Customer Reviews

Marantz BD7004 Universal Blu-ray Disc Player (Black)

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

 

 

The mid to higher end Blu Ray Player landscape was dramatically changed by the $500 Oppo. It matched performance and value in a wonderful package. That said, there remain some players that offer higher quality audio (via analogues) and a bit more style and panache, namely the Denon DBP-2010CI and its Marantz cousin the BD7004.

The Marantz is a very stylish player with a curved fascia that stands out amongst many rectangular players with little focus on design. It is a heavy, solid player sits a bit taller than most. From a build perspective, height does provide a bit more room for spatial layout and possibly avoids heat accomodating a smaller area.

The player is responsive, but not outstandingly fast. Powered off eject times are roughly 13-15 seconds and non-java and java-light discs load in 20 to 40 seconds. Heavy Java discs around 1 minute.

The player is profile 2.0 for internet-based special features, which creates a spandrel in making firmware updates easy via the internet.

Although the player is nearly identical to the Denon DBP-2010CI, I have found the Marantz BD7004 to be devoid of any weird handshake issues that caused brief green flashes at power up.

DVD upscaling is top notch with the ABT VRS scaling chip. I would venture to say that it is 98% of the Oppo's performance for normal content. The Oppo's chip (ABT 2010) is a bit better at recognizing obscure film cadences used in animation and anime, but the ABT 1030 chip in the 7004 does an exceptional job at detail reproduction, color accuracy, and motion. The menus allow for detail PQ tweaking including NR, gamma, brightness and contrast (the menu gui is a bit dated). BD playback is excellent.

The player gains a competitive advantage in audio performance. The 7.1 CH analogue output is terrific and has speaker settings and distances, but does not allow one to set the crossover annoyingly. The DACs are tremendous and deliver very clean and warm sound.

This player is truly a worthy competitor to the Oppo when you factor in the three year warranty and RS 232, but push your local dealer for a more realistic price.

I have to say that this is a quality player for high fi nuts like me. I got my player for $600.00. Usually going for $800.00. This is the player I chose after a month of looking at all players out there. It was this or the Oppo BDP83. Marantz with the 3 yr warranty is just awsome. Sound is top notch. I use the analog outputs to my receiver because I don't have the new HD audio formats yet in my receiver. The manual and setup is laid out nice. Easy to fallow. I would recomend this player for sure to anyone who doesnt need wi-fi and that extra stuff on your player. If you want quality and good picture and sound buy this player.

Hooked this up to my Panasonic 50" plasma & Onkyo HT-RC180 & it just goes to show how far electronics have come in the last 5 years or less! The setup is a breeze, hdmi all the way. OSD is easy to understand, plugged in the ethernet cable & found the network, downloaded an update & it installed flawlessly. Popped in a blu ray & the picture difference is noticable immediately when compared to what I'd been using for the past 30 months, an LG BD370. There's more depth to the picture, the colors are sharper/brighter so to speak, and the Onkyo does the audio decoding so was a great upgrade for me altho this player is now "outdated." Cds sound just as good, dynamic in musical expression so I couldn't be more pleased. I bought this refurbed & it has no blimishes etc so was a good deal considering the price was much less than retail. I don't watch a lot of blu ray but I do have over 700 sd dvds & the upconversion is second to none. Even old dvds I had that the LG wouldn't play work fine with this player & pq is awesome! I have no issues with load times as discussed here & other forums. It does take maybe 5 sec for the player to turn on before the tray will open, but loading a blu ray takes maybe another 90 sec til opening credits. No biggie as far as I'm concerned. This is a really nice player, not as heavy as I expected but looks great with all the other "toys" under the tv!! My only wish is that electronic companies would offer other choices instead of black as offered to other countries. White or silver would've been much nicer!!!

I bought this baby from Musicdirect.com for $300.00; brand new factory fresh in the box! This was a closeout sale to make way for the newer model. The original retail price was $800.00. What a bargain! Great sound/picture from whatever I stick in it! This one is definitely a keeper with me!

Bought the BD7004 to replace my Sony BDP-S1000ES which I moved to another system. In comparison to the Sony, the Marantz image seems less processed, sure the Sony looked great but seemed overly sharpened and bright at times which made the image appear grainy and lack detail in midtone shadow areas. However, I will say the Sony is still an excellent player with a great warranty. The Marantz image seems more natural to me, with good detail and sharpness. The audio section is much better with the Marantz, much fuller sounding and warmer. I have not experienced any freezes, while playing BD or DVD's as some have, I sent the unit to an authorized service center for a firmware upgrade as soon as the unit arrived. Marantz Customer Service is Top Notch as well, quick response to questions and the service center was excellent.

I was looking forward to this player, as I heard some good things about it. It just did not live up to its ad. I did not see any improvement in blu-ray video over my Sony BDP-1000es. The audio was just average. I had purchased it at a great price, even that did not warrant keeping it.

Perhaps I am the one person who receives a bad product, but found this player to be unusable. I saw reviews that mentioned that it loaded slowly. In fact, it loads glacially. It would play an image no bigger than 8 inches square on my 50 inch plasma TV. When I attempted to make it functional using the settings, I found that they were difficult to use and that each time I changed a setting it re-loaded the DVD (did I mention that it loads glacially??). The remote was near useless also. Had to press the buttons several times before it would connect to the machine and that continued after I re-loaded it with fresh batteries. Other than an attractive box and quick opening load tray, have nothing positive to say about this machine. Very disappointed. Shipped it back - Amazon was great on the refund.