I've been using the Denon 1610 for a couple of weeks now. The thing I noticed immediately when playing my very first blu-ray disk was the lack of "body" in the audio - even with uncompressed HD audio. The audio sounded a bit muffled, as if attenuated somewhere. To see if this was something I was imagining, I compared several DVDs - with Dolby Digital and DTS audio - playing on the 1610 with the same playing on my Sony and Oppo DVD players (NS-50p and 971, respectively) with identical audio settings in my receiver (Denon AVR-988). The difference was clearly audible - the Sony and Oppo sounded fuller and richer than the 1610. I checked the audio output using both HDMI and COAX Digital out. The results were identical - the sound from 1610 was flatter and toned down. I also tested audio CDs, using the 2-ch analog out as well as HDMI. The CDs sound just fine through both of these.
I have looked at all the settings in 1610. There is none that allows equalization or tone control (there is a way to reduce channel levels for multi-PCM, but not to increase the level). At this point, I'm very disappointed with the sound quality - one of the key reasons to upgrade to Blu-Ray (to me, this is as important as the picture quality). I have now found at least one professional review where the audio quality issue is mentioned. ([...]/).
Other than this, the Blu-ray picture quality is good, although with some disks I have found uneven contrast (some scenes too dark, others more balanced in "Day after tomorrow") and a lot of noise (Black hawk down). I'm not sure whether this is due to the transfer quality or the video processing in 1610 ([...] gives both these movies good ratings for video quality).
The DVD upscaling is quite good - despite the box not having a fancy chip like Anchor Bay VRS. I find it slightly better than the quality of the Oppo 971, and the upscaling done by my Denon 988 receiver (both use the Foroudja chip).
The Blu-ray load time is not super fast, but tolerable. DVD and CD load times are fast (in fact, faster than my Sony and Oppo DVD players). Power on, tray open and eject are slower than expected.
The remote is adequate, but feels cheap in your hands (it creaks when you apply pressure on certain spots). The menu design is ok, but some functions are irritatingly poorly designed. For instance, to change the audio track of a blu-ray currently playing, you have to press "Audio", then press the up/down button to highlight the "Primary Audio" option, press "select", then again press up/down to select the audio track you want. Likewise for subtitles. During this long-winded process, the menu could time-out if you're not quick enough. To add to this mess, the player is not particularly sensitive to the remote commander - you have to aim it with care.
Another irritating aspect is the fact that many Blu-Ray disks cannot be resumed if you press Stop. Looks like this is not a Denon problem, but that BR disks with Java cannot be resumed. The sad part is that out of the 10 or so BR movies I bought with this player, 9 of them have this issue. I just don't see the point of the Java stuff, since I'm not sure if anyone out there is using the interactive or other features supported by Java. Most people, I'd think, would want to just watch the movies, with maximum flexibility. The idiotic idea of putting other stuff that prevents basic features like resume is inexplicable.
Overall, I was a very satisfied customer of Denon 988 receiver, and my regard for Denon has gone down a notch with the audio performance of 1610. I would recommend you stay away from this player if you are particular about AQ.
| Brand Name | Denon |
|---|---|
| Item Weight | 8.8 pounds |
| Product Dimensions | 12.2 x 12.2 x 4.5 inches |
| Item model number | DBP1610 |
| Is Discontinued By Manufacturer | Yes |
| Color Name | Black |
| Special Features | Blu ray support |
