Good looking, reliable, nice clear picture, very good CD and DVD sound

The menu could be better

The picture quality from this DVD player is simply fantastic. The picture quality (via RGB SCART) on my 16x9 widescreen RPTV is simply superb.

Similar Products Used:

Pioneer DV-737

Excellent progressive scan picture on virtually all DVD's; ability to play back VCD's, CDR's, MP3's, HDCD's; numerous video adjustment options and playback memories.

Poorly designed remote (buttons are too small & are not backlit).

I decided to purchase this player because it uses one of the best deinterlacing chips available today, despite the numerous unfavorable reviews I had read here and elsewhere. My machine has the very latest firmware update, and I have not encountered any problems so far in playing back DVD's, VCD's. or CD's. The images it displays on my 40" Toshiba HDTV are vivid, sharp, and free of artifacts. I've also discovered that my machine can play back PAL DVD's in either progressive or interlaced mode on my TV (which is NTSC only), though I am not sure how this is possible. I remember accidentally trying to play back the same DVD on a SONY interlaced DVD player and it would not produce a stable image on the same TV.

Though I've tried out several of the "test" sequences mentioned in the various articles, I've yet to see the chroma bug that everyone's talking about. But perhaps my eyes are a little more "forgiving" than those of most people. Layer changes are completely imperceptible, unlike the SONY and Pioneer interlaced players I've used. I like the build quality, too....I firmly believe any piece of electronic equipment costing over $200 SHOULD feel heavy and solid. This particular player may not be perfect, but it does what I need it to do extremely well, so I cannot honestly give it a bad rating.

Similar Products Used:

None.

Picture, CD-sound.

Idiotic fast forward with CD-music.

So far so good. Great picture with amazing colors. Sound is equally impressive. Have noticed faint waveing but believe it to be a result of my cheap cables running in close proximity to the RF antenna-cable to my tv. I will buy a better svhs-cable later.

CD-music is great, dare I say better than my previous, the Pioneer. I was thorouoghly impressed with the sound, it was like going from a weak to a strong amp (?).

I have not noticed any errors. Maybe because I have not been able to test it in progressive mode yet.

I have firmware #5208.

Funny experience:
Yesterday I watched Toy Story region 2, I then checked my firmware in the way described here in a previos post bfore I shut down and went to bed (I may have pressed some buttons while checking). As I powered up to watch another region 2 movie today I got "wrong region" on the display every time, so I decided to try a region 1 movie, Alien, and it worked perfectly. :o) I got really curious as to how I had accomplished changing the region from 2 to 1 and went through the firmware-check again, pressing "2" and other buttons on the remote when in firmware-check mode. As a result of this it went back to region 2. :o( If anyone knows what I did that changed the regions please E-mail me as I have been unable to find out myself. I have tried several combinations with no luck. If I succseed in pinpointing what I had done I might post a new review with more experience on the player.

Will all future reviewers please post their firmwares! :o)

Similar Products Used:

Pioneer DV-717, Panasonic DVD

Progressive Scan; HDCD; DD/DTS; High quality sound

Read problems with some DVD disc's.

I find the Denon DVD 2800 the best DVD/CD player I ever had.


Question:

I want to upgrade (=software) my DVD 2800, I can't find a internet site where I can download the update. Who know's a site where I can download it?

Picture quality, Sound quality, Disc-handling, Remote

None

Picture Quality (RGB) is very good. Artifact free and as close to HD as I have ever seen. The picture quality is almost 3-D.

I liked the sound quality with totally neutral, beautifully voiced, excellent hi-end, midrange and excellent bass response for a DVD-player (analog output). The sound is in league with CD-players like Marantz CD17 and Denon 1650.

Similar Products Used:

Pioneer 717, Sony 735, Samsung 907

none

everything

Never before have I purchased a product and been so disappointed. It will play interlaced but not progressive. My Toshiba 3109 had a better picture on interlaced and did a better job playing CDs. When I put the Denon on progressive, nothing worked right. I got wavy lines, inferior picture quality, and all sorts of artifacts. How can any manufacturer get away with putting out a clearly defective product? The product was first released end of February and is now on a third firmware update. I strongly suggest you not buy this product and take a look at the significantly better Panasonic product at similiar price points.

Best regards-Henry

Similar Products Used:

Toshiba 6200, Panasonic RP-91

N/A

N/A

I just want to say that I recently purchased this product and am awaiting a phone call to let me know that it is in the store ready for pickup. So for me to really make a review at this point would be unfair, but what I can say is that the specs on this unit seems GREAT! I have always used Denon equipment and luckily have never had any problems and I hope when I get this unit I will have the same luck. My older DVD player from Denon gave me years of satisfaction. So I am going to give this unit a high rating right now because of the specs and the Denon name along with past experiences with Denon. I truly believe that this unit is going to be one of Denons best selling DVD players and I can say that I am happy to be one of those who was lucky enough to afford to buy it.

Similar Products Used:

Denon DVD-2000

Better-than-expected picture...sound...looks...etc.

Still has some bugs to work out.

I have the Denon hooked up in the interlaced mode for now until I upgrade to a monitor that will exploit the potential of the progressive scan of this unit. I enjoy the interlaced picture of the DVD 2800 very much. It is now my top pick for picture quality compared to my Sony and Pioneer as far as preferences go. At the start I had problems with some DVDs...I'd get a "corduroy" effect when I did chapter searches...horizontal lines that protruded from and beyond the edges of certain objects during object/camera movements. The best example of this was on the Marlena DVD. I'd get it in just about every chapter search I perfomed on this DVD. I was hoping there would be a possible remedy to this...a future firmware fix from Denon...etc. I then decided to look at my Setup menu and looked at the settings for the "video mode" located in "video setup". I also noticed video mode is not mentioned in the instruction manual. I saw that I had it set to "film". I decided to change it to "video" and when I played back the Marlena DVD the "corduroy effect" was gone. In the "video" setting, though, I noticed that things like window ledges, buildings, etc, would "ripple", for lack of a better word, during camera motion. In the "film" mode the Denon eliminated most of the "rippling" but gave me "corduroy". I decided to put the video mode in "auto" and that took most of the rippling out and stopped the "corduroy effect". For now, I've stopped fiddling around with the DVD 2800 and will simply enjoy the picture and sound I get with this machine. There's a glitch or two to work out with this machine, for sure, but I just want to sit back and enjoy the movies now. Whatever comes up in the future I will deal with it then.

Similar Products Used:

Sony DVP S7000 and DVP S7700...Pioneer DVL 909.

Beautiful reproducton truly captures the "cinematic" quality of film on DVD's.

Locked-in widescreen mode (distorts 4:3 material), quirky remote control issues, brain-dead Manual that leaves major questions entirely unaddressed (eg: exactly what does "Film" mode do vs. "Video" mode?)

My new (green dot) Denon 2800 is hooked up by component inputs to my brand new High-Def TV. I recently purchased the latest itteration of RCA's 38" set (plenty of s-video inputs & apparently all of the initial bugs worked out). The combination has produced for me jaw-drop level of cinematic reproduction and flawlessly imaged digital sound (Dolby or DTS).

Although a long-time Sony devotee, I bought this RCA-Thompson set not only for its incredible HDTV capability (there is still precious little hi-def programming available). I bought this HDTV primarily for it's ASPECT RATIO and huge picture tube-size. It has a dazzling, super-sharp 38" display which, at this writing, is the world's WIDEST picture tube.....and therein lay the crux of this story!

I realized that I had been avoiding playing my extensive DVD collection mostly because I was tired of peering thru that tiny little slot so appropriately called the "Letterbox Format" on my 36" Sony set! Face it, in terms of visual impact and detail, watching a letterboxed DVD, even on a high-end 36" TV screen, is really like watching a standard 4:3-formatted movie on a 19" TV screen! And given that about 90% of DVD's you buy these days are in widescreen format, the need for a display whose aspect ratio resembles widescreen is obvious..........

I also realized that even the best high-end projection HDTV units (eg: Pioneer Elite, the Mistubishi set with the "good" lenses, etc.) stil look like "projection" units---quite fuzzy when compared to a even ordinary tube sets. Meanwhile plasma widescreens are hideously expensive and full of problems (screen burn-in, artifacts, and poor display of dark scenes).

So I went for the HDTV to get that near widecreen aspect ratio, size and "tube-set" brilliance and clarity.

All of this is to set the table and have you drooling.....
Coupled with my the Denon 2800, the results are nothing short of AWESOME. In full letterbox, I now experience only an inch of black top and bottom. The RCA-HDTV is built for progressive scan input, and the Denon's true 3:2 pulldown Silicon Image circuity performs brilliantly with absolutely NO artifacts whatsoever. No smear anywhere, with excellent definition even in dark scenes. It reproduces every hair and pore to perfection while maintaining an eerily real "filmic" visual qulaity.

I am an graphic designer by profession, so my visual acuity and viewing-standards are just as often my TORMENT as they are my pleasure. And with the Denon my standrads are exceeded. The DVD domain has at last begun to fulfills its promise, bigtime. The visual experience from my Denon-2800 actually recalls less an unrealistic "Bug's Life"-style, pixel-driven hyper-sharpness as it does BEAUTIFULLY-DISPLAYED CELLULOID." eg: "Gladiator" and "Lawrence of Arabia" were both near-religious experiences!

Only complaints:
(1.) Widescreen Aspect ratio locks-in once selected, which is fine for displaying 70mm movies on my wide-screen HDTV, but it distorts all 4:3 program material (eg: porno, made for TV movies!).

(2.) Quirky remote controls (eg: you must "Pause" out of Fast Forward or Rewind BEFORE you resume "Play" mode, otherwise movie will reboot each time you forget!

(3.) Manual missing key info (eg: Exactly what does the "Film" setting really do vs. the "Video" setting?)

See what you are missing on your DVD's. Get the Denon 2800. Then do it justice by hooking it up to a true wide-screen partner....a wide-format television. Your social life will initially suffer, but soon all your friends will filter over to their favorite new theater....your place!

Similar Products Used:

Yamaha high-end DVD's, Pioneer Elite DVD's, Sony DVD's, and NAD & Nakamichi CD players

Excellent Video Imaging! Built-in D/A Conversion. HDCD.

Questionable Digital Output modes?
Other than that, this machine performs excellent!

Denon 2800: The machine has 96-->48 khz/16 bit PCM conversion that will drive an outboard DAC nuts! When using the digital outs to a DAC when the Denon 2800's digital output mode is set to downsample the clock frequency by passing the PCM 48khz/16bit signal, an outboard DAC's clock will click periodically and cut out the sound for about a second due to the erractic DSP in the Denon. So, the PCM mode in the player might be another flaw that needs some work. I have no doubts that Denon will get this machine worked out, and once they do, look out!

You just can't beat the value! The Silicon Imaging Pure Progressive chip is incredible. You need to A/B it and see what I am talking about. I have a Denon 1650AR 20-bit CD player that just sounds beautiful. I am using it as a transport, it connects to a Meridian 518 Digital Processor and then on to an Adcom GDA-700 w/HDCD. NOW, I have the Denon 2800 connected to my Merdian 502 via using the 2800's onboard D/A. This machine's audio playback through its onboard DAC's is to be simply put, AWESOME! Hell, put an HDCD decoded disk in there and tell me what you think. This puppy can image one hell of an audio signal.

Anyone interested in this machine should go for it. Denon's got a great product that has had a few software problems that have been corrected. Just make sure that you purchase it from a credible retailer. The retailer that I purchased mine from doubles the warranty for free! And yes, its legitimate, I used it a few years ago on a Sony product. Denon is not going to let a customer suffer with a new malfunctioning unit, they are on top of this machine so you can rest assure that if you have a problem over the next few years that they will take care of you and there product.

No, I am not a representative, just a satisfied Denon product user.

Similar Products Used:

Sony DVP-S7700, Pioneer, Panasonic