Zenith DVB318 Review

**LEVESQUE** · 12 June 2004, 09:35 Saturday

Yep. I know. I own a LG7832 (canadian clone of the Zenith) since the 1st day it came out, and for the price this player is unbeatable.

I did try it side-by-side against a Pio Elite 59ai and a Bravo D1, and the PQ was better on the LG (Zenith). :E

I was only concerned about PQ, not audio. And this player was the best, just a notch under my Denon 5900, but a notch over the 59ai and Bravo D1.

All this for 199$ cdn!

**JonMarsh** · 12 June 2004, 10:51 Saturday

Yeah, if Stereophile Guide to Home Theater had awards for "Best DVD Player under $500" and "Best DVD player under $1,000", I'm sure it would snag the first one, and I haven't yet heard of a credible candidate on video quality to beat it in the second one. Certainly not if upscaling is a desired feature.

Sonny, I'll warn you, if you hook it up to your projector, you'll just probably find yourself buying another one...

There is one thing to look out for, hooked up to a projector. At least in the 1080i mode, there's a row of orange dots spaced closed together on what seems to be the first scan line; this is normlaly hidden by overscan on standard HDTV monitors; on a front projector, which doesn't overscan at all, these may be visible, and require a slight adjustment of the projector to suppress the first scan line- on my NEC 9PG+, it's just a tiny tweak to the field blanking.

Regards,

Jon

**LEVESQUE** · 12 June 2004, 11:33 Saturday

Originally posted by JonMarsh

and I haven't yet heard of a credible candidate on video quality to beat it in the second one. Certainly not if upscaling is a desired feature.

The Denon 5900 is an awesome upscaler. The PQ is incredible on my 3-chip LCOS JVC HX1U. I think nothing can touch the 5900 right now for image quality.

And I have tried an HTPC, LG 7832 (Zenith...), Denon 2900 and 3800, Momitsu V880, Bravo D1 and Pio 59ai...

**JonMarsh** · 12 June 2004, 16:00 Saturday

Yeah, but it has an MSRP of $2000.

And it won't output 1080i over component. :roll:

But it's a nice jack of all trades...

~Jon

**Sonnie Parker** · 12 June 2004, 18:46 Saturday

You know Alain that says a lot for this player that you can say it's "just a notch under my Denon 5900". Especially as Jon points out the price difference. Then to say it can outperform (video) over the Pioneer with a new street price at about $1K... wow. I almost pulled the trigger on a refurb 5900 at $1100 delivered from e-cost the other day. Maybe for just a notch below I'm glad I waited. Not taking away anything from the 5900 because it is a universal player ta boot and a fine machine from all I've read about it. No doubt it's the flagship of universals.

I have heard of those orange dots Jon... I'm thinkin' I'll be able to adjust those out as well. Seems like I read about a white line too somewhere but that might have been in the early built units.

You know... if it weren't for me wanting to keep my DVD-A and SACD I could sell my 2900 and have money left over after buying 2 of the 318's.

**LEVESQUE** · 12 June 2004, 19:54 Saturday

Originally posted by Sonnie Parker

You know Alain that says a lot for this player that you can say it's "just a notch under my Denon 5900". Especially as Jon points out the price difference. Then to say it can outperform (video) over the Pioneer with a new street price at about $1K... wow. .

The 1K$ higher price tag of the 5900 and 59ai is also for the better analog stages, DVD-A and SACD... Don't forget it.

It's a notch over for the PQ only, but for the audio section, it's like comparing apples and oranges (not talking about DTS and DD for sure...).

To use your exemple, if you take the price you have paid for your 2900 and the price you have paid for your Zenith, then you are almost at the same price level with the 59ai and the 5900...

**Sonnie Parker** · 12 June 2004, 20:07 Saturday

Good point if I'd paid street price for my 2900... but I purchased it for $550.

BUT... the 5900 would no doubt yield better audio than my 2900. Of course the audio side (DTS and DD) is not quite as important to me as the video side. Analog is not important at all really although I do own 2 DVD-A's and 1 SACD. I rarely listen to 2 channel either.

Hey... I've gave credit for the 5900 being a universal player.

:

**LEVESQUE** · 12 June 2004, 21:20 Saturday

Yes. But I have paid 1900$ cdn for my 5900, so around 1300-1400$ US! :E

So we are getting really near each other in price now...

And some refurbs 5900 are beeing spot at lower prices then this since a week or two... so... :B

And I own over 120 SACDs and DVD-As titles... So the universal players is well worth it for me.

But I use my LG7832 in my 2nd room and I love it! :T

**Sonnie Parker** · 12 June 2004, 22:03 Saturday

Really near? ??? C'mon... hee hee $550+$160=$710 You are close to twice as much... $1900CDN=$1393US :P

lol... yeah... as I said... I almost jumped on that 5900 for $1100 shipped. That's a good deal off retail and their refurbs are just as good as the new ones IMO. Still $390 more than my set up but if I was more into DVD-A's and SACD's like you it might be worth it.

It's all in what you need, no doubt.

**JonMarsh** · 13 June 2004, 00:20 Sunday

Just watched a couple of Andromeda episodes on the DVB318- usually I use an HTPC running at 1280X720, but the DVB318 at 1080i is even more film like and detailed, and the color seems more analog and natural- this is on my NEC-9PG+. The depth and naturalness of the image is just something else. Especially for the Sci-Fi stuff with dimly lit ships (the Maru freighter), and of course, the blackness of space peppered with a handful of stars.

The combo is really fantastic- a sub $200 DVD player that runs with the big dogs on video quality, and a high res NEC CRT projector with only 700 hours as less than 1/10th of it's new MSRP. :T I have truly been lucky lately! :lol:

**LEVESQUE** · 13 June 2004, 10:26 Sunday

I know. I did try my LG7832 with my JVC HX-1U on my 110'' screen and it was a sight to behold!

LG/Zenith did something really good this time. :T

**peebles** · 15 June 2004, 23:46 Tuesday

May I ask where you bought that LG?

**RickS** · 16 June 2004, 11:09 Wednesday

Sonnie, thanks for your Info!!!! I must resist.....1-HTPC(DVI out to Panasonic PT-L500U 1280x720) 1-DVD-A player Panasonic RP91, old Sony DVP7700. I have been very happy with my HTPC and can't imagine the picture getting much better. 8O

Antec Black Rack Mount Case IPC3480B + 380 watt PS,Intel® Pentium® 4 Processor 3.0G 800FSB/HT, Gigabyte GA8KNXP, 2x512 MB PC3200, WD Raptor SATA 10K, ATI 9800 Pro, M-Audio A/P2496, LG 4040B DVD Burner, Pioneer 16X Black 105S Slot load DVD, Teac Blk Floppy Drive,Twinhan 1020, Windows XP Pro SP1, Stab H-H120, 1M Dish .

This drives a Daytek 17" Widescreen ( 1280x 768 ) LCD TV wall mounted beside the rack. Also, a Panasonic PT-L500U( 1280x720)FPTV.

I must resist!!!!

Rick

**Sonnie Parker** · 16 June 2004, 14:23 Wednesday

Oh c'mon Rick... what's a measly little old 160 bucks? :B You'll probably blow that next week.

**JonMarsh** · 16 June 2004, 14:36 Wednesday

Originally posted by RickS

Sonnie, thanks for your Info!!!! I must resist.....1-HTPC(DVI out to Panasonic PT-L500U 1280x720) 1-DVD-A player Panasonic RP91, old Sony DVP7700. I have been very happy with my HTPC and can't imagine the picture getting much better. 8O

Antec Black Rack Mount Case IPC3480B + 380 watt PS,Intel® Pentium® 4 Processor 3.0G 800FSB/HT, Gigabyte GA8KNXP, 2x512 MB PC3200, WD Raptor SATA 10K, ATI 9800 Pro, M-Audio A/P2496, LG 4040B DVD Burner, Pioneer 16X Black 105S Slot load DVD, Teac Blk Floppy Drive,Twinhan 1020, Windows XP Pro SP1, Stab H-H120, 1M Dish .

This drives a Daytek 17" Widescreen ( 1280x 768 ) LCD TV wall mounted beside the rack. Also, a Panasonic PT-L500U( 1280x720)FPTV.

I must resist!!!!

Rick

Rick, I have two HTPC's, in ATC cases (look like Laser disk players), with Nforce chip based MB's, Athlon 2500's, Pioneer DVD drives, MyHD card in one setup for HDTV and DVD (dedicated hardware HD output at 720P or 1080i), NVDVD 3 on main video outputs (over 5700 Ultra's, which have all the nice hardware support for DVD built in), etc., etc.

I bought the Zenith, and IMO it's better than the HTPCs in most cases; only case I haven't tried is the 1080i MyHD output on DVD with my NEC-9PG+ projector, because the unit with MyHD board is in my bedroom. The board is going to get moved, soon, and will be AB'd against the Zenith.

At this point, I think the little Zenith is the best money I've ever spent for video playback- it's really super at 1080i output on the NEC CRT projector. :T

If you DON'T have a 1080i capable or native display, then it's not for you. 720P is not as good. The 1080i component output is VERY good.
But if you do have a 1080i capable display.... :E

**RickS** · 16 June 2004, 16:07 Wednesday

Jon,
Well my FPTV (Panasonic PT-L500U) will convert 1080i to 720P but I find that native 720P from some of the HD stations much better than 1080i. I don't even use component inputs on my FPTV just drive it with DVI-D 1:1 pixel mapping. My Pana PT-L300U projector is native 540P which may work very well with the the LG. :yesnod:

Sonnie, I must resist!!!

Rick

**Sonnie Parker** · 16 June 2004, 23:21 Wednesday

Well... well... I did some heavy testing in the HT room today with the 318 vs. the 2900. This is with my 2HD (same as Z2) on a 97" screen. I had pretty much made up my mind I was going to sell my 2900 and get another 318 because I couldn't help but to believe the 318 would outperform the 2900 since there's no doubt it smoked it on our Toshiba RPTV. Both were connected via component cables.

I inserted Monsters, Inc. into the 318 and initially thought "hmmm that looks mighty good". It was a pain because I didn't have 2 copy's of the same DVD so I had to keep swapping the DVD back and forth and try to notice the difference via memory.... not as easy as I thought it would be. Anyway there were no orange dots with the 318 on the 2HD. The only thing out of the ordinary was a black bar down the right hand side of the screen about an inch wide. If I adjusted for the 318 it would throw off my satellite receiver. No way to make it just right for both that I know of. On to the comparison... I watched the first 2 minutes on both DVD players about 7 times (7 times on each one). At first I thought the 318 was stretching a little because when it shows the close up of the clock it looked like it might be a little out of round and wider than normal but after a second and third look I figured it was just my eyes playin' tricks on me. The clock was the same on both units and it was not abnormal. The 318 looked really good. The 2900 looked really good. Man I had a hard time telling any difference at all. Actually I couldn't really tell a difference between the 480p and 1080i on the 318. I don't know if it's because of the 2HD or the 97" screen or both but it was really a toss up. For whatever reasons I just don't think the 318 looked as good on the 2HD as it did on the RPTV. Just not quite the depth and crispy image as on the RPTV. It still looks very good though. I could definitely be just as happy with it as the 2900 if not for the black bar on the right side.

The one thing I didn't do though was calibrate the 318 with AVIA. I know the 2900 is on the money with AVIA. Maybe the 318 needs to be calibrated a little to make it a fair comparison. I didn't even consider this until after I had taken it out of the system and plugged my satellite back up. Duh me. Another unfair area would be the fact that I use DVI on the RPTV and I used components on the 2HD. I don't have a DVI cable ran to my 2HD. Both of my component inputs go straight into my Rotel 1066. I don't know that it would make that big of a difference but maybe it does.

Either way the black bar on the right side is annoying and I'm not sure what's up with that. Maybe there's more overscan width with the other units. The 2900 and my Voom satellite match the screen border perfectly. I'm not sure how I could get around adjusting that problem out and it not effect my satellite.

I think to be fair I'll try it once again and go rent a movie that I have and after calibrating the 318 to AVIA then start a comparison between the two.... flipping back and forth without having to move the DVD from one to the other.

**Lex** · 16 June 2004, 23:29 Wednesday

Sonnie, I believe your email is crapped up man, you may want to check it. It seems you have a lot of trouble with that there, huh? :huh:

Lex

**Sonnie Parker** · 16 June 2004, 23:44 Wednesday

Well not really... I uh... uh... just haven't checked my work e-mail address today. I'm off on Wednesdays ya know. I just checked and got a few I see. It's screwee cause if I get a conversation going from work sometimes I forget to check work from home. I don't have it auto checking the work at home cause Bug gets on the puter late at night and I might miss one that downloads to home that should be for work. So I guess it kinda is a problem huh?

Did you get all that... cause I don't think I did. :roll:

**RickS** · 17 June 2004, 10:56 Thursday

Sonnie, Interesting findings!! The only thing that concerns me is this

I don't have a DVI cable ran to my 2HD. Both of my component inputs go straight into my Rotel 1066. I don't know that it would make that big of a difference but maybe it does.

To be fair IMHO you have to try the DVI input on your projector. I have tried component in on my FPTV and only took about 15 seconds to know that the DVI-D input was miles ahead. I even can shift the Image which would probably eliminate the black bar.

I must resist!!!!

:B :wink:

Rick

**Sonnie Parker** · 17 June 2004, 11:36 Thursday

I can possibly agree with this although I have read several peoples comments that they couldn't tell a difference between DVI and Component on the 2HD. Not to mention several saying they preferred Component over DVI on the 318 because of the white crush issue (which btw I haven't noticed yet but probaby wouldn't with my eyes).

Zenith DVB318 Review

Zenith DVB318 Review

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