Shop RadioShack for Great GiftsDenon DVD-2930CI
Manufacturer: Denon Electronics Ltd. Part number: DVD2930CI
- More product information:
- Editors' review
- User reviews
- Specifications
- Manufacturer info
- Bottom Line:
- We were floored by the Denon DVD-2930CI's image quality, but we were also floored by its high price.
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CNET editors' review
Denon DVD-2930CI price range: $547.32 - $848.00
- Reviewed by: Matthew Moskovciak
- Edited by: David Katzmaier
- Reviewed on: 09/07/2006
The good: Outstanding image quality; upscales to 480i/480p/720p/1080i/1080p; plays SACD, DVD-Audio, and DivX; solid build quality.
The bad: Very expensive for a deck that doesn't play next-gen HD-DVD or Blu-ray discs.
The bottom line: We were floored by the Denon DVD-2930CI's image quality, but we were also floored by its high price.
The design of DVD-2930CI immediately sets it apart from your bargain DVD player. Its solid construction and all-black brushed metal faceplate give it the feeling of a serious A/V component. There are quite a few front panel buttons, including chapter forward/backward buttons and HDMI resolution controls, which are handy for when the remote goes missing. At 4.02 inches high, 17.09 inches wide, and 16.19 inches deep, it's a bit larger than a usual DVD player, so make sure you have room in your cabinet to accommodate its size.
The remote, like the unit, is bulkier than average. We found it easy to navigate, and the buttons are logically placed. It's not backlit, but we're guessing most people spending this much on a DVD player probably can spring for a good universal remote.
There aren't a lot of extra features, such as network media streaming or USB ports on the Denon, but it does handle both high-resolution audio formats: DVD-Audio and SACD. In addition, it can handle several different file formats, such as DivX, MP3, WMA, and JPEG. It also has a "pure direct" mode that disengages all video processing so that audio-only discs have less chance of picking up interference.
Although it's admittedly uncommon, one feature we would have liked to see in a player this expensive is aspect ratio control. Some HDTVs, such as the HP LC3760N and the Philips 42PF9831D, do not have aspect ratio control when fed high-def sources, so it's nice to have the upscaling DVD player handle it. This is not an issue for most high-quality DVDs, which are anamorphic, but nonanamorphic wide-screen discs will look distorted via the Denon unless you change the aspect ratio using your HDTV. The DVD-2930CI does have a "squeeze mode," however, that will display 4:3 material (such as TV shows on DVD) properly in the center of the screen. The problem is that the picture is still flanked by black bars on the right and left, and it doesn't have an option to zoom in on the image so that it fills the screen properly. For example, we used a nonanamorphic wide-screen DVD of Carlito's Way, and the best we could do was to use the squeeze mode to see it in the correct aspect ratio. In contrast, the $150 Oppo DV-970HD has a similar squeeze mode but was able to zoom in so that the picture filled the screen properly.
The Denon DVD-2930CI's jack pack consists of one HDMI output, one component-video output, one A/V output with S-Video, two digital audio outputs (one optical, one coaxial), a 5.1-channel analog output for multichannel music, Denon-Link, and an RS-232C port. The DVD-2930CI is able to perform upconversion over its HDMI output to 480i, 480p, 720p, 1080i, and 1080p resolutions. Like most DVD players, it cannot output SACD audio through its HDMI output, but it can output multichannel DVD-Audio.
We ran the DVD-2930CI through our disc compatibility suite of home-burned CDs and DVDs and got mixed results. While it was able to play some of the more difficult discs in our suite, it choked on a number of discs we have labeled as easy. More annoying was the fact that these discs made the player hang up and required us to cycle the power to get the disc out.
The video quality performance of the DVD-2930CI was impressive, as we expected. We started off testing it with Silicon Optix's HQV Benchmark DVD, in 720p, 1080i, and 1080p modes, and were rarely disappointed. It performed excellently on everything from resolution tests to 2:3 pull-down tests. Even the difficult swaying flag test looked remarkably lifelike, without being peppered with artifacts that many other players produce. We were also impressed with the Denon's noise reduction capabilities, as it was able to smooth out simulated digital transmission noise, leaving a clean image. The bottom line is that the DVD-2930CI turned in the best performance we've seen of any player using the HQV Test Suite, which isn't surprising, considering that the Denon uses Silicon Optix's video-processing chip.
We also looked at our torture test for 2:3 pull-down--the opening of Star Trek: Insurrection--and the DVD-2930CI passed commendably. There was still a slight stutter as the camera made a long pan, but that's to be expected with proper 2:3 pull-down. On the downside, using the Windows DVD Test Annex, we noticed that it suffered from chroma bug in 1080i mode.
Finding out that it was a great performer was no surprise, but with an $850 price tag, we wanted to how DVD-2930CI stacked up to cheaper alternatives such as the Oppo DV-970HD and the Toshiba HD-A1. We hooked up all three DVD players to the Sony KDL-40XBR2 and the Pioneer PDP-5070HD, and watched several scenes from Serenity to see how they performed. Right off the bat, the most striking impression was how similar they all looked. All three are very good upscaling DVD players, and only serious videophiles will find much of anything to complain about. That being said, we did feel like the DVD-2930CI had the best image quality of the three--but it was close. It was hard to pin it down to any one specific quality, but we felt like the DVD-2930CI had slightly more detail and looked more lifelike than either the HD-A1 or the DV-970HD.
Although we give the nod to the DVD-2930CI for pure performance, the other two players will be better values for most people. If you're not ready to spend more than $500 on a standard DVD player, the Oppo DV-970HD delivers most of the performance for a fraction of the price of the DVD-2930CI. On the other hand, if you're willing to spend $500 on a DVD player, why not go HD-DVD? Again, the performance for upscaling is very close to the DVD-2930CI's, plus you get the ability to play HD-DVDs that look much better than DVDs ever could.
User reviews
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FANTASTIC DVD PLAYER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
by dr. kahouli on March 13, 2007
Pros: GREAT UPCONVERSION, GREAT PICTURE , GREAT AUDIO.
Cons: THAT I CAN'T AFFORD TWO OF THEM
Summary: THIS IS AN AUDIOPHILE GRADE DVD PLAYER. IT IS NOT SOLD AT FUTURE SHOP OR BEST BUY FOR A REASON. IN LIFE YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR AND WITH ...
Summary: THIS IS AN AUDIOPHILE GRADE DVD PLAYER. IT IS NOT SOLD AT FUTURE SHOP OR BEST BUY FOR A REASON. IN LIFE YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR AND WITH THIS PLAYER YOU THE BEST PICTURE POSSIBLE WITH STANDARD DEFINITION DVDS. THE AUDIO IS ALSO EXCELLENT AS WELL AS THE BUILD QUALITY. DON'T BE FOOLISH AND TRY AND COMPARE THIS UNIT WITH A MASS PRODUCTION 3LB PLAYER. A PORCHE AND A NEON ARE BOTH AUTOMOBLES BUT.......NEED I GO ON.
1 out of 2 users found this user opinion helpful.
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Great high end DVD
by davidkm on December 17, 2007
Pros: Great sound(sacd) and Great picture
Cons: D-link should provide more
Summary: I have this DVD matched up with a Denon AVR-3805 through D-Link connection for listening 2 music. I have them both powered by a PS audio premier power supply and ...
Summary: I have this DVD matched up with a Denon AVR-3805 through D-Link connection for listening 2 music. I have them both powered by a PS audio premier power supply and I have never heard anything sound better (dyn-audio front and center).The DVD player when hooked up on HDMI automatically selects the highest resolution the TV can take. I have hooked up 4 different TV's all have looked great on this system with the Mitsubishi's DLP looking so life like while watching King Kong, I felt like reaching out and rubbing Kong on the head when they where shooting him on top of the building.
The only down side is Denon's D-link should automatically turn the DVD player on when I select DVD on the AVR-3805. -
Worth the Price - Debatable
by Greg7557 on September 18, 2007
Pros: Excellent Upconversion to 1080 P, Great Audio
Cons: The high price.
Summary: I purchased the Denon 2930CI because I have approximately 250 DVD's - I stopped counting a long time ago. And, honestly, I did not want to rebuild my selection ...
Summary: I purchased the Denon 2930CI because I have approximately 250 DVD's - I stopped counting a long time ago. And, honestly, I did not want to rebuild my selection of movies to some HD format (e.g., Blu-ray or HD DVD). When I purchased the Denon 2930Ci, the PS3 did not have the ability to up convert DVD's, but now it does. Had I to do it over again, I am not sure that I would purchase the 2930CI. After downloading the firmware update that enabled the PS3 to up convert DVD?s, I initially thought the PS3 did a better job than the Denon, but after tweaking the Denon video adjustments and waiting a couple of months and watching more than a few movies to render a decision, I've concluded that the Denon is notably the better of the two when it comes to up converting DVD's.
On my Sony 60 inch 1080P SXRD TV, the up converted DVD's look nearly as good as the Blu-ray movies, and I suspect that a good DVD film transfer when up converted could out perform a poor Blu-ray transfer. Now, I have not seen the Oppo HD players, but the reviews on them are generally very favorable, and they are much cheaper than the Denon. With that said, I strongly encourage that you employ some means to objectively compare your buying options.
I am a loyal Denon customer; I have a Denon 5805 AVR, a Denon 2200; and a Denon 380 CD player. Their products have always performed very well, with one exception, and they were extremely accommodating when it came to correcting the problem that I was experiencing. The best way that I can sum up this review is to say that I do not plan to replace even my favorite movies with Blu-ray because the 2930CI is providing performance that is close enough to the "real thing." One last note, if you are thinking that the superior audio of the Blu-ray can be a decisive factor between an up converted DVD and a true HD format, you better have an AVR that takes a HDMI 1.3 input, or you will be stuck with the standard audio output via the optical link. -
Very Nice DVD
by gregsoc on June 10, 2007
Pros: Relatively easy setup; Unbelievable audio & picture quality.
Cons: Price. Otherwise, none so far (2 weeks)
Summary: I can highly recommend this product. You will be amazed by the picture quality. I wrestled with the price, but after comparing other brand's products and the current state ...
Summary: I can highly recommend this product. You will be amazed by the picture quality. I wrestled with the price, but after comparing other brand's products and the current state of the HD/Blu-ray war, I think I'll be satisfied with this purchase for a long time. I haven't seen too much posted about the audio quality, but I've got a rather extensive collection of classical CDs and they are absolutely breathtaking when played on this unit.
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Excellent Upconversion
by Rickrack on February 27, 2007
Pros: Excellent Upconversion plays SACD
Cons: It's Expensive
Summary: Great player! but its not for the budget Conscious. If you have high audio and video standards the money is a drop in the bucket for its performance.
Summary: Great player! but its not for the budget Conscious. If you have high audio and video standards the money is a drop in the bucket for its performance.
0 out of 2 users found this user opinion helpful.
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Broken right out-of-the-box; Denon has poor support of their products
by bartbyerley on February 26, 2007
Pros: Video and audio are fine when the unit is not malfunctioning
Cons: Unit malfunctions continously during DVD playback
Summary: The unit from a right-out-of-the-box condition produces video and audio artifacts: jittery picture at times, digital noise in image at times, audio completely cuts out at times. Denon refused to ...
Summary: The unit from a right-out-of-the-box condition produces video and audio artifacts: jittery picture at times, digital noise in image at times, audio completely cuts out at times. Denon refused to replace the unit with a brand new one and said I had to send the unit in for repair. They have had it for a month now and have not given me any indication as to when I am going to get a properly working unit. They do not return emails at times. I would recommend going with the Oppo DVD player that CNET reviews indicate is a good quality DVD player. For me, Denon has not lived up to their reputation.
0 out of 4 users found this user opinion helpful.
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Another ugly oversize DVD box
by peter9291 on January 4, 2007
Pros: High CNET rating
Cons: Big and ugly
Summary: Why can't the makers of high-end DVD players figure this out -- my new HDTV is hanging on the wall, and I got rid of that big ugly TV ...
Summary: Why can't the makers of high-end DVD players figure this out -- my new HDTV is hanging on the wall, and I got rid of that big ugly TV cabinet that could accommodate an oversized 16"+ wide DVD box! Give me something compact -- there is no reason for a DVD player to be any wider than 8". For some reason, only the people who make those $40 commodity-grade units have figured this out.
0 out of 6 users found this user opinion helpful.
Specifications
- Manufacturer: Denon Electronics Ltd.
- Part number: DVD2930CI
- Description: The DVD-2930CI uses the latest 10-bit I/P converter "REON-VX" developed through a joint development effort that merged image processing algorithms of Silicon Optix, and Denon video technology on the foundation of an image processing device. This 10-bit processing offers high conversion performance and dramatically improves motion detection capability. Multi-Directional Diagonal Filter (MDDF) technology, used for the first time in the DVD-2930CI, which accurately detects and corrects the directionality of lines on a per- pixel level to avoid "jaggies" that easily appear when video sources are I/P converted, ensuring smooth picture play- back. To ensure that high-grade video signals from the latest high-performance I/P con- verter are reproduced with utmost fidelity to the original images, the DVD-2930CI has an extremely fast and accurate 12-bit, 216-MHz video DAC. Oversampling of 8x for Progressive and 16x for Interlaced signals results in sharp, detailed pic- tures. Composite, S-video and component signals each have their own dedicated video DAC, a design that enhances the reproduction of low-level video signals and reproduces high-definition images that are faithful to the original. In addition, Noise Shaped Video (NSV) technology is used to improve the S/N of video signals and further boost their linearity. The Denon Pixel Image Correction feature that incorporates original Denon enhancement technology and makes high-definition video correction possible, has been advanced to even greater heights in the DVD-2930CI. Denon Pixel Image Correction performs detection and correction through 10-bit processing to significantly improve contour correction. This new contour correction circuit uses enhancement-processing technology that also considers the influence of pixels surrounding the target pixels. It uses new algorithms to sample and analyze a total of 9 pixels of video data around, and including, each target pixel. Video images are detected and processed in vertical, horizontal, and diagonal directions at a highly detailed per-pixel level to produce contours that are visually more nat- ural and processed to suppress ringing noise and other artifacts that easily occur during enhancement. By performing the type of processing that is most effective for the current video image, the picture is free of degradation and appears more natural.
General
- Product Type DVD player
- Form Factor Tabletop
- Width 17.1 in
- Depth 15.2 in
- Height 4 in
- Weight 16.8 lbs
- Enclosure Color Black
DVD
- Media Type CD, DVD, CD-R, SACD, CD-RW, DVD+R, DVD-R, DVD+RW, DVD-RW, Mini DVD, Video CD, DVD-Audio, Mini CD-R, Fujicolor CD, Kodak Picture CD
- Media Format PAL, NTSC
- Recordable Media DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+R, DVD+RW
- Video D/A Converter 12bit / 216MHz
- Audio D/A Converter 24bit / 192kHz
- Built-in Audio Decoders DTS decoder, Dolby Digital
- Media Load Type Tray
- Changer Capacity 1
- Picture Modes Normal, Widescreen
- DVD Playback Modes Random play, Program play
- DVD Repeat Modes Title, Chapter, A-B repeat
- CD Playback Modes A-B repeat, Program play, One track repeat, All tracks repeat, Random play / shuffle
- Upscaling Yes ( Up to 1080p )
- Supported Digital Video Standards DivX, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4
- Supported Digital Audio Standards MP3, PCM, WMA
DVD Features
- Picture Zoom Yes
- Picture Zoom Power 2x, 3x, 1.5x
- Video Noise Reduction Yes
- TV Screen Saver Yes
- Additional Features Auto power off, On-screen display, JPEG photo playback, Progressive scanning
Audio System
- Sound Output Mode Surround Sound
- Surround Sound Effects Virtual Surround Mode
- Response Bandwidth 2 - 100000 Hz
- Dynamic Range 106 dB
- Digital Audio Format DTS digital output, Dolby Digital output
- Digital Output Sample Rate 48KHz, 96KHz, 192KHz, 44.1KHz
- Signal-To-Noise Ratio 118 dB
- Total Harmonic Distortion 0.001 %
Remote Control
- Type Remote control
- Technology Infrared
Remote Control (2nd)
- Type None
Connections
- Connector Type 1 x HDMI ( 19 pin HDMI Type A ) - Rear, 1 x Digital audio output (optical) ( TOSLINK ) - Rear, 1 x Digital audio output (coaxial) ( RCA phono ) - Rear, 1 x DENON LINK - Rear, 1 x Composite video/audio output ( RCA phono x 3 ) - Rear, 1 x Component video output ( RCA phono x 3 ) - Rear, 1 x S-Video output ( 4 pin mini-DIN ) - Rear, 2 x Remote control - Rear, 1 x Serial ( 9 pin D-Sub ) - Rear, 1 x 5.1 channel audio line-out ( RCA phono x 6 ) - Rear
Miscellaneous
- Cables Included 1 x Data cable - 5 ft, 1 x A/V cable - 5 ft
Power
- Power Device Power supply
- Power AC 120 V
- Power Consumption Operational 45 Watt
- Power Consumption Stand by / Sleep 1 Watt
Manufacturer Warranty
- Service & Support Details - 1 year
Manufacturer info
- Denon Electronics Ltd.
- Manufacturer profile
- Browse Denon Electronics Ltd. products on Shopper.com
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- Website: http://www.usa.denon.com/
- Address:
P.O. Box 867, Pine Brook, NJ 07058-0867 - Phone: (973) 396-0810
- Fax: 973-396-7448
