pioneer lx71 or denon 2500bt?

[admin_exported]

system: pioneer pdp428 television; pioneer lx01 home cinema system; panasonic dmpbd30 blu ray player.

problem: i'm really pleased with the blu-ray images i'm getting from the panny, but am wanting to get the very most of out of my system with blu-ray and upscaled sd images. the pioneer lx71 is of course tempting but (if i can get a good deal) may be able to stretch to the denon 2500bt. which of these will work best with my system?

also, i'm thinking of trying out SACD which would require a seperate player, was thinking the pioneer dvlx50 or maybe a marantz? budget of no more than £300 for the SACD option.

any advice gratefully appreciated!

 

[professorhat]

Well no one else has answered, so thought I would. I currently have a PS3 and, all I know is, my next Blu-Ray upgrade will currently be the Denon 2500BT.

 

[Anonymous]

Hmmm, considering the Pioneer isnt full HD, should that be a factor in the decision making process? Will some of the finer Denon detail be lost?

 

[professorhat]

I wouldn't have thought so - both the Pioneer and Denon Blu-Ray players will be putting out the same resolution so it just comes down to which produces the better picture...

 

[Anonymous]

I haven"t demoed the pioneer but i did the Denon the other day and thought it was amazing so ill be going for that plus ive seen a few reasonable deals on it! No where near as cheap as the American prices ive seen but still not bad savings!

 

[Anonymous]

Opted for the Denon as got great deal in Sevenoaks sale. Both picture and audio are greatly improved over the Panasonic player. Am still playing around with settings and at moment audio is converted to LPCM (under 'Mix Audio Output' setting) and sent to my amp. Tried sending bitstream 'HD audio' but no sound is output.. Any ideas?

 

[professorhat]

I didn't think it was possible to convert the audio to LPCM on the Denon...

 

[Gerrardasnails]

padutarb:
system: pioneer pdp428 television; pioneer lx01 home cinema system; panasonic dmpbd30 blu ray player.

problem: i'm really pleased with the blu-ray images i'm getting from the panny, but am wanting to get the very most of out of my system with blu-ray and upscaled sd images. the pioneer lx71 is of course tempting but (if i can get a good deal) may be able to stretch to the denon 2500bt. which of these will work best with my system?

also, i'm thinking of trying out SACD which would require a seperate player, was thinking the pioneer dvlx50 or maybe a marantz? budget of no more than £300 for the SACD option.

any advice gratefully appreciated!

Forget the Pioneer dvd player for SACD. This is a great little player and this is the best price you will see (normally £350+).

http://www.richersounds.com/showproduct.php?cda=showproduct&pid=PION-P6

 

[Clare Newsome]

professorhat:
I didn't think it was possible to convert the audio to LPCM on the Denon...

It isn't - it doesn't do any decoding at all, as it's just a transport. You'll only get HD Audio from the Denon if you pair it with an AV amp able to decode the HD formats.

 

[Anonymous]

I've got he Pioneer LX-01 system which I'm pretty sure does decode hi-def audio(?!?) as it was indicated on the display i.e. DOLBY TRUE HD, DTS MASTR AUDIO. when using the panasonic bdp30, which i thought didn't do any decoding either(?).

 

[Anonymous]

I had too many problems with the denon i demo'd, so im hanging on for a good while yet untill i buy a top notch player. The denon is amazing when working. The picture is just so crips, clear and detailed and the sound is enough to make you head spin!

 

[professorhat]

I'm confused:
padutarb:Opted for the Denon as got great deal in Sevenoaks sale.
padutarb:I've got he Pioneer LX-01 system which I'm pretty sure does decode hi-def audio(?!?) as it was indicated on the display i.e. DOLBY TRUE HD, DTS MASTR AUDIO. when using the panasonic bdp30, which i thought didn't do any decoding either(?).
Which do you have, the Pioneer or the Denon?

 

[Anonymous]

I purchased the denon 2500bt but i have a pioneer home cinema system (the lx-01) which i'm sure does decode hi-def audio.

 

[Anonymous]

so how much discount did they give you?

 

[hifianorak]

Richer sounds are doing the Denon for £679 .

Check it out .

 

[professorhat]

padutarb:I purchased the denon 2500bt but i have a pioneer home cinema system (the lx-01) which i'm sure does decode hi-def audio.
It does - sorry I'm still a bit confused though. So originally you said:
padutarb:Am still playing around with settings and at moment audio is converted to LPCM (under 'Mix Audio Output' setting) and sent to my amp. Tried sending bitstream 'HD audio' but no sound is output.. Any ideas?
Whereabouts are you changing these settings, the Denon, the Pioneer or the Panasonic? As basically the Denon has no option to convert to LPCM so should be bitstreaming the signal to the Pioneer since this is all it can do. As long as the Pioneer is set to Auto mode therefore, you should be getting the correct soundtrack from Blu-Rays.

 

[Anonymous]

wow, thats come down £60 in a week!! And thats against a price match of £740 (obviously i know) when advertised on their site for £799!

 

[Anonymous]

We had the opportunity of having a demonstration of the Denon 2500 and 3800. When we saw the 2500 playing we were impressed but when we saw the same DVD playing with the 3800 the difference was very, very impressive even with a blu ray dvd. We compared the blu ray pirates of the caribbean and with regular dvd Casino royal and the incredibles. The image looked sharper and the colours more alive - vivid. Also with a music dvd (not blu ray) there was an huge difference between the 2500 and the 3800 e.g the lights/spots in front of the stage were fluid and sharp while the camera panned over the stage with the 3800, with the 2500 it was like the lights had a very small cubes around them. My wife was convinced for going for the 3800, before the demonstration the 2500would have been the player to buy.

 

[Anonymous]

hasnt the 3800 got a very fancy upscaling chip in it? And isnt it more than twice the price?

 

[Anonymous]

The 3800 is indeed a lot more expensive but we are setting up a good home cinema system (I hope). With our budget in mind and buying all the necessary speaker- and hdmi cables (Chord) in the UK and buying our Onkyo 606 with Cantonspeakers in Germany we saved a lot of money. So much that we could buy a 3800 for the difference in pricesetting. Of course we ordered the 3800 where we had the demonstration.

 

[Anonymous]

i haven't changed any settings on the pioneer since plugging in the denon. there are two options for audio output on the denon; 'mix audio output' or 'hd audio output'. when using 'mix audio output' sound is output when opting for dolby true hd or dts master and showing as PCM when pressing the display button on the denon remote. however, when opting for 'hd audio output' option and picking either dts ma or dolby true no sound is output, whereas a PCM uncompressed track e.g. pirates/harry potter will output sound on the 'hd audio output' setting.

the audio is awesome and maybe i'm complaining about nowt, but i'm finding it a touch confusing!

 

[professorhat]

Okay, managed to get a manual (though from the US website, but should hopefully be the same). From what I can see, there should be a setting called HDMI Audio Out on the Audio menu and this should be set to HDMI Multi (Normal). This will bitstream the signals in their native format for the amp to decode.
What you're looking at is the BD Audio Mode which is for the secondary audio on the disc (e.g. directors commentaries and the like). In order to hear these, you need to set this setting to Mix Audio Output, but for the main feature soundtrack only, this should be set to HD Audio Output (page 22 of the manual I have).
Try that and see if this works.

 

[jase fox]

professorhat:Okay, managed to get a manual (though from the US website, but should hopefully be the same). From what I can see, there should be a setting called HDMI Audio Out on the Audio menu and this should be set to HDMI Multi (Normal). This will bitstream the signals in their native format for the amp to decode.
What you're looking at is the BD Audio Mode which is for the secondary audio on the disc (e.g. directors commentaries and the like). In order to hear these, you need to set this setting to Mix Audio Output, but for the main feature soundtrack only, this should be set to HD Audio Output (page 22 of the manual I have).
Try that and see if this works.

Yep your spot on Prof Hat ! i have the denon 2500bt transport & thats how its done .

 

[Anonymous]

hi, tried this before and again just now but still no joy. the only audio working is 'standard' audio channels dolby digital/dts but dts master audio and dolby true hd just won't work..

the pioneer is set to 'auto'... it's maybe also worth mentioning that the pioneer display reads 'dvd-audio/pcm'. i know the display has read 'dolby true hd' and 'dts mstr audio' before with the panasonic blu-ray player which was set to send just the primary audio...

 

[professorhat]

I'm at a loss then I'm afraid. Unless anyone else can help, it's probably worth speaking to your dealer and see if they can help you with it.