Rotel DVD Players

[BruinsFan]

I know little to nothing about DVD players let alone from a specific company. But I am giving Rotel DVD players a hard look since I know the receiver will be rotel and it will match well - thus making my wife happy

But I don't want appearances to the only factor - so I don't care about DVD-Audio of any format. I can about good CD playing quality and great DVD movies - video and audio. With that in mind - and a sub $1000 budget - which is my best best? Perhaps Rotel isn't my best option?

Thanks.

[Andrew Pratt]

For CD quality the Rotels will hang with the best and their video performance is pretty good as well...but they don't currently have DVI or HDMI video ports on them if that's a concern and non of them will play SACD's. Right now the current flavour du jour are the new Denon players as they're universal's meaning they'll play CD, DVD-A, DVD-V and SACD's as well as having all the latest video connection formats. Which one is right for you depends a lot on your needs and your comfort factors etc. Really either one is going to give you a very nice image and great sound so it comes down to which model fits your needs. For example in my own system I gave up my Denon single disc unit to goto a 400 disc Sony changer mostly for convienience and to get my DVD collection out of the hands of my young daughter. Picture wise the image quality changed a little but to be honest even on my projector the Sony's picture is very clean even when compared to the Denon 1600 which got the highest rating ever on the Secrets DVD Benchtests so IMO the gap is getting pretty narrow these days between the name brand units.

[aud19]

IMO video quality is pretty close on any decent players and as Andrew stated the Denon's are popular for their do everything approach and are likely what I'd buy if in the market. However, you state you're not concerned with DVD-A and desire quality DVD video performance and good CD playback. From what I've heard, Rotel's DVD players CD playback is only bested by the better dedicated CD players out there so that might be your best bet. Your other option might be a less expensive player matched with an upsampling DAC.

Jason

[BruinsFan]

thanks for the feedback and info. I also considered a multi-disk changed (but mainly because I'm lazy) but folks on various forums seem so against them. I'm not sure why - I just want a good DVD player. It sounded so simple when I started this little trek. I have a Toshiba progressive scan now - looks decent - but some DVD look better then others. Not sure if a better DVD (or receiver) help that or that's just the want it is.

[aud19]

Well there's nothing wrong with mating a multi-disc player like Andrew's Sony to an upsampling DAC if you want the best of both worlds.

Jason

[BruinsFan]

ok - now for my dumb question - how do you do that? I mean I know what a DAC is and understand upsampling - but what component would handle that part.

[GosonFletchy]

If you are going to purchase a Rotel DVD player, I strongly suggest the RDV-1050.

G.

:goson:

[aud19]

ok - now for my dumb question - how do you do that? I mean I know what a DAC is and understand upsampling - but what component would handle that part.

Basically you connect a digital output of your source to the DAC and it upsamples the signal and outputs an analog signal to your pre/pro. Check out this link:

http://www.htguide.com/forum/showthread.php4?t=8084

Another option might me a HTPC/Media Server connected to a DAC or using something like the Lynx Two sound card:

http://www.htguide.com/forum/showthread.php4?p=106096#post106096

Jason

[TrungD1020]

If you are going to purchase a Rotel DVD player, I strongly suggest the RDV-1050.

G.

:goson:

Goson, why buy a RDV-1050? Is there a major improvement over the RDV-1040? As you can see I'm a new member and dont know anything about HT. Thanks for your help.

[DrJRapp]

ok - now for my dumb question - how do you do that? I mean I know what a DAC is and understand upsampling - but what component would handle that part.

Many HDTV monitors, including some projectors do video upsampling nowadays. If your's doesn't you would need a processor of some sort. Probably the most cost effective is Viewsonic's Nextvision N6 which has a MSRP of $199.