Yamaha DVD-S1800BL 1080p Upconverting DVD SACD Player

Other products by Yamaha

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 11.2 x 17.1 x 3.9 inches ; 11 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 11 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B000WKTG76
• Item model number: DVD-S1800BL
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (33 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #290 in Electronics (See Bestsellers in Electronics)

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  Electronics > Televisions & Video > Disc Players & Recorders > DVD Players

• Date first available at Amazon.com: April 18, 2005

Product Description

Product Description

Yamaha Universal DVD Player offers the assurance of extremely high video and audio quality as well as large collection of features like 1080p-compatible HDMI output and DVD-Audio /Super Audio CD playback. It allows the DVD player to transfer digital video and audio signals directly to an HDMI equipped monitor or projector, instead of having to convert them to analog. This player plays discs recorded in the MP3, JPEG, DivX and WMA formats. This multi channel music formats provide a surround sound music experience that is much more natural and lifelike than normal stereo.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

43 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Yamaha S1800 Upconverting DVD, CD, SACD Universal Player, June 23, 2008

By	Mr. Lee "M L" (Hawaii) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

I've owned this player a good couple months now and have been very pleased with its performance. Very user friendly GUI and the machine operates easily. Discs load quickly and the transport is dead quiet. The picture quality is excellent be it composite (good), component (better) or HDMI (best). What's even better is the sound quality of CD's and SACD's thanks to four, 2 channel Burr-Brown dacs. It has a nice array of features, such as Audio Direct Mode, SACD Bass Management, SACD On Screen Text, Display Dimmer and an above average set of picture controls. These allow the user to really fine tune the image for optimal picture quality. Furthermore, it does a fantastic job up-converting Standard Definition DVD's to High Definition 1080P. It's also compatible with DVD-A, mp3, wma, divx and jpeg discs as well. The remote, although it's not back lit and lacks an eject button is still very user friendly, ergonomical and makes functional navigation a snap. The users guide is well laid out and easy to understand. Other notable features include, Dolby Digital 5.1 DTS built in decoders, gold plated pin terminals, one optical output, one digital coaxial output, Noise Shaped Video (NSV) with Faroudja DCDi processing that helps eliminate jagged edges and blurring, Wide Screen Mode selections, Screen Saver, Program & Repeat Playback for CD's and Progressive Scan. You could probably spend hundreds more on a universal player and still be hard pressed to get the performance of the S1800. So, if you're not ready to make the leap into blu just yet and want a great sounding CD/SACD and DVD-A player with DVD up-conversion for improved Standard Definition DVD viewing, consider the Yamaha S1800!

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great as an upscaling DVD and SACD player, December 14, 2009

By	Gadgester "No Time, No Money" (Mother Earth) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)

Amazon Verified Purchase

I bought this Yamaha to replace a nice upscaling DVD player from Toshiba which my son broke. I chose this Yamaha for both its upscaling reputation and its SACD support. Feature and performance-wise, I have been very happy with the product.

As a DVD player, the S1800 supports DVD-R/RW, DVD+R/RW and DVD-Audio well, in addition to DVD-Video. For DVD-Video, upscaling to 1080p appears to work really well, even though this is a model from 2007 (hence the big discount offered by Amazon.com). I have played a variety of DVDs from Pixar animations to old Disney classics to recent action titles and so on, and all look really nice on my Sharp 1080p LCD TV.

One good thing about the DVD player is it's quite fast, at least compared to most other DVD players. From loading a DVD to recalling the menu, there's no trying the user's patience with blank screens. Another good feature is, as with other upscaling players, by default all 4:3 DVDs is displayed stretch on a 16:9 screen if you use the HDMI connection (and who doesn't nowadays?), but there is a menu item (Setup -> Video -> Widescreen Format -> Pillar Box) that manually overrides the stretch, so you can make 4:3 content look right on your widescreen TV. Just remember to set it back to "off" for 16:9 content. Yes, this is a hassle (i.e., no automatic switching), but this beats the hell out of all those upscaling players on the market that don't let you unstretch 4:3 content over HDMI at all. We watch a lot of kids' TV shows, so this is a really welcome feature. (Maybe I should buy another unit and lock the widescreen stretch on each...)

As an SACD player this unit takes advantage of Yamaha's experience in building hi-fi systems. Sound quality from my SACDs (classical music) is truly amazing, revealing subtle details that even my best CD deck failed to reveal before.

I have not tried the DivX playback feature, nor the VCD/SVCD support.

While the features and performance are laudable, the remote and the manual are truly miserable. The remote has a big round power button, but the idiot who designed this made it to *only* turn on the player, not turn it off. For the latter function you use the smaller Standby button, which *also* turns on the player! Most of the buttons are small, and there is no eject button on the remote. Must be a Japanese thing, since this seems common on Japanese-brand DVD players. The manual is very difficult to understand. First, it was written by some idiots. Second, it was written for the UK/Europe/Russia market. Luckily, you can figure out 95% of the features and connections on your own, unless you're a complete newbie to DVD players.

As to the question why you should get a DVD player while you can now buy a low-end Blu-ray player for as low as $20 more, the answer is twofold. First, upscaling DVD players are still better at playing DVDs, especially one like this Yamaha which loads DVDs fast. Second, if you watch a lot of DVDs, you may not want to tax the laser mechanism in a Blu-ray player, which works better reading Blu-ray discs. Finally, for this model specifically, some of the extra features like DVD-Audio and SACD support are not found on Blu-ray players.

36 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Be careful, there is a catch with this unit.., November 21, 2009

By	Eric Hall (Healdsburg, CA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Amazon Verified Purchase

A great player in many ways, and the other reviews mirror my experience, except in one respect.

This play WILL NOT output 5.1 sound from either SACD's or DVD-A's digitally (via HDMI or Optical).

It will only output Analog 5.1 from SACD's or DVD-A's via the RCA jacks.

Unfortunately, most new AV receivers including Yamaha's do not even feature Analog 5.1 channels inputs..

Very disappointing..