The 2800MKII has just dropped in price and it Rocks! No problems at all and for 49 extra bucks I went with the 5 yr extended warranty just in case! It plays everything I throw at it including a demo disk that is so scratched you can't even see your reflection in it!

Here's the trick, when you put video mode in AUTO, it doesn't do the best job at knowing when to switch from Film to Video. If you notice a shimmer..and Shrek is a great example of this! switch the video mode to FILM and then try viewing the scene again. THE SHIMMER is gone! Some may think this is the chroma bug, but you can override it! Also on the old 2800 I noticed that on the menu's there was shaking on my TV. With the new mk2, the menu is perfectly still and does not shake at all.

This review is of the 2800 MKII. I started out with a plain 2800. It sucked. Froze up and couldn't play most DVD's. Sound and picture was great however, but that isn't very good if it doesn't play. I got the firmware update from Denon via next day mail and updated it to 5250. After this....still sucked. So I exchanged it for another 2800. This one was better, but every once in a while you hear it pause for a split second and then continue. Also I had a DVD of my brothers wedding and it didn't play that so well. It skipped the first 60 seconds. I think technically this is a DVD-R. I went to the store to try out the 2800 MKII and it played the DVD-R no problem. It also played MP3's without a problem! Guess what else! If you have an MPEG movie and burn it on a cd as an MP3 file, it plays movies! Now I can enjoy those Jackass episodes that I downloaded from KAZAA on the bigscreen!!!!!!! The guys at Denon told me that there is no difference once updated between the 2800 and the 2800 mk2, but that's not the truth. If you check the firmware in the 2800 mk2 (mine was made in April of 2002) it's like 6220 or something) Another guy at Denon told me there are different components in the unit as well. A better video chip!

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I tried the Denon 4800 and that read the dvd-r great, but didn't provide me with a menu for my MP3 titles of the songs on the tv screen. It was just blue so that was weird. There are lots of differenc

very detail picture

make sure your dvd's are clean . so there is no pause during layer change.

dvd 2800II brings flim like performance and tv tube picture to my 46" mits.

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sony progressive player

Easy to use, updated technology with customer ease of uses

Can't find any!

I really don't understand all the bad tales of this fine piece of equipment. Right out of the box it operated as advertised, and the remote control is not as bad as everyone says. Maybe I am just not in tune with adjusting things very much, but once the progressive play adjustments are made, all I have to do is use the play, stop, pause etc buttons and it works great. This unit displays such clarity that it is almost haunting... so clear.t

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Nonea

Fantastic image, output of 24/96 digital audio, hefty chassis.

The manual is fairly wimpy (but most are). The remote has buttons placed in akward positions. Does not read DVD+RW or DVD+R discs.

I bought the Denon 2800mkII player to replace my old Sony DVP-S7000. I really like the Denon. It took at bit of tweaking with the Ovation test disc to get the Denon to not look to bright in progressive. This is a function of my Toshiba direct-view TV and progressive scan, not the Denon. With double the scan rate, the progressive image is very bright. After adjusting contrast and sharpness slightly using the test disc, the picture looks fantastic. I've gone back and forth between progressive and interlace. The progressive image is dramatically better. The 2800mkII is a good transport for driving the DACs in my Sunfire preamp. I don't really notice a difference from the Sony on CDs, but I do now get 24/96 audio sent to my preamp. On non-copyrighted 24/96 audio DVDs (such as ones from Chesky), Denon will output the full 24/96 with no downconversion. I don't have the audio outputs hooked into the preamp so I can't say anything about the internal DACs.

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Replaced a Sony DVP-S7000 (1st generation DVD). The 7000 had excellent image quality, but didn't support progressive scan or DTS audio.

Detailed, artifact free picture. Handles shadows well Rich colors Excellent soundstage, warm sound

Some rare shimmering

This is a review of the Denon 2800 MkII I bought this two weeks ago to replace my Toshiba 5109 (1st generation prog scan player). Here is some background information. I have a Mits 50805 HD-ready 4:3 RPTV. My principal electronics are a Theta Casanova preamp/processor, Muse power amp, and Avalon Arcus speakers. Set up was very easy. Right off the bat, I noticed a dramatic improvement in sound. The soundstage was warmer, more precisely delineated (very important on Das Boot and LA Confidential), and deeper. The quality of the transport can profoundly affect sound quality, by minimizing jitter. The 2800 MkII appears to do a very good job in this regard. So how did the picture look? Mostly excellent! I am impressed by the three dimensionality, richness of the hues and the ability to distinguish shades of black. Even on rather poorly made discs, such as the BBC Sherlock Holmes series, shadows are well defined. Digital artifacting is very minimal. In the "Who Will Buy?" number from Oliver, the wrought iron fence and cobblestone street looked perfect throughout. Details on Lawrence of Arabia were also terrific. I have noticed a rare moment of shimmer on Terminator One -- bright red lights at night seem to pulse slightly. I don't think this is the chroma bug. To search for the chroma bug, I stared intently at the Video Essentials test images. Neither my wife nor I could find a hint of striping in even the brightest reds. I also tried Who Framed Roger Rabbit and Mary Poppins, but no striping there either. (I don't own Toy Story.) I can't be sure that the chroma bug won't emerge when it comes time to replace the TV (not for two years, I imagine). But for now I am a happy camper.

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Toshiba 5109

Picture & Sound Quality

Sensitive, see review

Luckily, I have the new firmware, 5250 and I have been very happy with it. The progressive scan picture quality is amazing. The colors and accuracy of the picture are first rate. The sound quality is also very clean and works great with my Denon 4800. I really have nothing bad to say about the player, but I will warn you that you’ll need to get a DVD cleaner and clean every DVD before you put it in the 2800. For if you don’t clean the DVD first, and there is ANY grime, scratches or fingerprints on the DVD, the 2800 will freeze on the problem. It seems to be very sensitive to these types of things, so clean your DVD’s first. I didn’t have a problem with the price of the unit, it’s a fair price for an awesome player. I paid $675 for mine.

Quick Menu Navigation, and OSD.

Video Noise, Audio drop out, and soft picture (Standard Video Mode).

OH MA GOD! All kinds of problems with the DVD-2800. First, there is no need to list them, they are there, trust. Second, right out of the box the Standard video mode is soft like a baby''s bottom, and audio on Toy Story 2 was choppy. If you are use to sharp (like the dvd format is suppose to be), then you won''t like it. Even if you mess with the memory picture settings, you probably still won''t like if you don''t get it "just right". After playing with it for an hour, I got it "just right" and its amazing. Last, but not least, the mother of all problems I want to address, is the FLICKER (VIDEO NOISE). THAT''S RIGHT, FLICKER. NOT CHROMA UPSAMPLING,JUST FLICKER. For two weeks straight I tried fixing this problem on a daily basis. Then broke down and brought it back to Tweeter (very cool guys). For the first time ever, they noticed it too, since I mentioned it (THEY HAD A FLOOR MODEL FROM JAN. 2001 W/FIRMWARE #5248). They were stunned. Called Denon, (Cali.) and they were cool also. Just to check firmware, Pressed Play & Open then remote menu twice= #5250, that''s right, brand spankin new firmware. This upgrade was after #5248. Still, problems, but I''m still a Denon Consumer for life. Hopefully it can be fixed, (crossing my fingers and toes). If you want a Denon Player, WAIT! DVD-3800 IN APRIL $1199, DVD-1600 MID-MARCH $549. Steap, but the next generation.Peace.

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P.O.S. SONY DVP-S360.

Absolutely gorgeous picture, reads any CD-R tossed into it, very responsive, even problem DVDs aren''t even a challenge to read (If it fails on this, it will fail everywhere).

Expensive (but worth it), mediocre remote, reputed unable to read DVD-R/RW/+RW media, limited to 4X speed for CD-R reads (making VOBs on CD-R limited to 6000 Kbps max bit rate), no zoom.

Picked up the 2800 around in early November, it had the latest firmware (Put in by the guys at Ken Crane''s themselves). I hooked the player up to the Toshiba 27" standard def TV I have (HDTV set is planned for mid-late 2002, so this is an interim solution). This player will play everything thrown at it including some of the most balky discs (Rammstein Live Aus Berlin, it tended to choke on the last track, i.e.) without any hesistation. The picture is incredibly sharp. If there is a chroma upsampling problem (and I can detect this on other players), it''s not evident with the 2800. (I guess the last firmware cleared it up). While I can''t determine how it looks in progressive scan, I have seen a similar 2800 in action in a store. The remote control isn''t all that bad, but it''s a bit clumsy. I have used really bad remotes and this one is only so-so. The MP3 ability is impressive, it can handle some funky encoded files.

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Philips DVD (fairly old, but decent)

DVDO chip...........

Progressive Scan problems amoung others...

I must concur with the reader below, my unit is defect and has the wave pulse problem amoung a few other quirks. They new of some of these problems at the CES and didn't fix all of them, so at this point I am very mad. I was going to return it and get another, but with all the units being defective the chances of getting a fixed unit back in a week or 2 seems highly unlikely. So back the unit goes, if Denon really wants to save face they should discount these units to the first buyers that had to deal with all these problems.. Wishful thinking... 3 Stars for now since we need a decent working model to test.

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Sony S-7000/Panasonic RV-80

Only my expectations of this unit, until I hooked it up.

Pulsing lines in progressive scan mode.

I am really dissapointed. I waited so long for the Denon DVD 2800, and I just can rid of some pulsing lines in the progressive scan mode. Interlaced mode looks much better. My friend bought the Sony progressive scan unit, I saw the quality of the Sony before I got my Denon. Maybe thats why my expectations were so high. I rather pay more and be happy. What a waste of time. Maybe it is a compatiblity problem wiht my TV, I have a 57" Wide Screen Sony TV, I love this TV its suberb.