Picture, looks, sound, quality

I just got this player a couple of days ago. First my intention was to go for the 7010 because of all the horror stories about slow operation, but i got the 7000 at a real good price. In my case the operation seems ok, layer change takes 1-2 seconds as it does on all the DVD players i tried. I heard of some poor souls who had to wait 5-10 seconds for the layer to change.. Too bad.. Maybe this varies? I dont know, but this Playa' seems good.

Picture looks good and the sound is pretty much what sound should be. In my case i now use this as a cd player also. It definetly sounds better than my old Sony.

Now im almost there and my home theater will be complete

My setup is this:

Marantz DV7000 (Ofcourse)
Marantz SR7000 Reciever
Philips PW32 9525 TV
B&W DM605 S2 as front
B&W DM602 S2 as rears
And soon a B&W LCR6 S2 Center channel

Og det lyder rigtig fedt!)

PS: Thanks too all who submitted their reviews on this site, that has helped me alot in purchasing almost all of my equipment!

Similar Products Used:

Keenwoodxx xx , Creative DXR2 DVD ROM, Sony Playstation, Panasonics DV535

One of the best pictures I have ever seen from any dvd player, at any price, region free, plays cdr's, is a very good cd player. Remote is decent.

Slow operation, its expensive. Not progressive scan. Gets "bogged" occasionally.

I bought this player on one strict criteria, it had to improve my music performance, over the Denon AVC-A1D's DAC's, which are probably one of the best on the market, in a AV amp.

I replaced a crappy denon 1500, which was nothing but trouble...

The 7000 fits the criteria.

It shows a superlative image at all times, equal to the best I have ever seen, excluding progressive scan players.

CD's are played better than all $US500 cd players that I can find. I also own a NAD 540, the marantz is far more refined sounding, although the NAD has better image height. Dont use the soft setting unless you have VERY bright speakers, I find it a bit contricting at times. It can however, not compete with a cdplayer of the same price, as can no dvd players..at least from what I have seen.

Similar Products Used:

Denon 1500, All units Toshiba 2108/2109/1200...9000, Pioneer 525/etc

Picture quality, sound quality, build quality, gold connectors, quiet operation, looks, 96Kz/24bit sound via analogue outputs. Plays CD-R

Very slow operation, long layer changes, bad remote (again), Macrovision problem with RGB video

I had been looking for a player that output RGB video via SCART, to match my Loewe 16:9 Ergo TV, which accepts RGB via SCART and eventually converts it to S-video. Word was that the new Loewe chassis gave RGB that looked better than S-video in earlier models.

I tested a Loewe Xemix, Sony 715, Marantz DV-4000 (i.e. the cheaper model), Pioneer 717, and looked at a Sony 7700 in two shops, but owing to the crap TV calibration of TVs in shops, I discount those comparisons.

LOOKS: I liked the look. The model I got was the black European model, designed to match the Marantz CD player. The large PLAY button was easy to find in the dark. The display is good, with a dimmer button on the front panel.

VIDEO: Very good indeed. Video equalisation for sharpness, brightness, contrast and tint (NTSC) are available, although these reset to zero after power-up or changing disks. I suspect that the default sharpness setting is sharper than other player's fixed output, hence comparisons with other players becomes very shakey. Having said that, the image at '0' is excellent, with clear colours, lots of foreground and background detail, no artefacts and no noticable edge-enchanement...evidence that the zero sharpness setting is not excessively set. Overall the video via RGB and S-video is very good.

The one problem is faint, transparent white bands appearing in RGB mode on mt 100Hz TV. These do not appear for DVDs not Macrovision encoded. Nor do they appear via S-video. This effectively kills the player for me...UNLESS Marantz offer a away to fix the circuit or kill Macrovision. I am still awaiting a response (20 August 2000).

(composite, s-video, RGB x 2 outputs)

SOUND: I won't go into it too much, but it sounds as good if not better than all the other players I tested. Detail and brightness is very good. Very open soundstage. The setup menu gives you the option of sharp or soft Dolby Digital filtering. I used sharp. This is handy if your decoder/amp cinema EQ dampens sound too much.

(optical and coax digital output. No onboard decoder).

The set up menu allows you to pick the default language track, which can be English. Unlike the Sony players, you cannot choose the track with the highest number of channels, e.g. 5.1.

SET MENUS: Not bad, but bland and slow to navigate. You can select S-video, RGB or SCRAT output, parental locking, etc. The usual stuff.

OPERATION: like the DV-4000, it is very slow. I have been told by a friend that these Marantz players are based on DVD-ROM drives. Mine will not player GATTACA region 4 widescreen side...a typical DVD-ROM problem. Layer changes take 2-4 seconds. This is absolutely inexcusable. Loading and playing takes 4-8 seconds, again very slow. I like the fade to black when you press stop. The On Screen Display is unobtrusive and functional. You can also get the set up menu superimposed on screen, but you cannot change things that required a DVD to be stopped.

REMOTE CONTROL: Very bad design of the 4-way keys. The left-right button are narrow in shape, the up-downs are round. Menu, Enter, Title and Return all surround the L/R/U/D buttons, with the enter in the lower right corner of the hell-square. This is a rotten design that is difficult to use in the dark. The Play and Stop buttons have ridges around their circumference, but are smaller then the menu buttons situated one row above. Pause is a tiny button betwen Stop (left side) and Play (right side). OSD is top left of the remote, set-up bottom left; these are placed well. The other function buttons are below Stop and Play, and the Numeric key pad is above the menu keys. This remote looks nice, but is difficult to use in the dark, since there is no home key for the menu, and the Play button is small. The DV18 remove is larger, but suffers from the same functionality problems. The DV-4000 is similar to a cheap Pioneer or Panasonic. For the record I like the Joystick Panasonic remote, and the Sony, which was easy to use after using the Panasonic joystick....LARGE play button, glow in the dark and, once I got used to it, a nice jog-shuttle which I loved! Call me weird.

Overall the Marantz give great picture and sound, had a BAD Macrovision problem which shows up on Loewe and Metz 100Hz TVs, slow glitchy DVD-ROM operation, and an average remote with crap menu buttons. I will probably return my player for a refund if Maranrz cannot fix the firmware or Marcovision bands.

Similar Products Used:

Pioneer 626, Sony 7700

The excellent image, qualitative circuitry...

There is no progressive...

Marantz of excellent quality.
From a price category up to 1200 $ - it best!

Similar Products Used:

Pioneer DVL-90 Elite, Toshiba 3107, Sony 7000 & 7700, Pioneer 525 / 737

Audio and video quality. Sturdy build quality.

Remote, s--l--o--w operation. On-screen display(s)

Returning this unit tomorrow after two weeks of use. I wanted a DVD player that did DVD and CDs equally well. This unit came highly recommended for the task. I loved the video and audio improved over my Sony DVD player. Video image was clean and colors were perfect. Audio was smooth and refined...if not a tad laid back at times (none of that digital hash you get with cheaper players!).

User interface and operation were both unacceptably slow. Today, I returned to my dealer, who also had the newer 7010 on display and I compared the speed of the two. Chapter advances were much faster on the 7010. It took the 7010 four seconds to load and start playing a DVD. It took the 7000 ten seconds!! The DVD layer changes on my 7000 were unacceptably slow at 3-4 seconds. I have not experienced this yet on the 7010. The 7000's on-screen display did not indicate track number and was therefore pretty useless, as my equipment rack is in the back of the room. The OSD on the 7010 shows track number.

I'm returning the 7000 tomorrow for a 7010 ($50 more and worth every penny). I'm certain I'll be equally pleased with the video and audio performance without being frustrated by slow and clunky operation.

Two stars for value as you should get excellent processing speed and OSD/GUI at this price point and the 7000 does NOT deliver.

Overall rating is a 4 vs. a 3 on the sheer merits of audio and video performance alone. After comparing this unit to the 7010, I strongly recommend the 7010 for its improved speed and OSD/GUI. The 7010 player is far more worthy of additional stars. I'll review it in a couple of weeks.

Similar Products Used:

Panasonic DVD-A110, Sony DVP-550

Looks,quiet opperation, easy to read display

Remote,picture,sound,aspect ratio set,price

I didn't own this one for long. Took it back the next day.
This player had some nasty dot crawl. The sound would drop
out, or it would have this cheap stadium effect. My Panasonic 34 inch widescreen TV couldn't set the auto aspect unless I set the DVD player to 4:3 letterboxed. I
took this pile of junk back and got the DV-7010. So far it's
working just ducky. Nice picture, good sound, and faster
opperation. The DV-7010 has now replaced my Toshiba SD3108.
Bruce, at Sound World of Appleton, was a great help. Dude
nows his stuff.

Similar Products Used:

Pioneer,Panasonic,Toshiba,Marantz DV-7010