The best sound and video level for a dvd player you can buy for money on this planet

addiction to it

I have an 800 v4 for about a week. I had a 800 v2, 800 v2.5 and later a 800 v3.12. There is one thing 100% sure that you cannot compare this one with the earlier versions. Is it that good? Yesssss it is that good, it is hard to find the right words to describe it. It is the by far the biggest step foreward to an older version. And yes I had many little problems with the older versions. When it played, it was stunning. But this version really knocked me down. The bass control is awesome and the resolution is of a level you never heard before. The timing of everything is really impressive. With my Nordost Valhalla loudspeakercable and Valhalla Power cables I never heard this level of information on a set before. And all the small problems are gone. No little problems anymore. Meridian did a great job to get the 800 to this level. It sets Meririan on top of digital audio at this moment of writing. It has everything on board what you ever could dream of. You can scale everything you like to broadcast level, hdmi, even 6 channel balanced outputs, video inputs in/out ( you van connect every video input you like ) And it has a very beautifull learnable remote control with backlight. For me a dream come true. When you listen to it, you can't go back anymore. There will be only one sollution......buy it or quit with your hobby. You want to listen to it on and on.......forever Bobby * it is a 2005 model

Similar Products Used:

Meridian 800 v2, 800 v 2.5, 800 v3.12

Everything realy,- but perhaps the most obvious is the extreme degree of resolution, and organic presentation;- probably one of the most harmonic sounding players at the present time.

None realy,- but some may find setting up a bit problematic;- some features needs a computer to be activated.

Having had good experiances with several Meridian products for some years,- amomg them 508.24,-566.24,-518,-588,- and 596,- I did not hestitate bying the 800 v3;- so fare I have no regrets,- this player must surely represent the current state of the art in sound reproduction,- both regarding Red Book CD, and DVD-A;- as a DVD player it is just outstanding. I understand from other users reporting here, that earlier player have had some problems,- these now seems completely solved,- that said,- should something eventually cause me any trouble,- a follow up can be expected.

Having had at least 10 Meridian products before, including the 861 sound processor now, I have great confidence in this line of products. The 861 is a "home run" in every way (except the set-up, which is cumbersome). I would say the 800 is not only a disappointment, but a real rip-off! The playing of DVD's is simply not in the same league as Pioneer Elite 09 or the Sony 7700. The picture and features are not even better than the RCA, Toshiba, and Panasonic $200 units I have or have used for periods of time. Yes, the 800 will play new DVD discs, straight through well enough, but the fast forward (slow and then too fast, only two speeds) frequently breaks up into smears across the picture with vertical jitter. On less than pristine discs, either CD or DVD, the machine loses its place, locks up momentarily, jumps around or pixilates. The problem (amateur diagnoses) seems to be the drive chosen (a cheap computer type drive) that has a very hard time reading discs, and little or no error correction. At first I thought is was just on DVD's but playing CD'S in perfect conditon, the music stops for a second or two at random, and then plays on.
Build quality is tank like, all black case, industrial look, not pretty, but ok. The display is readable across the room, buttons on the front and behind a tilt down panel let most functions be accessed without the remote. The remote is the same terrible overly large coffee table job they have been providing for 9 years. It has very poor range and must be aimed directly at the unit to work. The buttons are small and uncomfortable to the fingers, and to accommodate DVD, you must hold down a "function" key to use far too many of the commands for DVD films. Slow, Back, Angle, OSD, Audio are all two button operations. They can at least provide a separate DVD remote at these lofty prices.
After owning the DVD 09 which operates like silk, this unit is crude - loud noise during opening closing, thunk when the internal drawer literaly knocks open the front panel hiding it, and reveals itself as a white plastic tray. Even if you are using this computer drive, it could have been BLACK plastic protruding from an all black machine. Looks cheap as hell. The sound cannot be faulted, it is superb, but despite the high price the unit cannot deliver a DTS signal from the digital output. The 861 can process DTS superbly, but not any Meridian component provides this! Go figure! Most $199 DVD players do put out a DTS signal. And I have a $99 VHS tape player with a remote that works aimed at the rear wall, floor or ceiling, everytime. Why is this remote business so difficult for these high end companies?
The instruction book clearly says that a two channel version of the audio is available from the tape out jacks if configured as regular (not Dolby Digital, nor Meridian High Output), but I have not been able to get any audio out on the tape jacks of the 861, from a CD or DVD playing in the 800. You can get any other source analogue or digital from these jacks but not 800 output.
Can only be programmed (completely) with a PC attached which is not everyone's idea of easy or fun. The software is less than intuitive. And this means you have to have access to a laptop, since you wouldn't want to drag a full PC or this large unit around to meet each other. Older Meridian pieces could be programmed from button selections and power off/on sequences without the computer business, not here, and I don't see it as an improvement. As with any computer based device, there are the expected glitches. Works as expected 90% of the time, but then 10% of the time, some unexpected results from remote commands. Press volume up and only the main unit numbers go up, the speakers (Meridian) don't follow for 10 steps, then they all join in and blast you out. Overload light comes on in Center speaker for no reason, playing normally and only shutting down and starting up removes the problems. The 800 will get out of sync with t

Lousy remote, crude disc drive, difficult programming, no place memory of stopped disc when shut off. Many simple normal DVD extras not available, including time to end of disc or chapter. Displays on screen are white and cover up the picture, no screensaver, some white display lettering stays on screen, so care must used not to leave the display device or TV on when you leave the room. Extremely expensive.

Has some work to be done to be reliable and produce a great picture from DVD and control features equal to others (Japanese). This is like buying an English sports car, you don't know when it's going to work, but when it does, it's fun.

Similar Products Used:

Meridian 500 CD, Sony 7000/7700, Pioneer Elite 09, Toshiba 6109, 2109, Panasonic 120, RCA DVD.

Sound and looks

some glitches in software may case hangups in display

I have been using this player a year or so, but I have not experienced any of the problems mentioned by mr. Dorn. The only flaud I have noticed is some "hangups" in the volume and main mode display. Except of this "problem" I am uterly pleased with the 800 player - the sound and picture is realy breathtaking.

I feel confident in whatever the future brings of new audio/video formats, the 800 will deliver.

Replacement unit, better than the first one.

Remote no better, many standard DVD features not available or clumsy to use. Very sensitive to bad or dirty discs.

This is a follow up to the first review sent in March.

The dealer (JS AUDIO) has been as accomodating as possible, but they can't make this unit any better than previously stated. However, Meridian contacted me and has replaced the 800 DVD/CD unit with a brand new one. Am I happy? Not yet.

The new 800 unit is the latest in production, built last month. It does put out a DTS signal, and the sound through the 861 processor and speakers is thrilling - absolutely incredible. I thought I was going to be blownup watching "Saving Private Ryan" in DTS.

The new unit is quieter, no noise coming from the spinning disc drive, and it creates much less heat. The discs no longer feel as if they had been in an oven when removed. Still no screen saver, but the fixed blue screen with Meridian on it is now closer to a pale gray. The onscreen lettering is not brilliant white, but a dull gray or less bright white, and the lettering goes away after a few seconds and does not linger on screen.

Yes, the unit will remember the spot where you pressed stop and later press start. However this is only possible by leaving the Meridian system on. If you go to standby, the memory is lost and the disc starts from the beginning.

The picture is quite good, but no better than many other top players I have seen. The drive is from Toshiba, and there is a menu to change the ability to play discs from other regions. However I believe if you do this, the number of times you can change the setting is limited and may make the unit unable to play region one (USA) discs later on.

I would say I am less angry, not pleased, considering the investment. Countering all this is the incredible sound quality achieved by the built in upsampling software and digital manipulation. If you play normal CD's, they are upconverted to 88khz, the digital signal from DSS satellite becomes 96khz, movies remain 48khz but the decoding is of a higher standard for DTS and Digital Dobly, and Dolby Surround than anything else I have heard. 96khz signals are sent straight through and sound great on the dozen or so music DVD's so encoded that I have.

The first two days, I thought all was well. Then I played the Rolling Stones Bridges to Babylon Concert, which was a real experience until chapter 20 when the 800 started skipping, and completely locked up on chapter 21. This is a new disc, no visible defects or dirt, yet the 800 has great trouble with these chapters. To see if it was the disc, I hooked up my Panasonic 1000 progressive scan player and it played flawlessly from beginning to end (and the sound fed in by digital cable to the Meridian was just as great as with the 800 itself. So go figure! Whatever Meridian is doing to read the disc, is just not as good as others at error correcting. I became convinced of that when I played a rented DVD from the local store. It began skipping on the 800 after the first two minutes, so I took it out and looked at it. Fingerprints all over it. Cleaned it off with some breath and a clean cloth and it played through to the end with no problem. Clearly the 800 is very sensitive to dirty or not properly mastered discs.

I await the upgrade for the new SACD and Super Audio discs when these formats become available. I am sure the software will be upgraded yet again to make this unit better. The bottom line is that you can buy a Sony SACD now, a new Super Audio DVD player when available, and a top of the line Pioneer, Sony, Toshiba, or Panasonic DVD player for less than the 800 alone. All of the magic happens in the 861 processor which I highly recommend.

There is also the proposition of paying for things twice. Both the 800 and the 861 do the upsampling and dejittering and some other digital processes, assuming you are going to buy one or the other. There should be a model that eliminates some of this duplication when you own both, and lower the price.

Similar Products Used:

See previous review.

This is another follow up to the previous reviews. The second unit turned out to be better than the first. However on the third day, it started to lockup, pixellate, and then play on. This comes and goes at random on many discs. Then it started to happen to CD's. When looked at, the discs have no visible defects. Tried to play rental DVD's and the unit failed about 2 minutes in - screen image freezes or splits into two frames, one above, one below. Because this is inconsistant (same disc will play through, especially if you clean it) I had to find two discs that consistently have the same problem, The Stones Babylon concert DVD, never gets through chapter 20, and another 10 year old CD where it can't even recognize the disc. So the Meridian 800 has been returned to JS Audio who graciously took it back. The Meridian people offered to send another unit, but I declined. Can you imagine how embarrassed I have been by showing guests a movie that stops half way through? Anything this expensive should never falter, especially when far cheaper units play these same discs fine. My diagnosis is that it can't read the disc reliably and that the error correction is below par. End of story.

Won't play many CD's and DVD's reliably.

First time I have ever been so disappointed with a name brand product and had to return it for a refund. This one also has great reviews elsewhere. Go figure!