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Got my Bravo D1 running last night. Those of you with an HTPC can skip this thread, or read it and say to yourself "well duh!" (Jon 
).
Did not have audio hooked up, as I used a 2 meter DVI cable to hook this to my PJ (WXGA LCD for those scoring at home, on a 10' diagonal screen), and have not made the 35' SPDIF cable necessary to reach my equipment rack. I cannot therefore tell if my unit has the audio issues (pops, noise, locking problems and dropouts) a few have reported.
Video function was fine. Spent a few hours chapter jumping around AVIA, SW Ep II and LOTR EE, with no gltiches whatsoever.
What did it do for my picture?
All video noise gone. I mean all. The much maligned "fixed pattern noise" and "vertical banding" of the LCD PJ itself is still there, but otherwise the picture is soooo clean. Watching SW Ep II, Lucas uses a lot of anchored camera shots. In these shots, anything that was CGI and was not in motion looked like a paused still image. Absolutely clean and still. The top and bottom rows of pixels at the edge of the "black bars" where I used to see some activity are now dead clean, like I have masking (I don't).
Detail is improved. When watching these movies, I always look for details inn the DVD that I noticed in the (very well run) 70mm theater where I saw these films. This is the first time I could see ALL of them.
Color is better. In LOTR, one detail I always focus on is the blood on the black rider's horse's hoof when they first encounter him. Before it was discernible as blood, but lacked the clarity it had in the theater. That is there. As well as improvement everywhere.
Motion-based decompression artifacts are not noticeable as such. Sweeps across things like leafy trees no longer have discernible pixel blotching, but instead read as regular motion blur just as with film. I was literally (for the first time) able to pretend I was watching film at home.
If you have a DVI equipped display, this player or something like will almost certainly have you grinning. If you have the PJ I have or anything similar (Sony HS10 owners, I mean you) and aren't planning HTPC, this is a must have.
Caveats: My old DVD player is a Pioneer D-F727. This is a 300 disc non-progressive unit, identical to the elite model except for case and audio DACs. The model came out about 3 or 4 years ago listing for about $1100. Consequently, it is not even last year's state of the art, but is certainly a reasonable quality player. However, based on comments in the Bravo thread at AVS, there is still a noticeable improvement over newer, more capable machines though. Layer change on my pioneer was pretty good, about 1/2 second. The Bravo beats that. It is still perceptible, but is only on the order of 1/10th second, feels like a frame or three was dropped rather than an actual pause. My component cabling was all top notch belden digital video with canare connectors, so that should have been a minimal part for the difference..
Several people are reporting functional issues with the machine. I have not checked its audio performance as this requires me to the audio cable (weekend work). Some report noise and locking problems with the coax digital. Others have reported video lockup and skipping errors. I saw none of the video problems so far.
Most don't like the remote. I'm kind of in the minority on this. It is very poorly thought out and very hard to see (in full light, impossible in the dark), but has many functions and once you know the buttons is at least useable .
Lastly, DVI has some problems - noteably you may have issues if you run it over 15 or 20 feet. Many in the thread are doing 30-35 foot runs and having no problem, so maybe not. The problem is a signal timing issue, not attenuation. Some say that since we are only using 1/2 the bandwidth of DVI, greater length than the stated 5m limit is possible, but I don't understand how that can be so if it is a signal timing issue. I am locating my player by the PJ and running an audio cable instead as this is cheaper and easier for me (plus my component rack is FULL), but this is undoubtedly an UNpopular option. Cheap long copper based DVI cables are available up to 60' for about $95. If you are RPTV or direct view rather than FP, no problem.
I was actually thinking to myself "geez, who gives a crap about HD DVD?". Now once I put some other disks in without such stellar transfers, I'm sure I'll remember that I do, but right now, I'm giddy giddy giddy. I hate daylight savings time more than ever now.
BB
).Did not have audio hooked up, as I used a 2 meter DVI cable to hook this to my PJ (WXGA LCD for those scoring at home, on a 10' diagonal screen), and have not made the 35' SPDIF cable necessary to reach my equipment rack. I cannot therefore tell if my unit has the audio issues (pops, noise, locking problems and dropouts) a few have reported.
Video function was fine. Spent a few hours chapter jumping around AVIA, SW Ep II and LOTR EE, with no gltiches whatsoever.
What did it do for my picture?
All video noise gone. I mean all. The much maligned "fixed pattern noise" and "vertical banding" of the LCD PJ itself is still there, but otherwise the picture is soooo clean. Watching SW Ep II, Lucas uses a lot of anchored camera shots. In these shots, anything that was CGI and was not in motion looked like a paused still image. Absolutely clean and still. The top and bottom rows of pixels at the edge of the "black bars" where I used to see some activity are now dead clean, like I have masking (I don't).
Detail is improved. When watching these movies, I always look for details inn the DVD that I noticed in the (very well run) 70mm theater where I saw these films. This is the first time I could see ALL of them.
Color is better. In LOTR, one detail I always focus on is the blood on the black rider's horse's hoof when they first encounter him. Before it was discernible as blood, but lacked the clarity it had in the theater. That is there. As well as improvement everywhere.
Motion-based decompression artifacts are not noticeable as such. Sweeps across things like leafy trees no longer have discernible pixel blotching, but instead read as regular motion blur just as with film. I was literally (for the first time) able to pretend I was watching film at home.
If you have a DVI equipped display, this player or something like will almost certainly have you grinning. If you have the PJ I have or anything similar (Sony HS10 owners, I mean you) and aren't planning HTPC, this is a must have.
Caveats: My old DVD player is a Pioneer D-F727. This is a 300 disc non-progressive unit, identical to the elite model except for case and audio DACs. The model came out about 3 or 4 years ago listing for about $1100. Consequently, it is not even last year's state of the art, but is certainly a reasonable quality player. However, based on comments in the Bravo thread at AVS, there is still a noticeable improvement over newer, more capable machines though. Layer change on my pioneer was pretty good, about 1/2 second. The Bravo beats that. It is still perceptible, but is only on the order of 1/10th second, feels like a frame or three was dropped rather than an actual pause. My component cabling was all top notch belden digital video with canare connectors, so that should have been a minimal part for the difference..
Several people are reporting functional issues with the machine. I have not checked its audio performance as this requires me to the audio cable (weekend work). Some report noise and locking problems with the coax digital. Others have reported video lockup and skipping errors. I saw none of the video problems so far.
Most don't like the remote. I'm kind of in the minority on this. It is very poorly thought out and very hard to see (in full light, impossible in the dark), but has many functions and once you know the buttons is at least useable .
Lastly, DVI has some problems - noteably you may have issues if you run it over 15 or 20 feet. Many in the thread are doing 30-35 foot runs and having no problem, so maybe not. The problem is a signal timing issue, not attenuation. Some say that since we are only using 1/2 the bandwidth of DVI, greater length than the stated 5m limit is possible, but I don't understand how that can be so if it is a signal timing issue. I am locating my player by the PJ and running an audio cable instead as this is cheaper and easier for me (plus my component rack is FULL), but this is undoubtedly an UNpopular option. Cheap long copper based DVI cables are available up to 60' for about $95. If you are RPTV or direct view rather than FP, no problem.
I was actually thinking to myself "geez, who gives a crap about HD DVD?". Now once I put some other disks in without such stellar transfers, I'm sure I'll remember that I do, but right now, I'm giddy giddy giddy. I hate daylight savings time more than ever now.
BB
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