Bobby Kingma

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
Less than 1 month

Visitors rate this review
1.00 of 5, 1.00 votes

Price Paid:  $0.00 from Viertron Holland

Summary:
I have an 800 v4 for about a week. I had a 800 v2, 800 v2.5 and later a 800 v3.12. There is one thing 100% sure that you cannot compare this one with the earlier versions. Is it that good? Yesssss it is that good, it is hard to find the right words to describe it. It is the by far the biggest step foreward to an older version. And yes I had many little problems with the older versions. When it played, it was stunning. But this version really knocked me down. The bass control is awesome and the resolution is of a level you never heard before. The timing of everything is really impressive. With my Nordost Valhalla loudspeakercable and Valhalla Power cables I never heard this level of information on a set before. And all the small problems are gone. No little problems anymore. Meridian did a great job to get the 800 to this level. It sets Meririan on top of digital audio at this moment of writing. It has everything on board what you ever could dream of. You can scale everything you like to broadcast level, hdmi, even 6 channel balanced outputs, video inputs in/out ( you van connect every video input you like ) And it has a very beautifull learnable remote control with backlight. For me a dream come true. When you listen to it, you can't go back anymore. There will be only one sollution......buy it or quit with your hobby. You want to listen to it on and on.......forever Bobby * it is a 2005 model

Strengths:
The best sound and video level for a dvd player you can buy for money on this planet

Weaknesses:
addiction to it

Similar Products Used:
Meridian 800 v2, 800 v 2.5, 800 v3.12

Price Paid:  $0.00

Summary:
Having had good experiances with several Meridian products for some years,- amomg them 508.24,-566.24,-518,-588,- and 596,- I did not hestitate bying the 800 v3;- so fare I have no regrets,- this player must surely represent the current state of the art in sound reproduction,- both regarding Red Book CD, and DVD-A;- as a DVD player it is just outstanding. I understand from other users reporting here, that earlier player have had some problems,- these now seems completely solved,- that said,- should something eventually cause me any trouble,- a follow up can be expected.

Strengths:
Everything realy,- but perhaps the most obvious is the extreme degree of resolution, and organic presentation;- probably one of the most harmonic sounding players at the present time.

Weaknesses:
None realy,- but some may find setting up a bit problematic;- some features needs a computer to be activated.

Summary:
I have been using this player a year or so, but I have not experienced any of the problems mentioned by mr. Dorn. The only flaud I have noticed is some "hangups" in the volume and main mode display. Except of this "problem" I am uterly pleased with the 800 player - the sound and picture is realy breathtaking.

I feel confident in whatever the future brings of new audio/video formats, the 800 will deliver.

Strengths:
Sound and looks

Weaknesses:
some glitches in software may case hangups in display

Summary:
First time I have ever been so disappointed with a name brand product and had to return it for a refund. This one also has great reviews elsewhere. Go figure!

Strengths:
This is another follow up to the previous reviews. The second unit turned out to be better than the first. However on the third day, it started to lockup, pixellate, and then play on. This comes and goes at random on many discs. Then it started to happen to CD's. When looked at, the discs have no visible defects. Tried to play rental DVD's and the unit failed about 2 minutes in - screen image freezes or splits into two frames, one above, one below. Because this is inconsistant (same disc will play through, especially if you clean it) I had to find two discs that consistently have the same problem, The Stones Babylon concert DVD, never gets through chapter 20, and another 10 year old CD where it can't even recognize the disc. So the Meridian 800 has been returned to JS Audio who graciously took it back. The Meridian people offered to send another unit, but I declined. Can you imagine how embarrassed I have been by showing guests a movie that stops half way through? Anything this expensive should never falter, especially when far cheaper units play these same discs fine. My diagnosis is that it can't read the disc reliably and that the error correction is below par. End of story.

Weaknesses:
Won't play many CD's and DVD's reliably.

Summary:
This is a follow up to the first review sent in March.

The dealer (JS AUDIO) has been as accomodating as possible, but they can't make this unit any better than previously stated. However, Meridian contacted me and has replaced the 800 DVD/CD unit with a brand new one. Am I happy? Not yet.

The new 800 unit is the latest in production, built last month. It does put out a DTS signal, and the sound through the 861 processor and speakers is thrilling - absolutely incredible. I thought I was going to be blownup watching "Saving Private Ryan" in DTS.

The new unit is quieter, no noise coming from the spinning disc drive, and it creates much less heat. The discs no longer feel as if they had been in an oven when removed. Still no screen saver, but the fixed blue screen with Meridian on it is now closer to a pale gray. The onscreen lettering is not brilliant white, but a dull gray or less bright white, and the lettering goes away after a few seconds and does not linger on screen.

Yes, the unit will remember the spot where you pressed stop and later press start. However this is only possible by leaving the Meridian system on. If you go to standby, the memory is lost and the disc starts from the beginning.

The picture is quite good, but no better than many other top players I have seen. The drive is from Toshiba, and there is a menu to change the ability to play discs from other regions. However I believe if you do this, the number of times you can change the setting is limited and may make the unit unable to play region one (USA) discs later on.

I would say I am less angry, not pleased, considering the investment. Countering all this is the incredible sound quality achieved by the built in upsampling software and digital manipulation. If you play normal CD's, they are upconverted to 88khz, the digital signal from DSS satellite becomes 96khz, movies remain 48khz but the decoding is of a higher standard for DTS and Digital Dobly, and Dolby Surround than anything else I have heard. 96khz signals are sent straight through and sound great on the dozen or so music DVD's so encoded that I have.

The first two days, I thought all was well. Then I played the Rolling Stones Bridges to Babylon Concert, which was a real experience until chapter 20 when the 800 started skipping, and completely locked up on chapter 21. This is a new disc, no visible defects or dirt, yet the 800 has great trouble with these chapters. To see if it was the disc, I hooked up my Panasonic 1000 progressive scan player and it played flawlessly from beginning to end (and the sound fed in by digital cable to the Meridian was just as great as with the 800 itself. So go figure! Whatever Meridian is doing to read the disc, is just not as good as others at error correcting. I became convinced of that when I played a rented DVD from the local store. It began skipping on the 800 after the first two minutes, so I took it out and looked at it. Fingerprints all over it. Cleaned it off with some breath and a clean cloth and it played through to the end with no problem. Clearly the 800 is very sensitive to dirty or not properly mastered discs.

I await the upgrade for the new SACD and Super Audio discs when these formats become available. I am sure the software will be upgraded yet again to make this unit better. The bottom line is that you can buy a Sony SACD now, a new Super Audio DVD player when available, and a top of the line Pioneer, Sony, Toshiba, or Panasonic DVD player for less than the 800 alone. All of the magic happens in the 861 processor which I highly recommend.

There is also the proposition of paying for things twice. Both the 800 and the 861 do the upsampling and dejittering and some other digital processes, assuming you are going to buy one or the other. There should be a model that eliminates some of this duplication when you own both, and lower the price.

Strengths:
Replacement unit, better than the first one.

Weaknesses:
Remote no better, many standard DVD features not available or clumsy to use. Very sensitive to bad or dirty discs.

Similar Products Used:
See previous review.