steak

I bought a new Kenwood DV-5050M 400+3 dvd player and really hate it. I am returning to crutchfield tomorrow, but would like suggestions for a new player. the 2 things I hated about the kenwood was the user interface for labeling disks and the layer change on disk was horrendous. 3 seconds to switch which can just really halt the action!

Advice?

Thanks,
Steak

Deadman31

I have the JVC FA90BK. Its a 7 disc progressive scan, and I think its great.

ikiilecru371

I bought the JVC FA90GD and returned it to Circuit City the next day. The picture quality was awful, there was no "disc skip" button: you have to press two or three buttons on the remote just to change discs, the disc changing mechanism was extremely loud, and it took a good 15-20 seconds just to change the discs. I exchanged it for the Sony DVP-NC600 and it's amazing compared to the JVC. Unfortunatley, it doesn't have progressive scan, but that's a small price to pay to not have to deal with the FA90GD.

steak

well,

I decided just to go with Sony's single disk progressive scan for now. when someone else comes out with a jukebox dvd player with progressive scan, then I will consider it. I am glad I bought the Kenwood at Crutchfield, because returns with them are really easy.

Thanks for the suggestions.
Steak

Gomez

Wow?!? I have the 60BK which is more or less the same deck minus the 6-disc changer and DVD-A.

There's gotta be more to the story if a progressive scan deck looked worse than a non-progressive scan. Are you using an HDTV monitor with component inputs? Did you turn the progressive scanning on with the JVC? (I think it is "off" by default and has to be turned on first, but will remain on for future discs when activated.) If you're using an HDTV then did you set your color decoder to HD? Did you set the JVC correctly for your monitor type so that it could correctly perform the anamorphic unsqueeze for bhest resolution?

Progressive scan is a worthless option unless you're running it into the component inputs of a TV that can display a 480p source, i.e. a high-definition television. Then, and only then, you will reap the benefits if and only iff all settings are made correctly. Luckily, this usually only has to be set once.

The JVC de-interlacer is supposed to be excellent for film-based material, less so for video. My setup often exceeds what I see in the theaters and is very sharp and life-like.

Nefarious

I'd like to hear more on the JVC, as well. I was just drooling over it this weekend.

Anyone know the difference between these two models?
JVC XV-F85
JVC XV-F95

nevermind...found more detailed info. 80 doesn't have built-in decoder and doesn't support dvd-audio.

No biggies to me.

Gomez

The JVC is the way to go if your TV locks into "full" mode when fed a 480p signal (JVC 60-90 series support auto-scaling of nonanamorphic material). No bugs except for a slight shimmer on speckled dark grey areas, only visible in a few movies. Not a major deal, but looks odd when it rarely comes up. About $200, was closer to $400 a year ago.

If your set does not lock to full on 480p I would look at the Panasonic RP56 instead. No auto-scaling but the superior Faroudja de-interlacing chipset is used. The much more expensive Panasonic RP91 does auto-scaling, but has a weaker chipset and IMHO not worth the money. About $200 for the RP56.

If you want all the bells and whistles the Malata 991 is the way to go, but I'm not sure about the quality of the chipset there. It's bar-none the most powerful multi-region DVD deck out there and will also play PAL DVDs on your NTSC television. I kinda wish I had tried the malata before I bought my JVC so I could play imported DVDs using PAL and/or other RCE regions. The Malata 991 can be had for about $300.

Nefarious

Basically I'm wanting a progressive player with 3:2 pulldown. I would really like one that is multi-disc where one disc can be playing and other discs exchanged.

If I remember correctly, the Panasonic is a single disc player. I assume the malata is, as well?

Gomez

yes panny and malata are 1 disc