sharp picture, good sound

too light in weight and the remote is not quite user-friendly

After 3 months study, I choose the Q50 because the picture is really good and it has 5.1 channel external output and decoding.
But when I ask the Philips customer service department about the new firmware, they don't know what I am talking about. Can anyone tell me how to know whether my Q50 need a new firmware or not. If yes, how to upgrade?
Thanks a lot.

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pioneer DVL-9

sage chip, price, film mode

remote, video mode, unexplained frame freezing.

sunny, what the hell r u talking about? pioneer ax10? if that's your unit, it's not much better than the 37. for units under $5k, unless it's a camelot, nothing else can touch the philips due to the sage chip. i wonder if you've actually performed a side by side comparsion between your unit and the philips; by your uninformed comments it's obvious you haven't.

the denon 2800 has received some well deserved praises, but at $300 less (msrp) the philips is superior in the film mode. for the money, this unit is really a steal.

aside from the problems mentioned by others earlier, there is one problem remains unresolved: freezing, occasionally. i'm sure philips will address this issue very soon.

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denon 2800, sony 9000es, pioneer 37, panasonic 91, dvdo, toshiba 9200

Good audio quality via coaxial , good picture by my standards.Excellent drop deap design of the chassis .

At $900 Singapore dollars ($About US450), I would expect backlit remote . Hmmm...the small display ? But i understand its small screen is part of the design , not really a weakness

Actually , I do not own this DVD player but it belongs to my audiophile friend so I have many opportunities to fiddle with it .

To be frank , picture quality is pretty much on par with my yamaha 510 DVD player. Do remember I paid only US$150 for my DVD player . Of course , I am sure the progressive scan feature would knock my yamaha dead but there is not much progressive TVs available locally nor do my frn have one so I really cant comment much .

For audio , it is really great ! The sound is warm and gives a great sense of ambience (could be the Mirage OM9 speakers I am using's credit though ).The details are really good and tight .

I give it 5 stars for overall rating for its drop deap gorgeous design fine picture and sound . 4 stars for value as I feel that for the price I wouldn expect a little more . Perhaps a backlit remote ?:P

BTW, Sunny of hong kong really know how to piss people off . Whats wrong with singapore's QC ?? Personally I feel that as long as the player does its job and dont conks out on you , be it made in Malaysia , China , Korea , etc is fine . Sunny , you must understand if Q50 is manuafactured in Japan , UK , you probably have to paid much more for it , is it worth the extra hard earned cash of yours ?? Just my 2 cents . Cheers

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yamaha S-510 DVD player

Great Video

Bad Remote, Not very good at track scanning, No time display(cause I know you just sit around watching that lil’ feature, huh?)

We can talk about looks, the remote, and how it’s a little shaky at scanning audio CDs, and how it doesn’t have a time display on the front panel all day long. Here’s the bottom line. I set this thing up next to the Sony 9000ES ($1300), last years benchmark for quality. Using the new Kenwood calibration/demo disk, I viewed the American flag blowing in the wind track. This is one of the best tests I have ever seen to judge a players ability to smooth out sharp lines. The close up contrast between the red and white stripes is very difficult for DVD players to handle. Most of them create the stair stepping effect between the lines. The Sony did a good job at dealing with it, keeping the lines pretty clean. The little $500 Phillips BEAT THE CRAP out of the Sony. The lines on the Phillips were much cleaner and smoother. In every test on the disk, the Phillips did a better job. All tests were run on the same TV (SONY 40-inch KV40XBR700) with the same cable (Monster Video 2). The new chipset in the Phillips is just plain better technology.

People who spent thousands last year have every right to be bitter (Hong Kong Sunny above). I would be. Thanks to Faroudia, this thing produces an amazing picture at a fraction of the cost of last year’s big guns.

Looking for a titanium case? Want $2000 D/A converters? Want a 20 pound power supply for a device that draws about 3 amps? Go buy something hand made in Germany. Want an outstanding signal to show off your expensive, TV that won’t cost as much as the TV? This is it.

Don’t be bitter sunny.

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Sony 9000 ES

Feature-Prorgessive scan with 3/2 pulldown, Sage chipset, noise level

Remote, on-screen menu, pause before forwarding/reversing tracks, no on-screen display on track/time/bitrate info

Just received this unit from CC website. They were all out of it locally and I wanted to try it and the DV-37 side by side while I still had time to return either/both. The DV-C36 is the unit I am replacing to get true progressive scan, which the 36 is not.

Out of the box the picture looked good but I wasn't sold on it. Then I realized I was using the non-progressive outputs and after I changed it I did see a difference. One thing that I have trouble with is seeing people write reviews saying the picture and sound are much better than another unit. I can go with it if you are comparing older models to newer, as there should be some difference, but I don't think it is that easy to tell on comparable new models like this and the DV-37. Both pictures looked good on my Mits 55857 55" HDTV. However, I did want to find some way to distiguish one from the other.

I ran Avia DVD on both and ran through some tests. In the resolution tests I did see that the Philips displayed higher resolution than the Pioneer, about 540 vs 480. This was confirmed with the 6.75mhz circle in the resolution test. The Pioneer showed no lines in that circle while the Philips clearly showed lines. I also saw less artifacting on the Philips on some of the other moving test paterns, which is due to the superior Sage chipset.

I can't really comment on the CD side of things. My ear is not that critical and I could not say one was better than the other. Neither does SACD of DVD-A, which is a negative long term.

All in all I think both are fine units. I was able to find the DV-37 locally for $599, so the price difference was not great. However, I am going to take both back as I saw earlier this week that both Pioneer and Philips are coming out with new units in the next month. Pioneer will release the 47-A this month which is progressive, along with supporting DVD-A, SACD, MP3. Philips is coming out with a model next month that appears to use a similar menu to Pioneer, which I like, and will support SACD, since they and Sony are pushing this format. Here is the shortcut to a picture of it: http://www.smr-home-theatre.org/ces2002/sources/image_002.shtml

I just hope that change the remote!

For the price, you can't beat the picture. Overall, it's good but not great. I will wait for something better.

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Pioneer Elite DV-37, DV-C36

dcdi and resolution. Amazing.

random picture freeze with audio drop.

I wanted to keep the unit, but what good is the best picture I've seen for the price if that picture freezes randomly and makes you go back through the menu for rewind?
It really does ruin the whole theater effect.

USA customer service gave no confidence that this problem will be fixed.

I'm returning and waiting for the AV forums to say the bug is gone. Then I would easily buy it.

Go to www.avsforum.com and search for q50. I wish I had gone there or here first.

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rp56

Great picture, warm audio on CDs, great movie sound, great looking

disk drive mechanism a bit noisy

Just like the reviewer below I first heard of this and the RP56 at www.hometheaterhifi.com (a wonderfully informative site for video). Both of these came out on top of their "shootout" and both contain the Faroudja chipset and both play the same selection of disk types (DVD-V, CD-V, CD-A etc.). So what do you get for twice the price of the RP56?

1. According to the hometheaterhifi.com measurements the picture (i or p) is better on the Philips. The RP56 puts out a great picture but I did prefer that of the Q50 myself. The difference is very subtle. Probably because of the 12 bit DACs on the Q50?

2. Better sound. At least to my ears. Playing some of my favorite CDs I was most impressed with warmth of audio. I'm not giving up my Adcom CD player but I find myself heading for the Q50 with an audio CD in hand quite often.

3. Beautiful looks. The RP56 looks like a cheap, black plastic DVD player. The Q50 looks like an upmarket player, from it's superb front panel to the gold-plated RCA outputs on the back. The slimline case slid right into my stack of metal boxes without me neediong to adjust the shelves. It's a lot lighter than, say, a Meridian, but it's ten times cheaper too.

4. Lots of output options, including a separate progressive component output and digital audio.

5. Nice control over color and great black.

A number of folks have complained about the remote (indeed "remote dissing" is a common theme in this forum from amps to TVs). I use a Universal remote (MX-1000) that accepts manufacturers codes and was very grateful that Philips had just ONE code under the DVD list in my remote book(compared to many for Harman-Kardon, Panasonic, Sony etc.). In 20 seconds I had total control of my Q50 from the MX-1000 and the Philips remote has never even left the bag.

If this information is helpful: the manufacturing date on the back of the player is August 2001 and the ship date on the box is OCtober 15th, 2001. It does not have the chroma unsampling "bug" or any of the other problems mentioned below. I got it at Circuit City because they have a 30-day return policy and a competitive price (the guy below has a better City than me, his was $30 cheaper!).

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Panasonic RP56

Faroudja chipset, sleek look

Remote has play button in wrong place - constantly hitting the down button instead. Momentary pauses during playback but it doesn't happen very frequently. Mediocre user experience with the menu interface.

This is an excellent DVD player. Compared to the Panasonic ($229), I paid a little more but the picture is really outstanding on a Sony KD-34XBR2 (btw, this tube kicks butt). The Panasonic has a button where you can enable progressive scan but that felt pretty cheap since all signals channeled through one set of component outs. The Philips has two sets of component outs with one set dedicated to progressive out only. I felt relieved that I was truly getting a progressive signal.

The unit itself is pretty light and it looks slick. The LCD display in the front is pretty easy to figure out but the onscreen menu interface provides an average user experience. The menu appears at the top of the screen and you've got to keep scrolling to the right to see more options. Thankfully, the important options are at the beginning.

Overall, I'm extremely happy with the purchase and I first heard about the Philips Q50 and Pansonic RP56 at: http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/volume_8_3/dvd-benchmark-progressive-shootout-2-8-2001.html

Also, I'm currently using Audioquest cables V1 (~$100). Will I get a tremendous of improvement in picture quality if I used more expensive cables?

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Panasonic RP56

Should use the firmware to upgrade the Q50...fix the nasty bug..even the navigator button bug from 29PT9514

Just got the Q50 few days ago. The very first thing I'd like to mention is the Progressive Scan (from the separate component outlet at the back)does not work with the Philips' 29PT9514. I used the normal component outlet feeding the signal to my 9514 and still gave me excellent result. I dare to compare the Philips' DNM to the Japanese's P-scan TV. I gave the Q50 a try with my beloved Toy Story DVD. I've seen the TS DVD showing by the Pioneer P-scan DVD player with a Toshiba's 29" p-scan TV. The Japanese combination gave the brilliant effect on color and image stability, however, less '3-D' feel and color balance is not as good as the European combination.

too much listed from friends below .
YOUR WIFE must love the apperance.

need a higher qty op-amp for audio side or you may use it as a CD transport
Too special menu.
the p-scan for NTSC only

I feel upset because of words of Sunny,many weaknesses of the machine was a part of design specially the small display.Does any body feel that the samll window let you get more concentrate in listening music (no digit lcd affect you,hard to find aDVD player can off the light)?But honestly if Philips can add the playing track number there is much perfect!!!Please don't buy it if you not accept the outlook & don't because of DCDi chips only.
If you open the chasis you'll see all the boards(audio,surround,p-scan,power supply) are seperated.MUST replace the power cord you can get more!!!
Its perform above average sound than the players in same price range, sometimes may seem light,if you use a tube ampilifer will much better!
The p-scan is no words to say, thanks to DCDi chips also the non-p-scan is also acceptable,but if you play a lot of VCD please up-grade the firmware if not please buy a chaep cheap China made VCD player for your VCDs.
Maybe it doesn't user-friendly vs Japanese products but I think I want to watch a movie not scan or fast forward them so......enjoy the DVD to-night!
If you want the firmware you should try www.philips.co.kr/down2/DVDQ50.zip

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too many