Cambridge audio dv-89 Upscaling player

well pioneer dvd players are available in showrooms in bangalore there is a pioneer showroom in infantry road.the pioneer DV 600 costs 12000 in showroom the same is available in grey for 8000.

the showroom guy said that the new model DV 610 will be available in july for the same price as the dv 600
 
Hi,

I was also looking for a good DVD Player with HDMI upscaling and a decent audio playback. Settled for Pioneer DV-600AV because of the features and good reviews. Supports SACD/DVD-Audio/Div-X ultra certified/USB port etc. ..future proof with lot of formats!

This dealer ( Pro-Audiotronics, Bangalore ) quoted 11K.Searched in the grey market and finally bought the new box-packed one for 6.4K. I would say a good performer and great VFM at this price.

-Sunil
 
Hi,

I was also looking for a good DVD Player with HDMI upscaling and a decent audio playback. Settled for Pioneer DV-600AV because of the features and good reviews. Supports SACD/DVD-Audio/Div-X ultra certified/USB port etc. ..future proof with lot of formats!

This dealer ( Pro-Audiotronics, Bangalore ) quoted 11K.Searched in the grey market and finally bought the new box-packed one for 6.4K. I would say a good performer and great VFM at this price.

-Sunil

Hi Sunil
I am also looking for a HDMI upscaling dvd player, i have a samsung HD 860 currently, unfortunately in bangalore i am unable to find the HD 870 model, which was good, please provide shop details from where you bought the pioneer dvd player for 6.4 k
 
Someone is giving me a price quote of 10.5k for the CA DVD89, should i go for it?

That's not bad considering it was 12k last November. Do ask if they have DV99 (has USB input) as well. If SACD/DVD-A is not important to you then CA 540D will give you slightly better sound. Pity their 640D is still on the drawing board.
 
well how many of u out there still play from cds the last time i bought a audio cd was 1 year ago.

This is a strange question. I buy at least 10 to 15 pure audio CDs every month. Every time I travel abroad, my max expenditure is on audio CDs.

Are you referring to MP3 and similar digital forms? Unfortunately regular compressed digital format such as MP3 do not come anywhere near a audio CD in terms of quality and format. If you need to use digital formats, you have to use uncompressed format such as FLAC. Even if you are using a PC as a music server, it is better to store your music as uncompressed FLAC, AIF, or WAV files.

The issue with MP3 is not that the format is different. To reduce the size of a music file from something like 40MB to something like 4MB, a lot of the music is actually truncated before the compression.

I have written extensively on this elsewhere in this forum on this topic.

Cheers
 
Are the CA DV99 / 540DV2 players region free?

Do they playback 'pirated' DVDs?

Do they playback VCD's?
 
This is a strange question. I buy at least 10 to 15 pure audio CDs every month. Every time I travel abroad, my max expenditure is on audio CDs.

Are you referring to MP3 and similar digital forms? Unfortunately regular compressed digital format such as MP3 do not come anywhere near a audio CD in terms of quality and format. If you need to use digital formats, you have to use uncompressed format such as FLAC. Even if you are using a PC as a music server, it is better to store your music as uncompressed FLAC, AIF, or WAV files.

The issue with MP3 is not that the format is different. To reduce the size of a music file from something like 40MB to something like 4MB, a lot of the music is actually truncated before the compression.

I have written extensively on this elsewhere in this forum on this topic.

Cheers

Venkat, I have a question. What AV Receiver do you use at home or is that a stereo receiver? The reason I ask is what do you make of all these manufacturers' claims of 'Music Optimizer', 'Restorer' etc. technologies which are supposed to improve lossy file sound reproduction (i.e., MP3)?

Are they any good? Have you had any experience with such technologies and do you think they get the sound of the MP3s even reasonably close to CD quality?
 
Venkat, I have a question. What AV Receiver do you use at home or is that a stereo receiver? The reason I ask is what do you make of all these manufacturers' claims of 'Music Optimizer', 'Restorer' etc. technologies which are supposed to improve lossy file sound reproduction (i.e., MP3)?

Are they any good? Have you had any experience with such technologies and do you think they get the sound of the MP3s even reasonably close to CD quality?

I use an Onkyo 875 that does not have any of these restorers or optimisers. I don't use any MP3 at all. All my music is pure CD. Even on my iPOD, I listen to only uncompressed AIF files. I am slowly converting all my CDs to FLAC files. These are identical to a pure audio CD in quality. I am also planning on a separate stereo system with CD Player and a two channel amp. I will have it in place by December.

I have heard that Yamaha and others are offering MP3 enhancers in their AVRs. But I have no experience with them.

But here is my theory. (I am ready to get bashed for this). A lossy format is where data has been truncated. How can you get that back? At the best you can crate an artificial environment. What else can be done to improve the sound.

Cheers
 
Anybody with any experience with these sorts of 'restorers' or 'optimizers', please consider contributing to this thread. And as always, thanks Venkat for chipping in.
 
That's not bad considering it was 12k last November. Do ask if they have DV99 (has USB input) as well. If SACD/DVD-A is not important to you then CA 540D will give you slightly better sound. Pity their 640D is still on the drawing board.


Is it USB 2.0?

Secondly Azur players have lip synchronising problem?
 
Last edited:
Anybody with any experience with these sorts of 'restorers' or 'optimizers', please consider contributing to this thread. And as always, thanks Venkat for chipping in.

Hi,
New Onkyo receivers also have optimizers.

When I went to buy speakers for my system,I heard Yamaha avr with
Mission m30.I liked that sound in demo room and not with my old Onkyo
avr.When I went back ,I found they were playing all CD,DVDs with
enhanser (optimizer) mode even Dts.The sound with mp3 was bright &
impressive(closed to Cd with mp3 playback)

When I turn it to direct & sound was average.

So I think avr improve on High freq. department with optimizers.
 
Are the CA DV99 / 540DV2 players region free?

Do they playback 'pirated' DVDs?

Do they playback VCD's?


they dont playback VCDs, they play pirated DVDs and they are region free, if it doesnt come region free straight out of the box, tell your dealer to unlock it, or unlock it yourself, the unlock codes are available in the web
 
they dont playback VCDs, they play pirated DVDs and they are region free, if it doesnt come region free straight out of the box, tell your dealer to unlock it, or unlock it yourself, the unlock codes are available in the web

I found ca azur 540 D is all rounder but can upscale to 1080i only.

My question is can 1080i be upscale to 1080p by Sony 32w400 or panasonic
32lx80?

540D>HDMI 1080i> HD LCDtv> ?1080p
 
I found ca azur 540 D is all rounder but can upscale to 1080i only. My question is can 1080i be upscale to 1080p by Sony 32w400 or panasonic 32lx80? 540D>HDMI 1080i> HD LCDtv> ?1080p

Spirovious, as I mentioned somewhere else, TVs do not usually have the electronics for upscaling. They will display a image at 1080p only if they get it at 1080p. But some TVs may have the capacity to upconvert a interlaced image to progressive image.

The Panasonic-TX-32LX80 is only HD Ready and not full HD. You will not get 1080p on that TV even if the AVR or DVD Player upscales.

The Sony 32W400, on the other hand, is a Full HD TV that has Sony's Bravia Engine 2. This is supposed to both de-interlace, and also upscale. I am not sure at what levels the de-interlacing and upscaling is done. But, there is good chance that when fed a 1080i image, it will de-interlace it to 1080P.

This need confirmation.

Cheers
 
Hi Spirovious, i own the CA 540D V3 for the past 4 months and have to say, very happy with the picture and sound quality. On your question of upscaling, i kinda agree with Venkat, I dont think the TVs really "upscale" they just stretch it to their native resolution, this is the same thing that happens with laptops when you drop the resolution below the native resolution, the screen appears stretched and a little fuzzy, just like cable TV pictures usually are on an LCD.

Also, on a 32 inch TV, you will not know the difference between 1080i and 1080p, unless you sit 1 feet away from the screen, then maybe you might see some difference, but i wont think it matters. I have stopped watching pirated DVDs after i have got this system...all my movies come from sevetymm, and the original DVDs look awesome in this...mind it that there are many dvds which actually looks worse when upscaled, many hindi DVDs are like that..so i think the basic colour palette and the processors matter much more than simple upscaling specification.
 
interesting to read this and have a few doubts:confused:

When I bought the 705 a few days back, I was of the impression that it upscales to 1080p. LAter found that it only does upto 720p. I was also of the impression that most full HD TVs upscale to their native reolution through inbuilt circuitry. so I bought a Samsung 5 series full HD TV. I have connected my Tata Sky via the 705 to the Samsung via HDMI.

Would it be better to have an AVR which can upscale to 1080p like the 875 or 905 from Onkyo, cost not withstanding? or, am i okay with this as 1080p upscaling from a TV signal might be stretching it a lot?

Lastly, will my TV also upscale the satellite signal from the AVRs 720p to 1080p?

The connection via AVR is better than direct, though not significantly.

Thanks
 
interesting to read this and have a few doubts:confused:

Would it be better to have an AVR which can upscale to 1080p like the 875 or 905 from Onkyo, cost not withstanding? or, am i okay with this as 1080p upscaling from a TV signal might be stretching it a lot?

Lastly, will my TV also upscale the satellite signal from the AVRs 720p to 1080p? The connection via AVR is better than direct, though not significantly.

Thanks

Anand,

The 705 is fine.

Today, there is not much value in upscaling a TV signal, as our transmission is not up to the mark. I have tried upscaling Dish TV through my 875 and, as you said, I get the same signal with and without upscaling. I just allow my TV to do de-interlacing, and show it at 720p. Anything above that the images gets disturbing.

The place where you really need upscaling is DVD. There if you get a DVD player that upscales to 1080p, you are safe. Your 705 can allow the 1080p signal to pass through, so you not losing anything. Worst case, you can connect the DVD Player directly to the TV via HDMI, and the player to the AVR through digital coaxial or optical for sound. This is exactly how my system is connected, as I am more happy with my player's upscaling.

In another year or so, Blue-Ray will take over, then upscaling will not be needed. I am sure even the DTH transmission will become HD in a few years.

Till then enjoy your DVDs at 1080p, and your TV at 720p. This is what I also do with the 875, and a DVD Player that also upscales !!

The most important are where an AVR has to perform is to amplify your sound well, and that your 705 will do well indeed.

Cheers
 
A beautiful, well-constructed speaker with class-leading soundstage, imaging and bass that is fast, deep, and precise.
Back
Top