Starhawk Posted May 10, 2007 Report Share Posted May 10, 2007 You get a new TV, and you end up posting alot in the HT section I need a new DVD player for now because my old Panasonic RP-91, which I loved, broke on me recently. I was thinking I about the Oppo 970, but from what I have heard, with my TV already upscaling to 720p it's not really necessary (correct me if im wrong). So, I'd like to grab a decent progressive scan player for as little as possible so I can use it until I decide to go to HD-DVD or Blu-Ray or whatever. Quality on par with the RP-91 would be nice. Any suggestions? I troll around at AVS, but I quickly get tired of 300 page threads. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starhawk Posted May 10, 2007 Author Report Share Posted May 10, 2007 Im considering: the Panasonic DVD-S52S. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreenMonkey Posted May 10, 2007 Report Share Posted May 10, 2007 http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/cgi-bin/shootout.cgi Click on "results" at the bottom under advanced search. There's a good list to start with. Takes a while to load. Best source for objective DVD player information IMO. Panasonic RP91 specifc results (rated 60/100): http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/cgi-bin/shootout.cgi?function=search&articles=all&type=&manufacturer=0&maxprice=0&deInt=0&mpeg=0#PanasonicDVD-RP91 Any idea how good the deinterlacer in your plasma is these days? Because buying a 480p DVD player is only useful if the DVD deinterlacer is better than your TV. Ditto for upscaling players - only useful if they upscale better than your display. However: the newer Faroudja DCDi chips can create a macroblocking artifact with some displays. I've personally never seen it, but so I hear. Last I heard the Panny plasmas were particularly subject to this macroblocking problem (unless that's changed in the past few years). If so you'll want to avoid the Faroudja models and get the Oppo 970 or another decently reviewed DVD player wthout Faroudja DCDi. I'd sell you my Zenith DVB-318 (to go up on ebay this week, I replaced it with the Oppo 970 @ 480i over HDMI) but it's another Faroudja based model...and like I said, I don't think DCDi plays nice with Panny plasmas. Speaking of DVD players, I miss my old Panasonic CP72. I still think it was the most consistent and user-friendly of my DVD players (remote was iffy though). I'm the resident DVD player snob, I guess, though. A bunch of folks here seem to be cool watching DVDs on the xbox, for example. I can't stand the cheap players - deinterlacing artifacts drive me crazy. If you loved the RP91 and never noticed any artifacts, just get the Panny 52s. It'll be fine for you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BdoUK Posted May 10, 2007 Report Share Posted May 10, 2007 Cameron, I have a perfectly working RP-91 sitting boxed up right next to me. Any interest in it? Just drop me a PM and let me know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
exile Posted May 10, 2007 Report Share Posted May 10, 2007 I'd pay $299 for a Toshiba HD-A2 before I'd buy another progressive player. The price difference between a good SD player and this is miniscule. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreenMonkey Posted May 10, 2007 Report Share Posted May 10, 2007 I'd pay $299 for a Toshiba HD-A2 before I'd buy another progressive player. The price difference between a good SD player and this is miniscule. I'll admit I toyed with this option myself towards the beginning of the year. If I had known that I was going to buy the xbox360 HD-DVD drive I might have went ahead with it. The Tosh HD-DVD players score pretty well on the Secrets tests. I kept telling myself I was sitting out the format war, but at $150 with King Kong, and the copy protection on the discs broken, I folded. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kelley Posted May 11, 2007 Report Share Posted May 11, 2007 I'd pay $299 for a Toshiba HD-A2 before I'd buy another progressive player. The price difference between a good SD player and this is miniscule. agreed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rustyjaw Posted May 11, 2007 Report Share Posted May 11, 2007 Heck, when my RP-82 died, I bought the A1 for $450. It's a very good SD DVD player. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
King of All Cosmos Posted May 11, 2007 Report Share Posted May 11, 2007 The Oppo if you're on a budget. One of the Toshibas if you're also interested in HD-DVD. A Denon 2930CI or higher for top of the line SD playback, with unrivalled upscaling, DVD-A, and SACD. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starhawk Posted May 11, 2007 Author Report Share Posted May 11, 2007 I'd love the HD-A1 or A2 or whatever's coming out next, but I've bought way too much stuff at once lately that I just need something reasonable to get me by for awhile. After continuing to look at everything, I might just go with an Oppo 970. I heard you could get a refurbished one from them for $119. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EnemaEms Posted May 11, 2007 Report Share Posted May 11, 2007 Speaking of DVD players, I miss my old Panasonic CP72. I still think it was the most consistent and user-friendly of my DVD players (remote was iffy though). My CP72 is still running strong. A fantastic DVD player. -Dean- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreenMonkey Posted May 11, 2007 Report Share Posted May 11, 2007 My CP72 is still running strong. A fantastic DVD player. -Dean- Mine bit it with the bearing problem the RP82/CP72/etc were prone to. Design flaw. Too bad because it was a great player. It'll probably bite you someday. Most of 'em lasted a couple years tops. I'm suprised to hear yours is still working. I gave it to technically-inclined buddy who tore it apart and oiled the bearing up. Said it's pretty noisy but works. He uses it to play around with DVD-A discs once in a while. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Union Carbine Posted May 11, 2007 Report Share Posted May 11, 2007 I've got the Oppo 981 and it's great. Besides upconversion, the Oppos are very easy to set as region-free and they also do proper PAL-NTSC conversion if you ever watch foreign DVDs. They'll also play WMV, XVID, and DIVX encoded videos. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh Posted May 11, 2007 Report Share Posted May 11, 2007 If you can find one, the Yamaha DVS5650 is a nice one and it has a simple region-free hack. Cheap, too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
secretvampire Posted May 11, 2007 Report Share Posted May 11, 2007 Mine bit it with the bearing problem the RP82/CP72/etc were prone to. Design flaw. Too bad because it was a great player. It'll probably bite you someday. Most of 'em lasted a couple years tops. I'm suprised to hear yours is still working. What exactly was this? I think I mentioned my RP91 died some months back and I wonder if it was the same defect. It powers up, but once you try to play a disc it immediately powers off and won't turn on again for a long while. I dunno, maybe it's something totally different... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreenMonkey Posted May 11, 2007 Report Share Posted May 11, 2007 I'd have to do a lot of avsforum archive searching. Basically they used a certain kind of bearing that was more prone to wear-and-tear than they should have. The only Panny DVD player of that year that was really safe was the excellent XP30 as it used a different kind of bearing. I know a lot about that era of DVD player as the CP72 was the first DVD player I bought after using the PS2 for that function - I did a lot of research. If you're handy with parts you used to even be able to order the parts for $30-$40 to fix it yourself. I dunno if the parts are available any more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rustyjaw Posted May 11, 2007 Report Share Posted May 11, 2007 Mine bit it with the bearing problem the RP82/CP72/etc were prone to. Design flaw. Mine lasted about 3.5 years, it had the error 3 years in, I opened it and spun up the disc by hand and it ran for another 6 months without a problem...but then died and never came back. To be honest, with the HD-A1 I haven't missed the RP-82, except when it comes to responsiveness. The A1 is very slow. But the image quality is every bit as good if not better on SD material, IMO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreenMonkey Posted May 12, 2007 Report Share Posted May 12, 2007 Mine lasted about 3.5 years, it had the error 3 years in, I opened it and spun up the disc by hand and it ran for another 6 months without a problem...but then died and never came back. To be honest, with the HD-A1 I haven't missed the RP-82, except when it comes to responsiveness. The A1 is very slow. But the image quality is every bit as good if not better on SD material, IMO. I'll tell you, though. Nothing made for more beautiful DVDs than a 480p projector displaying them completely unscaled. I can see why people run crazy setups like SDI-modded DVD players attached to HTPCs for advanced scaling. Because I love my HD70, but for DVDs, I still haven't seen a better picture than my CP72 @ 480p and my X1 projector displaying them unscaled at 80". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EnemaEms Posted May 12, 2007 Report Share Posted May 12, 2007 I've had mine since the summer of 2002. -Dean- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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