law west

As for the original question, after much research, I bought the Pan RP91. I have had no regrets at all, the picture is amazing on a 65 inch mits. I found it for around 420 on the web, and that price is still somewhat accurate. however, I did see it for 700 at the large chain stores, and they would only agree to take 105 off, even after I showed them the web site.

As for sticking with the same company from component to component, I must admit I once believed in this amaturish approach, but after a lot of reading and research, I eventually figured out it made no sense whatsoever, so I swallowed my pride and admitted it was foolish.

Good luck.

nekobus

The Panasonic RP-56 is an excellent value for the money, if you don't need the extra features of RP-91, and is only $200 at BestBuy this week. There is upcoming new model that will add DVD-A.

Here is a recent test of progressive scan dvd players:
http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/volum...-2-8-2001.html

Info about the upcoming Panasonic players:
http://www.smr-home-theatre.org/ces2.../page_03.shtml

crikeycrapper

nekobus, are you sure it's Best Buy? BestBuy.com has the same player for $229.00.

nekobus

Sorry. I should have been more specific-it's the price at their B&M store this week, not on their website.

In the store on the tag it says "as advertised" with the $199.99 price. The funny thing is that it wasn't listed in their Sunday newspaper insert, but I saw the price while cruising through the dvd player section.

crikeycrapper

I just called my neighborhood Best Buy and they have the same price as the BestBuy.com. I'll drop by just for good measure.

gotapex

Onecall has it in stock for $206.10 with free FedEX shipping, and you probably won't have to pay tax on it, making it less than BestBuy.

Panasonic RP56

There are places that have it for slighly less:

Pricegrabber comparison

However, I'd recommend that with electronics like this, you may want to stick to factory authorized vendors with a good rep.

The price has come down a bit because they're replacing it in May or so.

edstein

I just ordered the Toshiba SD4700. It has gotten tons of great reviews. $225 shipped at Onecall.com.

gotapex

Just an FYI for those who care. Because the SD4700, along with all of the rest of Toshiba's progressive scan DVD players, uses the old Zoran mpeg decoder chip, it does have the unfixable chroma upsampling error. There's significant bleeding of bright reds.

The RP56, since it uses what many regard to be one of the finest decoder chips around (the "new" Faroujda), it does not have this problem.

crikeycrapper

The player has DVD-Audio capability which makes it tempting also. But alas, it has the chroma bug like gotapex mentioned.

I'm not sure if the DVD-Audio sound output is digital or analog. I looked at a number of DVD players during my visit to Best Buy and I might be getting confused. Is it the JVC players outputting the DVD-Audio in analog or is it the Toshiba, or both?

palebluedot

DVD-Audio output is always analog. The DVD player decodes the DVD-A and you use the 5.1 analog outputs from the DVD player and connect it to the 5.1 inputs on your receiver(if it has them).

edstein

How noticeable is this bug? All the reviews I read never mentioned this chroma error. The video quality was its strongest selling point.

gotapex

If you've already ordered it, don't go looking at the red bug pictures or detailed explainations on how to find it. Once you do, you'll always be looking for it, and you'll be bothered. Either forget it exists and be happy with what you have, or look for a way to return it.

ckolchak

the chroma bug on a tosh 5109 i had was VERY noticeable. In Superman, you could clearly see sizzling in the red areas of his costume.

i tried many. many progressive players and waited about 7 months before finally settling on one to use with a front projector.

the JVC 65GD was my favorite overall machine, and it was remarkable in rendering colors.
it came up short in de-interlacing.
on a 80" screen, a good de-interlacer is not an option, its a necessity.

So i ended up going with the RP56. this player sucks-the remote is ergonomically annoying, the player continuously defaults to foreign subtitles, and it is pretty much feature-less compared to the jvc.
unfortunately, its de-interlacing is quite superior however, and since that has the biggest effect on the picture i see projected, and how close it will look to film, thats what i had to go with.
i hate the RP56 because of its quirks and styling, but for the money it costs, its one of the absolute
best values in HT.
however, i would reccommend trying out the JVC (simarly priced...about $200-220) and seeing how that picture looks on your set.
maybe you won't be as troubled by the , more inferior deinterlacing, and you'd be getting a much nicer unit to boot.

Venus

Does anyone own the Philips DVDQ50AT player?

Would this be equivalent to the Panasonic RP91 or not?

nazz

My Toshiba SD 9200 is a fantastic player!

omi

I have a JVC 70-bk player and like it very much.

crikeycrapper

Why is DVD-Audio outputting analog when DVD-Movies output digital? This is a bit perplexing. Is it due to encoding?

X

DVD-Audio is higher bitrate encoded. The recording industry doesn't want you to be able to reproduce it digitally. But you can still output digitally in regular DD 5.1 if it is included on the disc.

crikeycrapper

Thanks for the explanation...it makes sense now.

Shazam

Although the RP56 does not have the chroma bug, it has the flicker bug, which I find to be more annoying.

Try out Enemy at the Gates for an example of a movie that will show the flicker bug all over the place. Toy Story 1+2 also show the flicker bug everywhere.

The Toshiba SD5109 had both the flicker bug and the chroma bug.

The newer Toshibas (3750, 4700, etc) have the chroma bug, but no flicker bug. Also, the chroma bug is much less noticeable than other players that have the bug. As well, there are different severities of the chroma bug.

edstein

I just go my 4700 in the mail today. I will test it out this weekend. Fingers are crossed.

crikeycrapper

Sears was having a closeout on this DVD player and was selling it for the same price. However, the Sears, that I went to, was out of stock and I would have to drive to another Sears to get the DVD Player.

I made a call to the local Best Buy and said they would price match it. When I got to Best Buy, the price was already marked down.

BestBuy.com does not reflect the same price, though.

So far, I find the DVD player better than my older Panasonic A120. The Progressive Output was a bit confusing at first since it changed the aspect ratio back to 4X3 on my KV-36XBR400 which automatically adjusts for 16X9 display. It turns out that this feature works well on interlaced output but it would have to be manually set for progressive output on the Sony KV-36XBR400.