.

And yea - US$350 is about as cheap as I usually see it. But - they carry it at Best Buy and other mainstream shops, so you get to see sales/coupons/etc now and again on them. Keep your eyes open.

cubanx

New Toshiba 3755 is around $250. 5 Disk Progressive.

jpcamb

Is the JVC model mentioned above available at Sears? They had a changer there that I think was progressive scan so it probably is. They still do the internet price match and I found the XVS60BK for 219.00 shipped (@ Abes of Maine) so that'd be a sweet deal to internet price match there...

Thanks for the response, any other recommendations?