Denon DVD 2800

I purchased the Denon to drive my new front projection theater. When is worked, it worked well. The picture was outstanding. However, it would often pause both the picture and sound. After talking with the support personnel, I found out that Denon has had problems with the 2800, which may be fixed but certainly wasn't on the one I had. I am going to look at other options rather than going with a "fixed" Denon.

I have tried the sony five disc dvd.... cost $575 at the time. I have tried the new JVC 7 disc dvd... cost $525. I have tried the new Toshiba 5200 dvd... cost $399. I have tried the Sony 7700 dvd... cost $1200. I now have the denon 2800 dvd... $1300.

In my opinion the sony five disc was acceptable picture but lousy sound (kept screwing up constantly... took it back twice for replacement... it still screwed up). The JVC was good looking and played music good, dynamic. but the picture quailty was blurry in most films, I couldn't watch it. the Toshiba had lots of bells and whistles, had good sound for movies, average sound for cd, and the picture showed red flaring around ears of people and faces, I could not handle watching that movie after movie. The sony 7700 was good musically, definition was pleasing, but the picture was old technology, and I could tell... detail not as crisp (the sony was built excellent though and good looking). The denon 2800 (what I have now ... with it's upgrade) is very satisfactory in picture most of the time, but the music quailty sucks in comparison to the sony 7700, it's harsh, lacks detail, music sounds forced and unorganized at times. it sounds like a cheaper cd player. I have a Panasonic Gaoo 36 inch tv so I have viewed all of these players in interlaced mode only. their performance will vary if using the progressive scan mode (accept for the sony 7700). My advice would be buy a cheaper dvd player like the panasonic rp56 or sony 700p and add a higher end cd player like the marantz 4000 ose or better. Dvd players are developing so rapidly that the minute you spring for an expensive model it becomes obsolete within a year or two... what a rip off! Good luck to all you DVD/Cd player shoppers out there... you are going to need it.

I couldn't wait to get this Denon DVD 2800 DVD player out of the box and believe me I was not disappointed. This is probably the best option for the price if you're looking for a multiformat DVD/CD combination with excellent CD. The DVD 2800 player will better many dedicated CD players. Shop around for a good deal.