Let me just say my brief piece. To extract the best possible resolution or image from your DVD collection, consider DENON. Denon DVD players are by most measures high-end expensive but not qualifiably unreachable. Denon uses the most advanced line-doubler-interlacer chips including Faroudja and last year, the SQV-Teranex chip. This video "components" ensures that you're getting the most superior image from your DVD, and it notches up to a superlative degree the color and the details. Of course, if you won't invest towards videophile grade hardware, you'll by most chances settle for a Sony or a Pioneer. The former and current Denon models with the Faroudja chipset are the 2200, 2900, 3900, and 2006's 1930. At the present, Denon has adopted the SQV-Teranex (used formerly in video and projection monitors by the US Army, one project being the "Cruise" laser-guided missile tests; as well as broadcast-industry TV monitors) as the video chip for the 2930 and 3930. The 1930 model as far as we could determined sells for around P28,000 (certainly the most affordable in the current line). The 2930 is the certified bestseller in Denon's standard-DVD player line, most notably in Europe and the Americas. This is attributed to the modest price and the revolutionary REON video chip embedded which is the consumer-grade equivalent of the highly expensive SQV "Realta" chip. The 2930 sells for P50,000 in one AV shop. The 3930 has the Realta and sells for around P64,000. Side by side tests in America by videophile groups has compared the Denon with the Toshiba HD-DVD player and that of the sensation-causing Oppo 1080-upgrading DVD player. The certified best in image winner was given to the Denon for more superior contrast/detail and more vibrant image, besting even the high-definition Toshiba. In the presence of first generation HD DVD players, why would Filipino videophiles plunk P50,000 for the 2930 alone? I'll explained it away. If an SQV-Teranex video chip is used for the US Army's laser guided missiles for precision targetting (against enemies, of course), that's just a brilliant idea, but not technically that confounding. But if Denon embeds that same chip on a DVD player towards obtaining the best image - that goes beyond being brilliant, that's a mad scientist's idea, its a dark genius ingenuity. Denon, therefore, becomes in this case as a certified innovator, more so that Reon/Realta in a consumer electronic gadget is unprecedented. So far, only two other gadgets uses this chip(s): Mitsubishi 5000CV LCD projector and Yamaha 1300 DLP projector. Accounting the Oppo's economical price but sensation-causing video capability, the Denon would effectively overwhelmed it on its most touted feature because the 2930 upscales up to 1080 through the DVI/HDMI connector. On that feature alone, Denon compares squarely but even bested the over-all image resolution of the Oppo owing to more superior optical parts and construction. But this is just words, what is our experience in real-life testing? We teamed up the Denon with Infocus Screenplay 4805. Because the 4805 only has a native pixel count of 800 by 400, this means it cannot truly show a 1080p picture, thus the next best thing to do is to go 720p. Using an HDMI adoptor for the 4805 to be able to connect the DVI cable between projector and Denon, with a Kimber Kable brand DVI (P5,300), we set the Denon at 720p or SXVG pixel count and the projector at 1024 by 700 - 60hz. The result is a gorgeous, very rich, very gratifying image that would pale both a Monster THX-feed S-Video cable and a Monster 3 Component Cable. The word about HDMI being able to "unload" at least a billion colour shades (tints & hues) and notching up the image's contrast/sharpness and black level has proven to be not a mere marketing boast but a fact. In our five years of using both CRT Sony front projector and DLP projectors, we have not achieved this level of satisfaction and a sense of restfulness than the image achieved in the present 4805-Denon 2930 set-up.
As to the Toshiba HD-DVD, we cannot of course make a side by side comparison because we don't own a unit. But in wanting to learn how exactly does this Denons compare with the HD-DVD players, we turned to the US-based test which made the disclosure that indeed the Denon is even superior (in SD DVD film tests, of course). This we mentioned above, and this evaluation was made by none other than Forbes Magazine, under their technical review folks who wisely made the evaluations not within a laboratory but in a technical review gathering attended by dozens of witnesses. In fact, the marketing slant of the Denon is that it makes this Reon-embedded players to show that standard DVDs could still be "extracted" of a far better image than even the HD player would claim to improved upon.
Hence, consider this brand as a good investment, you might pay P50,000 for this unit but you can rationalized the expense by multiplying the number of years that this player will be fully relished by you. Spreading out the cost through years of gratifying use, that's the idea. If you're already using a front projection system, the Denon is a perfect source for a gratifying giant screen projection. In all cases, the result is pure magic.....
