Rotel DVD players.....

[Welshie]

.....are they any good?

I'm interested in upgrading my dodgy old Toshiba SD-2109 for a new machine.
I'd quite like a Rotel to match the rest of my system, however I hear people saying that they're not great for CD replay, and that other models beat them for DVD/(A), as well as offering such toys as a full 8 channel analogue out, and SACD playback (not sure how important these are to me really though).

I know that some people are going to say get a CD player and a separate machine for DVDs, but I don't want any more kit in my equipment rack!

Are the Denons/Pioneers of the world worth consideration? :?

[Stevenfc]

Hello Welshie,
I can certainly understand wanting all of your gear to match and not having any extraneous boxes. I take it you plan on using your DVD player as an all purpose digital source (CD/DVD/Etc.) To that end, the Rotel players should work fine as they were designed to work in an all Rotel system in the first place.
As far as the competition goes:
Denon is not going to give you better CD playback. The ergonomics and (from what I've heard reliability) are not up to Rotel standards either.
Pioneer makes some quality equipment, but does a better job on the video end than on the audio side of things. Not a clear winner over Rotel in any event.
Yamaha makes a very good player at about $1,000 that plays everything, but some people find Yamaha a little bright. Though, it must be noted some people find Rotel dark, so combining the two into one system might give you a nice balance (depending on your tastes, of course).
Sony makes several DVD/SACD players that have gotten mixed reviews. I've had Sony gear before with mixed success. Their TVs are wonderful, but their electronics vary in reliability and performance to such an extent that I am not confident enough in them to give them a blanket endorsement. Though I would not rule them out either.
I guess your choice will depend on how important audio replay is to you. I won't give you the pretentious advice of "use your ears" to decide when so many other factors really are important in any purchase decision. If you really want DVD-A or SACD, then consider going with the Yamaha as it does everything and is one of the only players that does everything fairly well (see review in TAS). If you have a huge CD collection that you listen to a lot and only watch movies occasionally, then you might want to look at one of the high-end DVD players out there that only do DVD and CD, but do those well (Arcam comes to mind).
I hope this helps.

[aud19]

The Rotel should out-perform any of the offerings from Denon, Yamaha etc not so much in picture quality but especially sound and especially on CD's. You will get higher quality out of the Rotel at the expense of no SACD and from what I read, slowish layer changes on DVD's. You do get the ability with the Rotel to switch to and from PAL/NTSC though...

Having said that I'd recommend going with one of the Denon or Yamaha universals to be able to play everything. Then if CD playback is a priority for you, purchase one of Rotels dedicated CD players which will outprform even it's own DVD players for CD playback. Then you'll have the best of both worlds.

Jason




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[Welshie]

Thanks for your advice guys, I'll have to some saving first whatever I decide.

Is the Rotel RDV-1050 a replacement for the 1060, or is it a new lower model?

Also, is it possible to make the Rotels Multi Region? It's not a major concern as I can always watch other regions on the PC, it'd just be nice to have it there; the same goes for DVD+/-RW as my Tosh won't play any recorded media!

Thanks again,
James

[Kevin D]

Don't know about slow layer changes on the 1060, but on my 1040 (and assuming 1050) they are almost instant. Video quality just blows away my previous $1200 Technics (Panasonic) player. That unit was old and non-progressive, but I'm still amazed by picture quality.

Only downside I can find so far is the auto-select mode for the progressive chip doesn't always work too well. I usually leave it in film mode and that works really well. Switch it to video mode when you know it's a video sourced dvd or if it looks like the video's tearing. Since 98% of the stuff I watch is film based, it's not that big of a deal.

Kevin D.

[Arnold van Oostrum]

Rotel players are indeed good equipement, but unfortunately they don't support SACD.
If you want a real good player which is universal I can recommend the Marantz DV8400. The picture quality is very good, but not spectaculair. But the audio is unbeaten. Except by Marantz' own DV12S2, but the pricetag on this beauty is a little higher.

[aud19]

Don't know about slow layer changes on the 1060, but on my 1040 (and assuming 1050) they are almost instant.

Some folks have reported "slowish" layer changes on Rotels DVD players. If that's not the case anymore than that's one less thing to worry about

Jason




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[servo01]

Hi,

I can confirm a very bad Layer Jump on my 1060.
In addition I find the drive of my 1060 way too noisy.

However, the audio and picture quality of the Rotel Players is very good.


Cheers

servo

[servo01]

Hi,

I can confirm a very bad Layer Jump on my 1060.
In addition I find the drive of my 1060 way too noisy.

However, the audio and picture quality of the Rotel Players is very good.


Cheers

servo

[Stevebez]

I initially wanted a full ROTEL set-up, amp, proc & DVD but was blown away by the Arcam DV88+. Truely amazing prog scan and imaging. Did not even bother to check out ROTEL. Very quiet operation as well with robust remote and good on screen displays. Cornflake in UK were great in advising me me on the kit I wanted, not what they wanted to sell me.

Cannot comment on ROTEL as have not been able to compare - but there is new Arcam DV89, which supports DVD audio now as well which is probably going to be my next toy. So if you consider others give the Arcam a try. One note of caution - no SACD on Arcam - they are fixed on the DVD-A philosophy - which I subsribe to as well.

Rgds Steve.
RMB1075
RSP1066
Boston Micro
REL Quake Sub
Arcam DV88+
Panasonic Plasma PWD5 42"

[triDave]

>>In addition I find the drive of my 1060 way too noisy.>>

Yeap The driver is more noisy than my projector, feels kinda weird...

Dave