Customer Reviews

Denon DVD-1940CI Universal Scaling DVD/DVDA/SACD Player w/ DCDi by Faroudja

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a report/comparison of the CD and SACD (2 channel only) features and capabilities of the ONKYO DV-SP502B, SONY DVP-NS90V, and DENON 1930CI. Before moving on, please note that I will not comment on the video and multi-channel qualities of these universal players. This review concerns the AUDIO stereo features only, tested with the ONKYO TX 8222 receiver and two pairs of good speakers (JBL and Panasonic). As far as myself, I am a professional musician with a PhD in the field and extensive performing and sound editing experience.

The DENON is quite expensive for the features it offers, but overall is a well-built unit with superior sound. Its motor is a bit noisier than SONY's, but definitely bearable. The setup requires a TV, but you can do more with the display than with the ONKYO. Also, it has a "pure sound" feature that turns off HDMI output and the display. Of these three players, this DENON has the best sound quality. Lows and highs are crisp, the sound is not flat, and there is a certain lifelike presence in both classical chamber and symphonic recordings. Additionally, the CD's that made a soft cricket-like noise when spinning on the ONKYO and SONY were always quiet on the DENON. The manual is poorly designed, but the on-screen menus are very extensive and pretty intuitive. Also, note that Denon's 1 year warranty is not valid unless your purchase came from an authorized dealer (most storefronts out there are not authorized sellers). Made in China. Price: $295 on Amazon.

SONY's face place looks nice, but overall, the built quality is average or below (it is also smaller and lighter than the other two). The SACD sound is quite muffled, without clarity at both low and high frequencies. The motor is quiet, and the menus are pretty good. Please note that after about 10-14 months of use, many customers reported major mechanical/electronic failures. Not recommended for audiophiles, as this player was not really built for sound. Made in Malaysia. Price: $180 at Crutchfield.

The first thing you should know is that the ONKYO's motor is extremely noisy. When listening to classical music, you will be able to hear the motor at low volumes even from about 10-12 feet away. Additionally, the setup requires a connection to a TV, as most menus do not work with the display only. For example, you cannot switch between 2 ch. and 5 ch. SACD without a TV connection. In general the sound is of good quality and the unit is very well built. If you are listening to loud pop/rock music mostly and you have a large room, the motor noise should not be a problem; for classical audiophiles, I would not recommend it. Made in Malaysia. Price: $229 at Target.

After testing all three of them at the same time for about a week, I decided to keep the DENON, especially that I was able to get an open box unit for $260. For audiophiles on a very tight budget, you may want to look into players by Harman Kardon (which I have seen before, but haven't tested yet), or just make an effort for the DENON. It's worth.

Bought this after upgrading our TV this X-mas to a 42" Pioneer plasma. The upgrading (only) via HDMI is very nice. Black levels were a huge improvement over the non-upscaling Denon DVD player we replaced. Colors are great, as well. Running video to TV via HDMI and audio via coax to Denon 3805 AVR, no lip-synching issues. Runs DVD-Rs with no problem. Have yet to try SACD. Noticed artifacts on extended Lord of the Rings DVD, but much less than previous DVD player generated. Remastered DVDs (Star Wars, Underworld: Evo) look great and much better than non-upscaling DVD player. Also tested some old DVD's (Bladerunner for example), and they looked much better than on the old DVD player. Black levels in the opening scene were much greater than anticipated. Our choice was between the 1930CI and an upscaling Pioneer Elite DVD player, my eye could not tell the difference so I went with what I knew. We've been very happy with the unit over the last month. No issues so far. I read on some forums people were unhappy with the set-up. While it's not as Plugnplay ready as some people may want, I had no issues reading the three or so pages of the booklet to get the setup I needed. If you are looking for an upscaling DVD player while waiting for the Blu-Ray/HD DVD war to settle (and don't mind dishing out the money), I'd recommend this unit. Overall. seems very well-built. (Oh yeah, it has a light on the front that blinks if the HDMI isn't hooked up. For a week, I had to send the video over component while I waited for the HDMI cables to arrive, and found the blinking slightly annoying. After the cables arrived and HDMI was all hooked up, the blinking stopped.) I wouldn't recommend the 1930 unless you're planning on HDMI. Last note: my TV accepts but doesn't play 1080p so we watch on 1080i (it seems to look better on my Pioneer plasma than 720p. Of all the shops I went to looking at 1080p, heck if I could see a noticeable difference. However, overall, huge improvement over 480p). It seems that the technology is trickling down from the higher-end Denons.

DVDs upconverted to 1080p look unbelievable on my Sharp LCD TV. My wife and I continually remark on details in movies we've seen many times that we missed when watching in standard definition. I have found the picture to be detailed, sharp and vivid through HDMI. Hard to imagine that such a picture is available at this price. CDs sound great when played with this unit, the sound much fuller than on my old JVC DVD player.

While the unit felt light out of the box, build quality is evident in every other way and the unit is attractive. I like that it has the essential functions on the unit face, as so many components these days make you use the remote for every little thing. I/O in the back of the unit is clearly labeled and logically spaced to increase ease of hook-up.

Overall, I am extremely pleased with the look and performance of this unit.

I bought the 1940CI primarily as my first universal CD/SACD/DVD-A player. I was tired of using the standard DVD player connected to my receiver (Outlaw 1070) via a coax/optical. I had begun to delve into researching an affordable player that has better DACs than my receiver. So off I went. I took this baby home and used it for the first month or so strictly as a CD player using decent quality cables (don't bother with the analog RCA cables Denon gives you - they're really shoddy but you shouldn't expect nice cables in the box.) I was really extremely happy running this player for CD's. Simple L/R audio cables from the player to my receiver, set my receiver into Bypass mode (shuts off digital processing), and wham, the sound was so much nicer to listen to. Thrilled.

SACD and DVD-A playback have also been a treat. I've listened to Pink Floyd DSOTM (6ch SACD) and the Beatles Love DVD-A discs repeatedly. They are outstanding listens.

What I'm not convinced about, and hence the 4 instead of 5 stars, is this player's upscaling. Prior to buying this, I'd been watching my standard DVD's on my Toshiba HD-A2 HD DVD player, which has a top-notch reputation as a very good upscaler. As of now, I think the HD-A2 produces a cleaner picture. I haven't run too many A-B type tests but my first impression is usually right. To what degree remains to be seen. I by no means needed another upscaling DVD player as I was thrilled with the A2's capabilities. In all, I think this player is a good one. It's a little pricey but if you're into music and are looking to better the experience of listening to your CD's and delve into the limited libraries of SACD and DVD-A, I vote to go for it.

At retail/msrp this player is a bit out of reach today with the performance value of a comparable Oppo 980H which can support 7.1 channel(however a bit overboard for DVD, and lacking market support of audio to utilize it). But for $87, a price at which these players are being dumped, it is an exceptional player benefiting from some trickle down Denon love. It is comparable in its Faroudja DCDi 1080p processing, and multi 24 bit Burrbrown DAC's handling both the digital and analog audio outs. I purchased this player because of its price and media playback-SACD, DVD-A, DIVX and its proven to play the homebrewed DVD+R/DVD-R that were previously hit or miss on my Sony. The Sony also did a weird blinking of a purple screen when loading a disc, which was annoying, perhaps detecting 3:2 pulldown, but the Denon goes on to play the disc seamlessly. I'm very happy for these improvements.

Its fairly simplistic/utilitarian in design as most of denon's players, but many will agree there's an appeal to it. Its fairly large in height, in direct comparison to the Sony DVP-NS92V I auditioned it against at home, same width...and mainly due to its round, traditional feet on 4 corners which lend it to blend fairly nicely with the look of your receivers, looking great in a component rack. Its not a hefty feeling piece of hardware, its rather light but appears well built and rca/connections feel firm and chassis mounted.

First of all, the picture on this player is the best I've seen for DVD playback on my Samsung HL-T6176S 1080p 61" display, that would be against the Sony mentioned above, Xbox 360 w/ HDMI and its HD DVD add on(comparable to Toshiba drives in A2/A3). Audiotioned 'Alexander-Directors cut'to see how it handled some of the grain and black level contrast and edges during the dark scenes. Also played back Wall-E DVD, and was rewarded with a very sharp and nearly Bluray quality image, later confirmed with Kung Fu Panda DVD playback. Simply put with a quality player and a great display with its own quality scalers, you can enjoy an excellent picture from your DVD library, good enough to tame the HD picture snob in you.

The sound is equally satifying during DVD playback, great dynamic range...i found the midrange and dialogue to have better intelligibility, and bass to have a sharper attack and decay, and snap then the Sony pushing my PSB speakers.
I found this Denon DVD-1940CI to provide an equally satisfying upscaled DVD picture to my Panasonic DMP-BD55k, so that in itself is quite rewarding.

I did not give it 5stars simply because the Sony, albeit dated does offer some more bells and whistles(mainly picture modes accessible from the remote) and the Denon overall is quirky in a few ways-you cannot change the 480p/576p,720p, 1080i,1080p on the fly on the remote, it is done by pressing the HDMI button on the face of the player. Same thing with multichannel audio having to press the Pure Direct button on the face. The on screen menu is nice and intuitive, but overall audio and video 'setup' requires it you to do it ONLY with no disc in the drive, certainly not accesible during disc playback from the remote, although u can some soundtrack/audio choices from it.

Overall having gone through 2 lemon entry level Denon receivers in Noverber 08, i've come across a lower tier offering from them thats performed as advertised out of the box. So far I'm very content with this universal player and if its available to anyone out there for the price I grabbed it for, it makes an excellent replacement for that old DVD player thats lacking some format support, may not upscale to 1080p or simply doesnt employ the quality audiophile or videophile components it offers.

Ordered this at a great price, at nearly 60% off MSRP. The DVD-1940CI is 4th from the top of the line in this series.
[video]
Immediately, I grabbed some dvd favorites (Star Wars, The Lord of The Rings) and voila! .... dvds came back to life...AGAIN(1st time was with the emergence of upconvert players). Connected via HDMI with factory defaults, I experienced sharper, crispier, and deeper colors...upscaling was great. Granted, this is my first 'high-end' dvd player, as I have previously owned Samsung, Pioneer, and the Toshiba HD-A2...which I thought was the best upconverter (next to the Sony PS3). Experienced good sound with optical output...but the 6 channel direct provided best separation of channels, but not so great bass management(increase the volume or db level of your sub input on receiver to satisfy your thump).
[cd audio]
While connected to a Harman Kardon 5.1 receiver (via analog 2-channel stereo or 6-channel options), this player performed great while listening to cds (Erykah Badu, in particular), you will hear sounds that you never heared before from your cds. People talking in the background, really impressed me. I don't have any SACDs or DVD Audio discs yet to comment on their playback...can't seem to find any at my local stores.
[conclusion/lasting appeal]
Great player at 60% off MSRP, that produces very good results in video and audio playback. Is it worth the MSRP...I doubt it. Most surprisingly, I never thought DVD players could get any better. Take my advice, and make a jump to this player, or some type of high-end player...and relive your DVD collection again. Trust me, you have the time...since it will be a few years before all of your favorite titles are transferred to Blu Ray.

In the past year or so I have tried many different players, from Oppo, Marantz, Yamaha, Pioneer, etc. All of them had issues with certain disc's, especially DVD-R's. The Denon 1940ci so far has read everything I've thrown at it, even badly scratched disc's.

It's also the fastest DVD player I have owned, displaying video as fast as 4 seconds after closing the tray. I just sold my BDP51-FD BR player because I couldn't stand waiting two minutes for a disc to start, so this was a big plus to me. The picture quality is also excellent.

The only fault I can find, is that it won't play SACD's over HDMI. I use my Pioneer DV-48AV for SACD, so not really an issue with me.

I like it so much that I picked up a second one as a spare, as most of the better manufacturers seem to be dropping DVD players, or at least not introducing new models.

This Denon DVD-1940CI Universal Scaling DVD/DVDA/SACD Player with DCDi by Faroudja, I bought it just as a CD audio player, considerating that this prestigious brand is one of the oldest, and finest in audio equipment, I am very glad, of this purchase, it's notorious the superb sound that it deliver, it`s design black finish it`s elegant, the remote control, confortable in the hand, without many buttons only the necesary, very easy to use, and the best of all has been it's price offer. And of course it's a wonderfull DVD player NTSC/PAL,

what can i say, quiet, nice dvd playback, plays everything I have put in it. Home made dvd + and - all work too.

Great universal player at an outstanding price. Upscales to 1080p for brilliant picture quality. Audio output is fantastic. Far better than anything else in the price range ($80). Playes a wide variety of media. This is a slam dunk - Superior to the oppo. Buy this unit - you will not regret it.