Assessments - 3, GPA: 4.7
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Fotos e especificações Denon DVD-2900 |
Facilidade de uso
On the other hand, mid-range products can sometimes prove the hardest sell, appealing neither to the budget-conscious nor to well-heeled folk who simply must have the best of everything at any cost. So can the DVD-2200 really manage to inspire those notoriously hard-to-motivate middle-grounders into money-splashing action? DESCRIPTION Perhaps inevitably, the DVD-2200 doesn’t employ anything like the same stunning heavy-duty build quality that the 2900 did. It’s much lighter and doesn’t boast the 2900’s sensational metallic finish, regardless of whether you plump for the silver, black or gold versions. We shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, of course, but it’s hard not to be concerned that such an obvious step-down in build quality could have a severe negative impact on the 2200’s performance. Let’s just hope that this impact isn’t ultimately worse than you’d reasonably expect for your .250 saving over the 2900. The 2200’s connections are very satisfactory. There are two main highlights: component video outputs which enable you to enjoy the deck’s Progressive Scan talents on a suitably capable screen; and 5.1 RCA line outs so you can enjoy the full-range benefits of the 2200’s DVD-Audio and Super Audio CD playback talents. There are also the customary RGB-capable Scart, composite video and S-video alternatives, together with both coaxial and optical digital audio options and a pair of dedicated stereo RCA outputs. The 2200’s list of standout features isn’t restricted to its DVD-Audio/Super Audio CD and progressive scan capabilities. Enhancing its Universal credentials, for instance, are MP3, WMA and Photo CD playback. Also useful are ‘Darker’ and ‘Lighter’ settings for adjusting the black level according to your screen’s capabilities. However, we recommend you take care with this setting, since choosing ‘darker’ on a low contrast screen can result in the loss of quite a bit of background detail during dark scenes. We also availed ourselves of handy facilities for tweaking the brightness, contrast, sharpness, gamma and hue components of the picture. Similarly impressive levels of flexibility are found on the audio side, too. Particular highlights include a bass enhancer and an extremely comprehensive suite of speaker configuration facilities for surround sound music that make the 2200 a friend to just about any DENON-DVD2200 Universal DVD player type of speaker/amp system we could think of. Some of the DVD-2200’s internal specs warrant our attention, too. For starters, video circuits are mounted on separate boards in isolation from each other, and the power supply is a discrete design with separate power for the audio, video and digital blocks. When it comes to video processing, at the 2200’s heart are 12-bit/108MHz video DACs, while the progressive scanning is provided by the highly regarded Silicon Image Sil504 chipset. On the audio front, the 2200 boasts three Burr-Brown 24-bit/192-kHz DSD1791 DACs for decoding PCM and SACD/DSD signals discretely, with no down- conversion of the DSD stream. Furthermore, there’s a Pure Direct mode that switches off all video Talent show Handling is easy enough – no thanks to the manual, though The handset is a beefy, clearly labelled job John Archer takes a look at Denon’s new universal DVD player and wonders if it has enough sparkle to make it stand out from the middle ground .600ON TEST: WHAT’S GOOD Top-end performance from a mid-range deck WHAT’S BAD CD playback only average PICTURE . . . . . . . . SOUND . . . . . . . . FEATURES . . . . . . EASE OF USE . . . . VALUE . . . . . . . . . VERDICT Rounds out Denon’s latest Universal DVD range in style 64 March 2004 WHAT VIDEO AND WIDESCREEN TV 0403wv03 Denon DVD2200 19/1/04 11:16 Page 65 What’s more, there’s almost the same superb fine detail talent as with the 2900, almost the same extensive contrast range, almost as little noise (be it MPEG blocking or electrical), and in progressive mode, seemingly exactly the same fluidity and dearth of jagged edges. Which all adds up to a truly outstanding effort for .600. The 2200 also knows its onions when it comes to DVD-Audio and Super Audio CD playback. The flavour is perhaps a little smoother than the 2900, meaning you miss out on some of the tiny subtleties in a good multi-channel music mix – but comparisons with the 2900 aren’t really fair. Set against similarly priced or cheaper Universal players, the 2200’s prowess is clear. CD playback is the 2200’s weakest area, with a few cheaper decks – particularly from Sony – able to deliver more dynamism and sparkle. But even though it’s the 2200’s weakest point, its CD playback still rates as ‘good’ by anybody’s reckoning. CONCLUSION What this all comes down to is that Denon has, with typical aplomb, completely confounded any doubts we might have had about the 2200. In fact, it’s judged this mid-range contender’s talents so perfectly that far from not finding an audience, we now think it might actually become the most popular model in...