Denon DVD-1910 DVD Player

I recently bought this player after my older Pioneer Elite Progressive Scan unit crashed for the second time in as many years. With the price of DVD players these days, I thought a new unit might be cheaper and better than fixing the old one.

I have one of the new 50 inch Samsung DLPs delivering HDTV and an awesome sound system with a relatively new Denon receiver (AVA 2802 model) and Definitive Technology speakers. I was looking for a DVD player that would provide the best possible picture for the 80% of time I spend watching DVDs and something that adequately handed sound for CD listening the other 20% of time. I could care less about SACD, DVD Audio, MP3, WMA, VCD or anything else that I'm not familiar with and would never use. However, I've since learned that this unit will play MP3, WMA, and JPEG files from a CD.

The installation and set up of this unit was a cinch. I simply replaced the old connections from my old Pioneer unit and connected to the new unit. However, I did have to spend $100 for a DVI cable which I did not previously have so that the digital upscaling of the image to 1080i or 720p could occur. I connected the unit directly to my TV with the DVI cable, and used an optical cable to connect directly to my Denon Receiver.

The improvement I saw over my old unit was very surprising and stark. I put in Saving Private Ryan and couldn't believe how sharper the scenes were. The action scenes were smooth and images sharp and crisp. I felt like I was watching in a theater, whereas before, you knew it was a DVD. Not only that, the sound was actually improved as well! I tried all DVI settings (480P, 720P, and 1080i) and settled on 1080i as looking the best on my TV (though all were an improvement from before). I suspect that the biggest reason for improvement has to do with DVI and having the signal pure digital throughout, so I may well have had the same experience with any DVI capable DVD player.

Nonetheless, this unit is just what I wanted, and maybe exceeded my expectations a little. I did a little research prior to buying and was aware of some criticisms of this unit. I did not notice what they call macroblocking, and am not sure what that even is. Being an average user, I suspect only die hard video buffs would notice something like this. Hey, some people will always find something to complain about. My point is, 99% of people probably would be just like me and not worry about what they don't see.

That said, I did notice a slight greenish tint to the white font text on the menu screen for the DVD I was playing. However, I couldn't find any other visual issues and none while actually viewing the movie. I found that the player's default setting for blackness was a little too bright, but when I turned this setting to Off, it looked great.

My only other beefs with this unit is the slow load time for DVDs, and having separate On and Off buttons on the remote. I simply can't figure out why it's beneficial to have these buttons separate rather than have one Power button.

All in all, this is a solid unit that will please those looking for an enhanced DVD watching experience for their HDTV. For me, this will be the perfect unit until HD-DVD players become available and affordable 4-5 years down the road.

Best of all, I paid less than $250 for this unit, rather than shelling out $600 or even $1,000 or higher. Maybe some could justify the additional expense, but I'm happy with the picture I got for $250. I'm not sure the more expensive units could deliver a picture worth the additional amount of money they cost. If you're budget minded and want a superior picture, this is the unit for you.