Denon 3910 Universal Player - Opinions?


Anybody heard/viewed the 3910 universal player yet? Would appreciate comments on Redbook CD, SACD as well as DVD-Video performance.
Thanks!
srama
"I don't know how you can say I, am wrong, as I have not tried the 3910, but plan to."

My point is you MUST try the deck before coming to the conclusion that the issues are there.

"For being a new model, there are far too many complaints on the 3910 imo."

There are NOT that many complaints! There are very few. And I would venture to doubt that some of those complaints are totally without merit...IE, they don't even have the deck.

If one were to base their purchasing decisions on what an audio forum's complaints were, you would be left without any equipment! There is no perfect DVD player, and there never will be.

The 3910 is the best video I've seen on any Denon decks to date, including the 5900. The audio is the best I've heard to date on ANY universal decks. Granted, I have not had the opportunity to listen to the Integra....but I'm very happy with the 3910, so why would I?

My point to you is this...

You seem fairly educated when it comes to DVD players, and you have a habit(like myself) of trying and auditioning much of what is out there. Before you come to the conclusion that there are "far too many complaints" or the "macroblocking challenges" try it for yourself. If you haven't tried it, than why recite other forum babble? Seriously, there are few complaints...but a ton of views and posts. Why? Because others are jumping on the bandwagon, or better yet, offering advice on how to remedy the problem.

I am a vinyl addict....most of my music listening is done on my analog front end. However, there is WAY too much music only available on CD to ignore the medium. That is why I bought the 3910. Finally, without an outboard DAC, the 3910 has brought me closer to the analog sound than any other deck I've tried...with the exception of my Benchmark/2900 combo....but the differences are negligible at best between the two.

BTW, I will NEVER watch Finding Nemo, or the obscure independent films mentioned with Macro blocking issues. But when I watch my high-def football on Sundays, a bit of digital distortion from sun-spots or whatever the hell it is, doesn't make me change out my Dish Net 6000 receiver, and does little to take away from my enjoyment of the games.

If you are seriously looking at buying the 3910 (and I'm not just speaking to you, but anyone interested in general) we are dealing with the cutting edge of electronics. Denon is putting as much technology as possible into these decks and there will be issues to resolve....just like Windows 98, XP, XPSP2, etc. It's the price we pay as bleeding edge purchasers and I couldn't disagree more that we shouldn't be the beta testers. At least Denon monitors the boards and provides what the majority wants.

There are also complaints that the layer changes are noticable??? I have played 30 titles at the exact layer change moment per one of the threads at AVS. Do you see the layer change, yes...but it is immediate, less than a quarter second.

Why do I mention this complaint? Because Denon was the first, and still the ONLY company to implement buffering systems on all of their decks, one thing I've loved since the 2800. I hate the layer changes, but chroma issues never bothered me.

I could go on and on, but my point is that you need to try it first, before assuming ANYTHING from online forums. Some of the best equipment I own and appreciate is very unpopular on online forums....Krell...fatiguing, grainy, too costly, etc. B&W Nautilus speakers...bright, expensive, ugly, mid-range suckout (Whatever the hell that is). I would've never managed to put a system together had I gone by online babble. It's all to be taken with a grain of salt. One mans mole-hill may be another dude's Mt. Everest.

That said...the 3910 is a phenomenal deck, period. I hope you get the opportunity to check it out and take the time to form your own, subjective opinion.

Jer
Dpippel...

"Again I think a lot of what people might think is MB is actually just bad authoring, but this is not always the case. I use the PT arrives scene from A Bug's Life. It is clearly visible on my display when a player suffers from the problem, the 3910 showed little to nothing in terms of MB with this scene. The 5900 and 1500 showed it quite well."

This is a quote from Kris Deering from Secrets contained in your thread on AVS.

Ears,

If you have the opportunity to read the thread that dpippel addressed, you will see that he and one other in the thread are specifically having an issue with the 3910. Again, the reason I think this issue is display related.

Dpipple, I'm not disagreeing that you see the error on your screen...but there are very few participants in your thread with the issue compared to the couple dozen posts in the owner's thread that are thoroughly enjoying the 3910.

J
BWfreak,
This thread is entitled Denon 3910 opinions, and the ones at AVS are as valid as any, especially on the video side of things.
There are quite a few posts on failure to read dvd's, sa-cd's, dvd-a's, slow reaction time, and a few layer change posts besides the macro blocking issue.
The fact is that it does not matter if the macro blocking is because of bad dvd authoring if it is Denon players that are showing it in excess, and other players are not showing it at all, even on known problem discs.

If I were leaving the player stock,I might not be as concerned about possible problems, as the player would be under warranty.

I did receive my HDMI/DVI adaptor today, and will pick up a 3910 for comparison tommorow, if they have one in stock.

In the mean time, here is another pro reveiw of the Onkyo sp 1000 vs the competition including Denon.

http://www.areadvd.de/hardware/onkyo_dv_sp1000e.shtml

It seems the French and the Germans both think the Onkyo is king, even though it sells for around 5k there.

Greg
Greg.

Check out this article. Kris Deering is one of the most respected deck reviewers today. If you are familiar with AVS, you know the name.

http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/cgi-bin/shootout.cgi?function=search&articles=120

This should eliminate concerns of many.

BTW...I count one person with the inability to play SACDs. No one I have read about having an issue with DVD-A. Slow reaction time? It's mentioned in the article. It is not as fast as the 2900, but the difference is negligible. Layer changes at tops, 1/2 second....quicker than any deck without buffering....again a bit slower than the 2900, but insignificant at best since we've been living with layer changes since '97.

Macroblocking IS an authoring issue on the DVD. The 23xx Faroudja chips ARE responsible, but the issue is completely eliminated compared with the 5900.

Greg....Get the deck. You won't be sorry. There may be a couple of insignificant quirks, but the positives on this deck more than out-weigh any inconveniences.

Jer