Denon 1740 On Pana 42PZ70

[admin_exported]

Hi Guys,

Just trying to pinpoint the cause of some film noise/blockyness with the system mentioned in the subject. Basically dvds played through the 1740 seem to have some minor blockyness and picture noise with a whole host of dvds. The dvd player is upscaled through a AVR3808 to 1080p and am using qed hdmi cables. What do you reckon is the cause of this? Playing a 1080p film trailer from my pc with a dvi to hdmi cable produces a flawless picture.

I'm hoping its the dvd player, any suggestions though?

Thanks

 

[Anonymous]

*bump* Anyone?

 

[Anonymous]

Hi Alex,

I have a 1740, but play it on my 37px70 plasma (direct). I have tried feeding 720p, 1080p and normal and have pictures without any blocking. Have you tried switching to a different level of upscaling, or turning it off altogether? The TV also has a scalar, so it might provide a clue as to the problem.

Also, have you tried to feed the HDMI cable from the 1740 straight into the TV rather than through the 3808 (I asume the PC feeds via the 3808)?

I am also assuming most DVD's are original copies rather than, ahem, "backups".

 

[Gerrardasnails]

My brother-in-law has that machine and connects it to a Denon 1508 and his screen is the Sony KDL40W2000. It gives a great picture. Now considering you have a better receiver than he and you are happy with your screen, I would say you have a faulty machine.

 

[Anonymous]

The blocking is quite rare i must admit, but in certain scenes where there is maybe a black sky with a small light source it goes a tad blocky. I haven't actually tried without the scaling, so I will do that and see what happens. Is there any chance of the TV scaler conflicting with the AMP scaling?

The pc also feeds via the 3808 so I don't see any reason to bypass it, althought i'll do so to rule out any kind of faults.

DVD's are indeed originals.

 

[Anonymous]

Alex,

Does the same scene on a specific DVD always produce the same blocking result (you mentioned small light source on black background)? I'll try to have a look at my 1740 to see if I can notice any blocking under similar scene conditions on my 720 line screen. Any popular films that you have particularly noticed it on?

If the PC feeds the 3808, it sounds like the 3808 is unlikely to be at fault.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for that. If you have the fellowship of the rings (extended or normal won't matter) check out the part when the hobbits are with aragon and they have setup a small camp at an abandoned watch tower, it's the part where frodo is stabbed by one of the nazgul. Basically theres a part where the nazgul come up the hillside and as they reach the top theres a number of scenes where you have a black sky and the moon providing light. In these scenes I noticed a few occasions where there was a bit of blockyness... if you dont have this dvd i can find another film

 

[Anonymous]

Perfect. I have this film, so I'l try to watch that scene this weekend and let you know.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for that, very much appreciated. Drop me a private message if you wish when you've done it.

 

[Anonymous]

Okay, this is what I see (on my 1740 fed to 37px70 via high spec cambridge audio 1 meter HDMI cable) chapter 15 - weathertop, just as the nazgul figure appears over the brow of the hill to the left of the lit pillar, all the very dark background appears blocked. The blocks are various shades of black and murky dark grey with a slight hint of green. No blocking on the highlight area. Is this what you see?

This happens when feeding 576p, 720p and 1080p, and whether viewed in letterbox mode, or zoomed either via the TV, or via the DVD.

I'm no expert, but could this be the encoding on the DVD?

Can anyone else out there take a look at this scene on their setup (pref, another DVD manufacturer)

 

[Anonymous]

Alex,

Having reread your first post, you say that the comparison was a 1080p trailor. This will have significantly more detail, and less blocking than an upscaled DVD. Even though the DVD is upscaled to 1080p it will ever have the same resolution as the same film specifically remastered in 1080p form (as a download or HD-DVD/Blu-ray disk).

One more thing for you to try. Try playing the DVD of LOTR on your PC, output through the DVI to HDMI cable to see if this produces the same result (native resolution). I'll take a look an my iMac later to see how the same scene looks on it.

 

[Anonymous]

Having just watched the same scene on the iMac - lots of blocking in exactly the same scene!

It could be the encoding of the DVD, Alex. If someone could look at the same scene on a non-upscaling high quality player, I would be very grateful.

 

[Anonymous]

Hi there,

This is exactly the same kind of blocking as I see, I was assuming it was my player but it's very possible it's just the dvd encoding. I've noticed it on a few dvds, I wouldn't say every DVD and it's always in dark scenes. I've tried different cables, different upscaling modes and all give me the same kind of picture, so I am assuming either it's a problem with the particular dvds (in which case id imagine more people would have complained about it) or else it's the dvd player in particular.

I'm hoping it's the dvd player as it gives me an excuse to actually spend some more or a new one and teaches me a lesson for being a bit of a cheap *** in the first place when buying one

 

[Anonymous]

I'd hold out and spend your money on the new Denon Blu Ray player when it's released. At least then, you'll be sure that all the new films you purchase will be shown in their best light.

Of course, you could always test drive a 3930, but it might only give slightly better handling of the same scene, for about the smae money as the blu-ray player

A nice predicament, but I know what I would do

 

[Anonymous]

Is there any official pricing on the denon blu-ray player/transport yet?