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Review 1 of 2
Price Paid:
$150.00
from Ultimate Electronics Summary:
I couldn't be happier with this player. I had become less and less satisfied with my Sony unit and had looked at several different Denon units after being very pleased with my Denon receiver.
After deciding that I could't justify the price for the higher end Denon units I went to Ultimate Electronics and with the help of the excellent sales person decided on this unit.
Setup was very quick and simple. I have a setup that allows me to switch back and forth from component to S-Video connections and have been very impressed with the improved picture using the component cables. The colors are more true and the picture is sharper in general.
Last night was the first time that I had watched a full movie since purchasing the unit. There was a noticeable delay while the player switched layers on the disk--I'm guessing that delay would be non-existent on higher end models with a built in buffer, but it's not really a big deal.
I was very pleased with the performance of the unit when searching forward or backward. We were looking for some specific information in the credits, and the display during search was much smoother than any other unit I've ever used.
I must say that I'm not at all a fan of the remote. It seems to be a familiar complaint with all Denon products, but this remote seems particularly poor--even when compared to the remote for my receiver which certainly wouldn't win any prizes. The buttons for the main functions (play, pause, stop, search) are just not laid out logically or in a place on the remote that is ergonomically comfortable. At this price range, Denon shouldn't assume that people will have high dollar universal remotes.
The sound is another major improvement over previous units I've had. I've recently bought some DVD-Audios and was fairly pleased when listening to them on my old Sony, but the sound on the Denon is immeasurably better. I understand that this unit isn't a full-fledged DVD-Audio player, but it does an admirable job.
Overall, I'm very happy with my purchase. I honestly didn't expect the quality of the DVD player--especially at this price point--to make much of a difference. I've been pleasantly surprised.
I would also like to say that I was even more please with the service at got at Ultimate Electronics. Even though this was my first purchase, I left the store feeling like I had been a valued customer for years. It was truly one of the best customer service experiences of my life. Strengths:
Excellent video and audio performance
Price
Ease of setup
Not a Sony Weaknesses:
Poor remote design
Lag during disc layer switch (More of a minor annoyance than a weakness) Similar Products Used:
An older Sony model from 1998--crappy from the get-go.
Toshiba 5-disc player from 2004--even crappier than the Sony
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