kds

Overall Rating
 3 of 5

Value Rating
 3 of 5

Used product for
Less than 1 month

Visitors rate this review
4.00 of 5, 2.00 votes

Price Paid:  $200.00 from HiFi Klubben

Summary:
To follow up on an earlier post, Cambridge Audio has now finally posted a firmware upgrade on its website. I did the upgrade myself and it seems to have completed without error. However, it is unclear if there are improvements. The lip sync problems persist after the upgrade.

Strengths:
dvi output inexpensive

Weaknesses:
lip sync problems after upgrade buzz when audio played through scart

Similar Products Used:
Harman Kardon DVD 25

zuil

Overall Rating
 2 of 5

Value Rating
 3 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Visitors rate this review
3.33 of 5, 3.00 votes

Price Paid:  $295.00 from fnac

Summary:
Hello, here i am again. A year ago i was very happy with my cambridge audio dvd79, it has an excellent platform and deliveres good picture through the dvi output. But time has passed and here i am again... Cambridge audio had a winner product because of its oem hardware, wich is one the best still today, all they had to do was to listen to buyers feedback and make some firmware upgrades, just like oppo did. But no, cambridge audio dodged arround the issue in the cambridge audio forum, then said the were going to deliver a firmware upgrade two weeks ago, and now they extinguished the forum... I´ve got tired of their promises and done the upgrade with the oppo dv971h firmware and bought a kameleon universal remote (ask for the individual function codes by mail to the one-for-all support team) and what a great dvd player i have now. So honestly follow advice of the other reviewer and buy the oppo dv971h, its cheaper, same great hardware, and new excellent firmware features. Visit: http://www.oppodigital.com/ This hardware was rated with the highest score on multiple benchmark magazines.

Strengths:
Great hardware

Weaknesses:
poor firmware, out of date, doesn´t explore half the potencial of the platform Very bad cambridge audio support, i´ll never buy a product of cambridge audio again.

Similar Products Used:
oppo dv971h

magda

Overall Rating
 3 of 5

Value Rating
 2 of 5

Used product for
3 Months to 1 year

Price Paid:  $250.00 from Dealer

Summary:
The DVD79 from Cambridge audio uses a great platform. Its identical to the Oppo OPDV971H and the BBK in Europe. Although its a nicer looking player than the other two and the built quality seems better Cambridge is unable to keep up with the other two companies which have since released several firmware updates to adress a number of issues. I myself have updated the cambridge with the oppo firmware and the image quality has improved significantly. I cant honsetly reccoment this player however. Anyone looking at this should first check out the following forum : http://www.cambridgeaudio.com/forums/view_messages.php?CID=4&TID=2729&Title=DVD79+DCDi+Azur+540D+Oppo+Firmware+Problems

Strengths:
Great platform nice looks DCDi etc

Weaknesses:
No support from Cambridge Audio

Similar Products Used:
Denon 2910 Vinc Bravo

zuil

Overall Rating
 4 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
3 Months to 1 year

Visitors rate this review
5.00 of 5, 1.00 votes

Price Paid:  $295.00 from fnac

Summary:
Excellent product. Affordable way into digital video transfer. Produces the most beautiful image i´ve ever seen throught the dvi-d output, being capable of displaying resolutions up to 1080p. It´s able to decode Divx and DVD-audio. In the audio section, has 24bits 192 khz DACs which produce very good stereo performance, way above average, for this price tag. It´s capable of playing dvd´s filled with mp3´s without any errors but the interface is a bit limited since only the first 13 caracters of the filename appears. Beyond that flaw, it´s the best mp3 performance i´ve heard, it sounds solid and detailed yet refined. The bass is fast and treble is clear. The DAC´s are so good that i´m using the analog output (gold plated) of the player with Kimber PBJ interconnect. Overall: great value, great player

Strengths:
DVI-D output Great Mp3 decoding from DVD´s and Cd´s Divx and DVD audio decoding

Weaknesses:
Lacks SACD Bad interface for reading mp3´s and divx Bad support from the cambridge audio site, i´ve wrotte a mail a month ago concerning some issues about the DVI output, and had no response.

aemarques

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
Less than 1 month

Visitors rate this review
4.75 of 5, 4.00 votes

Price Paid:  $0.00

Summary:
I'm a Portuguese journalist and I recently reviewed this machine for my magazine. This is an amazing piece of kit for the money (€ 295 in Portugal), with great build quality inside and out. The picture quality is amazing for this price, and the machine also is a good audio player performer - including DVD-A support. Some quirks, though: the component (analogue) output is capable of interlaced video only and the remote is bellow par, with too many similar (and small) keys. However, there are some interesting features, and some of them you can’t even learn from looking at the manual or consulting the Cambridge Audio site: DVI out (up to 720p/1080i) is not HDCP compliant, which is a good thing if your TV/Projector also does not support HDCP protected content; and there is a Faroudja DCDi processor/scaler inside! Yes – a Genesis FLI2310 chip, in this case used only for the digital output, since the analogue output is interlaced only. It’s a mystery, why CA does not publicize this – probably because using the DCDi logo costs money? Anyway – this is a great machine, excellent for audio and amazing for video, with the added bonus of a DVI out at a great price. Oh, yes - and it is multiregion out of the box...

Strengths:
DVI output (not HDCP compliant), good build quality, DVD-A support, multiregion.

Weaknesses:
Component output with interlaced video only.

Similar Products Used:
Dozens of other DVD players tested already