Denon DBT-1713UD / Marantz UD 5007 Universal Players

[gadgtfreek]

Okey dokey, first impressions:

• Looks great
• Build may not feel as hefty as the Oppo 93, but I think thats due to the hollow area in it left to get the xtra height. This thing is big.
• PQ and AQ seem to be top notch, no issues on familiar content. Still have to break out DVE and Spears and Munsil
• Lot of menu options, one thing missing is color space, you are stuck with 4:4:4. There are many picture adjustments, like the Oppo, and it has 5 presets you can use for 5 different sets of settings
• I used Source Direct, which I confirmed to output 1080p/24 ycbcr 444 8bit
• One gripe would be no wifi, but the netgear adapter I bought works great and was easy to setup (WNCE2001 http://www.netgear.com/landing/wnce2001.aspx)
• Another gripe would be the menus. Definitely not the worst Ive seen in a newer player, but not as slick as the Oppo.

Some pics:

Build date

Startup logo/screen saver

Home screen

Menu

Menu

Player and AVR

Player and AVR

Finally, speed. I was actually quite surprised!

Here is old data Ive compiled, with the new player added:

BD35--BD85--BDT110--BDP93--S790--BDT500--UD5007 (in seconds)

(Time to get to where you can select PLAY in final menu, starting with tray open)

Transformers 82--75--64--64--63--66--56
Iron Man 101--87--67--53--56--55--50

790 vs 500 vs 5007 on Star Trek which has some trailer skipping

83--81--69

As you can see, the 5007 is quite quick. I really like it in the first impression, and it looks outstanding in the ent center (what I was hoping for), my only concern will be FW updates and disc playability. Also nice to know it has a 3yr warranty on parts and labor.

 

[teachsac]

If they're anything like the Denon's I've had, then it won't need many. My Denon has had 2, and everything has played like a chirm. As for firmware, Marantz does not post them online. They have been very good with updates for my AV7005, when needed. The menu looks typical for Denon/Marantz. Very similar, different colors and logo. That would look nice though in the rack with the AV7005. Wow that is quick. Panasonics have already been ahead of the curve. To beat the X20/500 is impressive. I already knew the Panasonics were quicker than Sony.

S~

 

[gadgtfreek]

I was really shocked it was that fast when I compared the numbers, they really brought the speed in 2012. I figured it'd be slower than a lot of them.

I really like the styling, you wouldnt even think it was a Blu-ray player sitting down there its so wide and tall. It matches the styling of my AVR almost perfectly, and would look good stacked, but no way would I want that heat hitting the bottom of it (They designed it to stack, however). As with the AVR, the front is rounded/curved, and the edges are plastic while the center is the brushed metal. I saw the older models had a rack mount option, so I imagine this one would too.

I know what you mean on the menu, it does favor my 6005 gui. Other than price, I gotta say my big complaint is no built in wifi or stick. Really doesnt make a lot of sense at this point. And for the price, I think the market they are looking at really wouldn't cringe at $599 to be honest. I mean built well, looks great, quality reputation and excellent warranty, plus it comes with the more popular web apps.

Im really becoming a Marantz fan.

 

[teachsac]

Still no Amazon, though.

S~

 

[gadgtfreek]

It appears the new 4K AVR's arent using ABT chips either, or at least saying anything about them. I wonder if they are like Yamaha and went with a customized Mediatek solution. Mediatek offers the cookie cutter packet that some use, and just customize to their needs. Thats not a bad thing, from my understanding the Mediatek setup does a damn good job, and would be fine where you did not need the xtra abilities of the Marvell or ABT.

Source Direct on the Oppo uses the Mediatek to decode and bypasses the Marvell. I guess the only issue may be with DVD. The Marvell, etc... may scale better than the Mediatek, not sure you'd notice because DVD looks like crap to me on everything Ive watched it with lately.

 

[gadgtfreek]

Aight, did some work with Spears and Munsil and DVE today.

• Found Brightness to require the same display setting as every other BR player I've had, so that's a good sign.
• Contrast had an issue with clipping WTW, which a few recent players have and many older (2008 range) players did quite often. Some say no big deal, some are anal about it, I personally have no idea. What I do know is a simple -1 Contrast setting in the player fixes the issue, and that is how I fixed it in the past. I mean the player has a ton of pic adjustments so why not use em? Once at -1 all Contrast patterns looked excellent.
• One odd issue, and maybe there is a bug with the chipset, but in 1080/24p output or Source Direct (same difference) two things happen. On overscan patterns, that show whether your display is showing the full image, about 1/16" to 1/32" of the white line down the left edge of the screen is cut off, when using 1080/60p the pattern is perfect. All other edges are perfect and in the right spot on all settings, so it's almost like 1080/24p and Source Direct stretch the image a hair to the left. Second issue shows up on the Chroma Multiburst test in the fine resolution box. With 1080/24p on, the square is almost black instead of showing the vertical red and blue bars evenly, a result I've seen on most players when selecting 422 vs 444 (444 tends to fail for me). This player puts out 444 all the time, but when you swap over to 1080/60p, both the chroma and luma patterns are perfect. This is odd that this player passes with 444 ycbcr and none of my others did. So long story short, the player has an issue with 1080/24p output, now whether you'd notice either of these, I find it highly unlikely, but facts are facts. By running 1080/60p to my set, I have no issues because as stated, in 1080/60p the player passed every test I threw at it with Contrast set at -1.

So, I'm pretty happy at this point. Fast, passes the video tests how I will be running it, I just think a few of the hiccups should not be there in a player of this quality and this price. Whether you'd see them, who knows? But people buying a player like this will tend to be anal, at least Id assume so

 

[teachsac]

Interesting results.

S~

 

[gadgtfreek]

After some thought, it could be my display with regards to the 1080/24p issues on the chroma burst. My display has always shown an error there with 1080/24p no matter the player, but changing to 422 or RGB made it pass the test. I NEVER tested 1080/60p in (player handling 3:2 pulldown), so all this time I thought it was failing because of 444, it appears it was failing because of it's handling of 444 with 1080/24p activated from the player.

The 2011's, with a 24p input, have a setting of either 48hz, 96hz, or 60hz. If you set them to 60hz, they do not flicker like the other modes, but it's not just the standard 3:2 pulldown mode, there is some slight frame creation going on to smooth things out, which causes artificats. It obviously causes issues with 444 color space too. So, as far as the color space fail, I gotta blame that on the display, the only knock on the 5007 would be it cuts off a hair of the left edge outputting Source Direct or 1080/24p. I know the display has no issues here, because Ive tested it's 1:1 mode in all kinds of ways.