Completing the home theater experience
Written: Aug 05 '02 (Updated Feb 04 '03)
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Pros: Excellent, crisp picture! Great capability for the price range.
Cons: Subtitle quirk, sometimes smart mode is not so smart
The Bottom Line: JVC XV-SA75GD / XV-SA70B produces a picture that is absolutely beautiful. It's a progressive scan player that will complete your movie theater experience at an affordable price.
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| pipet's Full Review: JVC XV-SA75 DVD Player |
A progressive scan DVD player is practically a requirement when one also owns a big screen TV. We purchased the JVC XV-SA75GD in Oct. 2001 to fulfill this need. The picture on this DVD player will knock your socks off!
Who needs progressive scan?
First, who needs a progressive scan player? Actually, not everyone. Yes, many people may be better off purchasing a basic DVD player. You'll only really see the benefits of a progressive scan DVD player if you have a TV capable of progressive video output, and generally, this is only found on newer digital or HDTV capable TVs. If you have a regular old TV and aren't planning to upgrade anytime soon, you may want to pass on progressive scan, but if you are thinking of upgrading, progressive scan is the way to go.
What is progressive scan?
The technical details are a bit complicated, so here's a brief explanation (minus the details). Movies and regular television shows are filmed at different frame rates, but your TV is made to display TV frame rates appropriately. Because of this, movies have to be converted in order for you to watch them on your TV. A progressive scan player can do a better job of displaying movies on your TV using a process often called 3:2 pulldown. If you want to see a visual comparison and also get way more technical info about how progressive scan works, check out this link:
www.hometheaterhifi.com/volume_7_4/dvd-benchmark-part-5-progressive-10-2000.html
Scroll down to the picture made from "10 interlaced fields for every 4 film frames" and compare the image to the one that says "10 progressive frames for every 4 film frames." If you look carefully, you can see a kind of shifty/pixilated look in the flying vehicles that the progressive image does not have.
How will this DVD player make movies look on my TV?
We have a 65" Mitsubishi widescreen HD capable TV (Mits 65819), and progressive scan makes a HUGE difference. With progressive scan on, the picture is noticeably sharper and cleaner, and it makes watching movies a pleasure. This is partly because our TV is just so big - all the tiny flaws aren't so tiny any more on a 65" TV. Also, the progressive scan is much better on our JVC DVD player than on our TV (this is the case with most TVs), so again, the progressive scan this DVD offers makes a noticeable difference. Our TV requires progressive scan to perform its best, and the JVC creates a simply stunning picture.
We also tested our DVD player on our friend's 40" Sony KV-40XBR700, and although there was a subtle difference with progressive scan, it was very, very subtle. Whether we had progressive scan on or not, the picture with our JVC DVD player looked sharp and crisp. We had to compare scenes for several minutes before we could pick out the flaws from the non-progressive scan picture (so obviously, most people wouldn't notice the difference while viewing a movie). The reason for this is that the Sony has DRC circuitry to that is able to compensate better than the 3:2 pulldown on our TV, and of course, it's a 40" TV vs. our 65" behemoth. Although I don't have personal experience comparing the 3:2 pulldown of tons of TVs, the high end Sony XBR TVs (36" and 40") are an exception in their capability to display non-progressive images, so for most TVs that are capable of progressive output, you will be glad to upgrade to a progressive scan DVD player.
We also compared the picture from the JVC with an older (1st generation), but high quality, Pioneer DVD player. To give a fair test, we turned off progressive scan since the Pioneer model predated progressive scan. The images both players produced were excellent, but the JVC was capable of producing a blacker black level. The JVC could also produce slightly better contrast than a 2nd generation Sony DVD player (DVP-S500D) that we've been happy with for years. Again, I should note that the JVC made the biggest improvements on TVs that were able to take advantage of progressive output. The better black level was apparent on even non-progressive TVs, but you may be able to find a less expensive model that can do this without paying for progressive scan. On a standard 27" TV (our other comparison TV), most decent quality DVD players look great.
Aspect ratio control: useful for those with widescreen TVs
The JVC has aspect ratio control so that non-anamorphic DVDs (or DVDs not specially coded to play on a widescreen TV) can still be played in progressive mode. It also - on properly encoded discs - automatically zooms the image on non-anamorphic DVDs. This "zoom" is different from the regular zoom which introduces many artifacts. There are many improperly coded non-anamorphic discs, unfortunately, so these show up with black bars along all four sides (whereas when properly coded the image will often fill the screen, depending upon the aspect ratio).
Navigational features
The JVC XV-SA75GD / XV-SA70B is capable of zooming to 1024x and searching as fast as 60x speed and as slow as 1/32x. The remote is not as sexy as some, but it's very functional and easy to use. The on-screen set-up is also fairly easy to use.
Quirks
The JVC does not have the chroma bug (which causes streaks in the picture). However, the JVC does have a subtitle bug. There is a fix, but it requires a trip to the factory service center (I know people have been successful getting this fixed at the Lawrenceville, GA and SoCal area service center). The subtitle bug doesn't affect that many movies, but it could annoy you! If you watch The Phantom Menace, in Ch 14, there is a conversation with Watto that isn't in English. Subtitles are supposed to show up. However, on the JVC, they don't show up automatically like they should. Also, I have noticed that when playing Emma (the Gywneth Paltrow version, not the BBC version), on Ch 8, for no reason at all, subtitles mysteriously appear (you can go to the main menu to turn them off, or eventually they will go away).
Another oddity, at least to me, is that the JVC seems to be a little slower than I am used to when it comes to reading a disc. This affects how quickly the disc starts playing or how quickly it ejects a disc. Our older DVD player (the above mentioned Sony), quickly reads the discs in comparison.
For those taking advantage of the JVC's progressive mode, the JVC has a "smart" mode to figure out the proper setting to use. This works great for 99% of DVDs, but some DVDs seem to freak it out. You then have to manually set the mode to film or video as necessary. Fortunately, this is easy to do via a button on the remote (pressing it changes the mode) or using the onscreen menu. The known "problem" DVDs are Titanic and Austin Powers. In Austin Powers, you can tell there is a problem because the progressive light will alternate quickly between red and green (video & film mode, respectively). Titanic starts up in the wrong mode (video), so you need to manually switch it to film mode.
Clearing up some web mis-information
Audio/visual technical specs
The JVC XV-SA75GD / XV-SA70B has high-bit/high-sampling (10-bit/54MHz video D/A converter). I have noticed that some web sites list the video D/A converter incorrectly as 10-bit/27MHz. The higher numbers are better here! Also, the JVC has a 192kHz/24-bit PEM DD Converter as opposed to the more common 96kHz/24 bit audio. These specs are one reason to consider the JVC 70/75 models over the JVC 60/65 models.
DVD audio - yes
There is another error I have seen written about the JVC XV-SA75GD / XV-SA70B. The JVC XV-SA75GD / XV-SA70B is capable of playing DVD-audio. It also is capable or playing Video-CD, CD-R, and CD-RW (some players are very quirky about CD-RW, but so far, we've had no issues with our JVC).
MP3 Playback
The JVC is also capable of playing MP3s. This is great if you want to compile your favorite 80s music on one 10 hour CD-R and listen for hours, but unfortunately, if you have such a compilation, the navigation on the JVC is a pain. You can either navigate forward or backward one song at a time, and if you have tons of songs that can take time. If you are using your TV for the onscreen display, at least you can see song titles while you are navigating, but it is not fast. Another note about MP3 playback - the audio output is only through the analog connections. We initially thought our player didn't work because we only had the digital connections set-up!
Price Update
This player can now be found for $129. I think it's a great deal at that price!
Questions others have asked
Video Control
This player is set up so that you can have 4 settings set up (normal, cinema, user1, user2). Each of the 4 settings lets you adjust: brightness, contrast, color, tint, sharpness, y delay, and gamma.
Infinifilm
The JVC player seems to have no problem with infinifilms (test film: Austen Powers Goldmember) as do some Panasonic players.
Time Counter
The JVC does have an elapsed time counter as do most DVD players. However, if the player has a remaining time counter, I can't find it.
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We bought the JVC because it had a reputation for producing a great image, especially for the price. The picture has not disappointed us at all! While it does have some quirks, we've been quite happy with it!
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A note on models: The JVC XV-SA75GD and the JVC XV-SA70B are identical players except for the color. The 70 model is black, and the 75 model is gold.
Specs (from the JVC website)
*Compatible with DVD Video, CD CD-R/RW and Video CD
*High-bit/high-sampling (10-bit/54MHz video D/A converter )
*Component Video, Composite Video, and S-Video terminals
*192kHz/24-bit PEM DD Converter for the Highest Fidelity DVD Audio Playback
*Progressive Scan Output, "Digital Direct" that can produce the video output at twice the conventional speed to allow the direct conversion of DVD''s 24fps into progressive 60fps for display on your TV, thereby avoiding the quality disadvantages of I/P conversion.
*Glow Multi-brand remote control
*Coaxial digital outputs for PCM, Dolby Digital and DTS
*Optical digital outputs for PCM, Dolby Digital and DTS
*Separate construction throughout: Power supply, Digital circuitry, Analog Video and Analog Audio circuits are physically separated
*Resume (bookmark) function
*"Digest" function for visual access to desired title/chapter
*3D-Phonic for virtual surround sound
*Dynamic Range: More than 110dB
*VCR-matching slim design.
*Video output
*DVD Component Video output
*S-Video Output
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 244.00
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pipet
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Location: San Diego, CA
Reviews written: 17
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A baby, school, and a new house; lots to write about but no time.
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