Review of DVD-1740 — an entry level DVD player from Denon

Denon does not need any introduction In this part of the world — they are renowned for their efficient and sometimes high priced products. Nonetheless, all their products have always stood up to the critical analysis of the price-to-performance ratio. And what makes their products interesting is that each of their products is inimitable.

First Look
Speak about uniqueness and here is the very first example. The 1740 is obviously bulkier than any other DVD player you will find around and at the same time, it is relatively slimmer than all the other products from Denon. Surprisingly, weight of this is very light. Beyond that, the looks are astonishing as usual. Available in silver and black, the 1740 boasts of the trademark Denon design, wherein the broad front panel houses large and clearly visible circular buttons and a bright display clearly visible from a distance of 10 meters!


Technological aspects
Just as we have seen in all the other DVD players, HD upscaling is the key feature for the 1740 as well. It is capable of upscaling the 480i standard definition signal to 720p, 1080i or 1080p signal. This upscaling feature will really come in very handy for all of you who have already bought a high-def TV but still have not bought a Blu-ray player, while still waiting for the Blu-ray format to get more popular. Until then, you can make do with this upscaling feature, to at least get a feel of the HD world. But how close you get to the HD experience depends on what rests inside the DVD player to deal with all the video content that it gets. For that, the 1740's reinforced, vibration-absorbing chassis contains a 12-bit/108kHz video DAC along with a discrete video circuitry and separate analogue and digital circuit boards to ensure high-quality performance.

For audio, It Incorporates a 24-blt/192kHz Burr Brown audio DAC. While the playable media files Include MP3. WMA and JPEG, the 1740 can also play any type of a DivX video file with plenty of support features like multiple subtitles, chapter points and interactive menus as well.

On the connectivity front, there's an HDMI output on the rear panel, which can also deliver multi¬channel digital audio to an amp. It is next to component video output, an RGB-capable Scart and two digital (coaxial and optical) audio outputs. Though these features seem more than enough, the player misses one of the most important features and that is a USB port (or any other external storage device), which has become almost like an unwritten norm these days.

Friendliness of the remote control
The remote provided with the unit is without a backlight and rather a notch bigger than what you would expect for a DVD player of this size. But nonetheless, the size advantage has allowed Denon to keep sufficient space amidst all the buttons, which unlike most of the other cluttered and jammed remotes is a great sight to see and use as well.


User’s experience of playing Denon 1740
Setup menu that offers a choice of quick and custom menus, wherein the quick menu provides you with a shortlist of the key settings to get the 1740 up and running, while the latter i.e. custom covers all of the available options. With the basics in place, while playing 'THX DVD Essentials' and browsed through a number of test patterns for sharpness, contrast and samples for resolution, the most prominent aspect of the 1740 is its clean and clear picture quality.
In one of the sample scenes on the disc, there is a dimly lit background against a very colorful foreground. It is in these kinds of scenes where many players end up adding a lot of noise to the dimly lit background wall in order to reproduce utmost detail in the shadow areas. But in the case of the 1740, there is no trace of such MPEG block noise even on these dimly lit background walls. This noiseless and exemplary black level performance also helped the player to churn out colors that were vivid and optimally saturated. The player also manages to render sharp images across the DVD amidst all the intricate patterns and textures used for the sets in the movie.


Bottom line
The 1740 is simply remarkable as a DVD player, except for the lack of external storage and also a minor lag on the utility front. Thus, if you are looking for a player primarily for its video quality and don't mind the player being a tad outdated on the technology front, then you can give the 1740 a chance.

Website: http://www.profx.com

Mirage - UNI-Theater, Nanosats and Omni S8 subwoofer User Review

The UNI-Theater is a sound bar, very much similar to the Yamaha YSP that doesn't need speakers to be positioned in the surround sound environment as all of the channels come housed in a single speaker unit that uses the walls and reflectors to emulate the channels. However, the UNI-Theater sound bar only handles the front channels (L/C/R), leaving the surround work to two Mirage Nanosats and the sub-frequencies to the Omni S8 subwoofer.

First Look
The UNI-Theater comes in a radiant aluminum cabinet stretching a good 37" wide but diving to a depth of just 4.6". This keeps with the widescreen, super-thin flat-panels we're getting in the market these days. You can decide between a black or silver finish you have the alternative of changing to grill-free sats, so you can reveal that omnipolar disc if you'd like. Sadly, the UNI-Theater can't be freed from its grille, at least not as easily as the Nanosats so it is not advisable.


Technical details
The UNI-Theater is divided into three independent chambers, each consisting of an active 3" woofer, two passive 3" polypropylene titanium deposit hybrid radiators and a 0.75" titanium hybrid tweeter. Omnipolar technology consists of a double-disc hat that contains the tweeter and is placed suspended above the 3" woofer mid-range driver. This, along with a never-before-seen tilt of the Omniguides towards the outer edges, maximizes sound dispersion, taking it to a level where it seems the left and right channels can be projected quite competently. On the back of the panel there is a switch to let the UNI-Theater know whether it's on the 'wall' or on a 'stand', accordingly changing the speakers' behavior. The wall mount and glass table-top stand come boxed with the speakers, so the choice is completely yours.

The UNI-Theater operates at an impedance of 8 ohms, while it delivers frequencies between 80Hz to 20kHz. The Omni S8 subwoofer has been sent to primarily handle all the frequencies below the 80Hz mark and any others that the UNI-Theater might be having a hard time rendering. The sub's size Is perfect for this kind of setup where the primary focus Is to minimize the space used by the surround sound system. Remember that with the drivers were individually isolated in 3 separate cabinets. The centre channel on this bar Is rock solid, the dominating member of this 6 member clan, especially while watching dialogue heavy movies like 'Heat' or even 'Revolutionary Road'. With the lights turned off, you can only place the physical position of the UNI-Theater by the centre channel, as its physical presence completely disappears from the soundstage as far as the left and right channels are concerned.

The Nanosats have always been good. In this setup, they expanded the soundstage further. Filtered through a Neo-DTS algorithm in the signal chain to get a 5.1 audio stream, the sound is remarkably clear. There is a hint of negligence to the mid-range, that made the UNI-Theater sound a little warmer, which in the case of some melancholic soundtrack works beautifully and in the case of watching 'The Godfather' on DVD, with Its primary soundtrack being 2.1. the same drop in the mid-range helps keep the levels of the wedding at the beginning of the film, away from the ear-piercing range.

Bottom line
This entire package is worth every penny, considering the space you save in your living room and the experience you're getting from the sheer Innovative use of Mirage's Omnipolar technology. The three different components, namely the UNI-Theater, the Nanosat pairs and the Omni S8 subwoofer, work brilliantly with one another. So what if the mid-range was a little dipped! At this price range, you couldn't find a better suited product for your living room.
Website: http://www.riverainternational.com/