Post by bogsle on Feb 27, 2005 21:31:37 GMT 7
Hi guys, I thought I contribute something to the group. So here it goes.
I decided to buy a new DVD player just today. Dahil ito sa sobrang inis ko sa Pioneer DV355 ko last night, which has been with me for over a year na rin naman. I was watching the movie "The Village" by M. Shayamalan when at the climax it started to pause and play and jump and skip and hang. Medyo namimili na ito ng DVDs, most specially the Q type DVDs.
Another issue I had with the Pioneer DV355 was that it cannot convert PAL DVDs into the system my old TV uses which is NTSCs. A lot of Q type DVDs I bought recently were PALs, and it really frustrated me after travelling all the way from Novaliches to Quiapo and back just to find out I could not watch them on my TV because what I was getting was a scrolling black and white screen of images.
Well, after searching for a cheaper and cost effective way to ease my frustration, I decided to buy the Nextbase NB 787S.
Build nya ang ganda, sleek, slim, and the front panel display are all stylish. Seems matibay din. Actually mas malapad at mabigat sya sa Pioneer DV355. I wonder why? Casing is aluminum din naman. Pretty yung NextBASE engraving on top. Simple pero elegante ang design. The two ports at front left of the unit you see in the picture are two microphone ports. Yes, pwede po pang videoke ang player na to.
This is the latest in the line of DVD (and multi-player) system the Nextbase is offering. Like any other multi-players that we see now-a-days, this one has everthing as well, including DVD/VCD/SVCD/MP3/CD/JPEG and supports different types media like CD-R/RW, DVD +/- R, DVD +/- RW. But what surprised me was that the NB 787S also supports HDCD!
After connecting it to my RXV1400, and the analog connection to my RA-02 I immediately inserted my "BEE GEES Their Greatest Hits" HDCD disk and started playing it. There was no way to tell from the front panel if the player was actually recognizing the HDCD format. The indication that it is playing HDCD disk appears only on the TV screen when you enable the OSD (on screen display button on the remote). Gees, that is really something new from Nextbase, and for me it is a bonus considering the price I paid for it: Php 3,995.00 from AstroVision, SM Fairview.
Setup? Not that difficult. Straight forward naman yung manual, and for anyone kahit walang experience di mahihirapan. In fact you can start using NB 787S out of the box, connect it to your TV or multi-channel or stereo reciever and okay na. You may just have to turn off the built-in speakers when using with your receiver, which can be done using the remote. Because they really sound bad.
Ok, so how did it sound? Well, since I started using and listening to it first in stereo, here is my impression. Not bad. It had enough detail to recognize instruments, but did not have enough localization and depth. It has much more base (kaya NextBASE hehehe, joke) than my Arcam, but not as defined. It sounded decent enough though to play pop and rock tunes, which sounded good naman (BEE GEES-The Greatest Hits, Kitche Nadal, Eagle's Hell Freezes Over, South Border-Episode III, Maroon5-Songs About Jane, Tunog Accoustic 1 & 2, Perfectly Accoustic 1 & 2, MTV Unplugged 1 HDCD, MTV Unplugged 2).
But for more serious jazz, instrumental and vocal tunes it may be a little bit lacking, ika nga sa wordings ni Ronie, "parang may kulang". List of CDs I played are Jane Monheit-Taking a Chance on Love, Nat King Cole-Unforgattable 24bit Remastered, Diana Krall-When I Look in Your Eyes, Pinetop Perkins-Born in the Delta, Harry "Sweets" Edison and the Golden Horns-Live at the Iridium, Earnest Ranglin-Modern Ansers to Old Problems, Tonny Bennet-Playin' with My Friends, Best Audiophile Voices Vol. 1, Tsuyoshi Yamamoto-Autum in Seattle, Paquito d'Rivera-Portraits of Cuba. All disks are original except for Best Audiophile Voices Vol. 1 and Tsuyoshi Yamamoto-Autum in Seattle which were copies only.
Somehow, the music has a not-so-clear consistency, not as sweet but quite fun to listen to nevertheless. My wife also noticed this character, and said "hindi sya ganun kalinaw noh?" Pasensya na, medyo na train na rin ang listening ears ng wife. This actually led me to ask, ano kaya ang gamit na HDCD decoder chip ng NB 787S. As I have learned before, HDCD processing chips provide better filtering of sound even for non-HDCD disks. Pero baket kaya it seems hindi ganun yung effect sa player na ito. Hula ko lang baka di pa rin properly broken yung player. I'm suspecting also yung S/N ratio rating nya, na 80db lamang, which may indicate the level of audio accuracy.
I have searched the Internet but could not find information on the chips used for NB 787S. Maybe we should do more research.
On the HT test naman, here is my observation. On the video side, panalo pa rin yung Pioneer DV355. Mas crisp and sharp ang image nito. For the NB 787S noticably malabo and hindi properly mixed yung colors. Minsan parang matapang yung red minsan naman parang maputla yung blue and brown. You could say pwede sa TV rin ang problem, pero same TV and connection method ang gamit ko with the DV355 eh. S-VIDEO cable nga pala ang gamit ko from the NB 787S to the RXV1400 then standard coax to the TV, exactly the same connection method I used for the DV355. Then we (my wife and I) noticed several vertical stripes on the TV screen. Its not noticable until maging dark yung screen, like night shots or may switching (fade in and out) of scenes. Kita yung lines. It seems nawawala yung lines when you increase the saturation setting of the DVD player. The NB 787S has its own setting for BRIGHT, CONTRAST, HUE, and SATURATION, which I did not like. Kasi I prefer doing those settings on my TV instead. Nahirapan ako mag timpla ng image and color kasi I had to work with two set of video controls, one on the TV and the other on the DVD player. I don't know if our other colleagues would prefer this feature, though.
Audio side the HT, halos similar ng audio assesment for stereo mode listening. Sound was detailed enough, but we had a bit of difficulty understanding the dialogue in the beginning, which led me to check nga the tone settings on my HT receiver. Parang mufled pag nag sasalita and not as clear. I never used kasi the tone settings (bass & treble) and it's always disabled in my setup. I often just rely on the YPAO settings to compensate for the bass and treble tones and audio clarity when I do auto setup. Dialog was not an issue with the DV355, it was clear and understandable kahit medyo maingay yung kids ko when watching. I had to increase the receivers volume na lang to resolve this with the NB 787S. For my tests I used original DVDs of Ridely Scott Signature Selection of Gladiator Region 1 (DTS-ES 6.1), James Taylor Live at the Beacon Theatre (Dolby Digital 5.1), Eagle's Hell Freezes Over (DTS).
We'll, for what it's worth, it resolved my issues with the skipping and hanging as well as with the PAL encoded DVDs that I mentioned at the beginning of this story. I can now watch decent DVD movies encoded in PAL or NTSC systems on my old TV. This is unlike the DV355, which can read multi system DVDs but cannot convert it for the the TV. The NB 787S could read and play, so far, all my DVDs, Q-types or originals, and I have no more scrolling black & white screen images on my TV.
Sabi ko nga sa esmi, mas maganda nga sana yung DV355, kaya lang luma na nga lang kasi and bugbog na rin sa pag gamit ng family ko, and could not do the PAL/NTSC conversion I needed. I told her that I would have the DV355 cleaned and recalibrated at the Pioneer service center and use it next time na lang for my original DVDs instead.
Pero target ko talaga yung Denon 3910 kung kakayanin or 2910 pwede na.
Pag nakabili, post ako ng another review.
Complete Specs of NB 787S:
DVD
AUTO/PAL/NTSC SYSTEM
BUILT IN DOLBY DIGITAL DECODER
MULTI OSD LANGUAGE (ENGLISH/GERMAN/FRENCH/ITALIAN/SPANISH)
MULTI ANGEL/AUDIO/SUBTITLE SUPPORTED
PARENTAL LOCK
FAST FORWARD/REVERSE (X2,X4,X8,X20)
ZOOM PLAY(X2,X3,X4,X1/2,X1/3,X1/4)
A-B AND REPEAT FUNCTION
PROGRAM PLAY FUNCTION
PREVIOUS AND NEXT PLAY FUNCTION
SEARCH PLAY FUNCTION
STEREO SPEAKERS
STEREO SPEAKERS 2W+2W
FORMATS & MEDIA
DVD/VCD/SVCD/MP3/CD/JPEG
CD-R/RW, DVD +/- R, DVD +/- RW
INPUT / OUTPUT
AC 110V/220V INPUT
2*MICROPHONES INPUT
1* STEREO AUDIO OUTPUT (LEFT + RIGHT)
1*5.1 CHANNELS AUDIO OUTPUT
1*OPTICAL DIGITAL AUDIO OUTPUT
1*COMPOSITE VIDEO OUTPUT
1*S-VIDEO OUTPUT
1*Y+CbPb+CrPr VIDEO OUTPUT (STANDARD VERSION)
1*SCART OUTPUT (EUROPEAN VERSION)
ACCESSORIES
REMOTE CONTROL WITH A PAIR of AAA BATTERIES, AV CABLE, USER MANUAL. (INCLUDED)
PACKING AND SHIPPING DETAILS
PLAYER DIM.: L425*W285*H41mm
CARTON SIZE: L53.5 *W45.0 *H36.5cm
Additional Specs:
Video Amplitude 1.0Vp-p (75 ohms)
Freq Response 20Hz - 20KHz
S/N Ratio > 80Db
Power Supply ~220V, 50Hz
Power Consumption 12W
List of equipment used:
Home Theater Test:
Yamaha RXV1400 HT Reciever
IXOS Gamma Auditon II Interconnects
DAIY (Japan Made) Digital Coax Cable
LX2002 front L/R speakers
LX200C center speaker
SCS178 suround speakers
LX2000 Sub
Audio pro speaker cables (bi-wired to front L/R)
Quantum Banana Plugs
Stereo Test:
Rotel RA-02 Integrated Amp
IXOS Gamma Auditon II Interconnects
Acoustic Energy EVO 1 speakers
Quantum Banana Plugs
Audio pro speaker cables
Power supply:
APC CS650 w/ power conditioning & EMI filtering
Regards sa lahat.
Bogsle
I decided to buy a new DVD player just today. Dahil ito sa sobrang inis ko sa Pioneer DV355 ko last night, which has been with me for over a year na rin naman. I was watching the movie "The Village" by M. Shayamalan when at the climax it started to pause and play and jump and skip and hang. Medyo namimili na ito ng DVDs, most specially the Q type DVDs.
Another issue I had with the Pioneer DV355 was that it cannot convert PAL DVDs into the system my old TV uses which is NTSCs. A lot of Q type DVDs I bought recently were PALs, and it really frustrated me after travelling all the way from Novaliches to Quiapo and back just to find out I could not watch them on my TV because what I was getting was a scrolling black and white screen of images.
Well, after searching for a cheaper and cost effective way to ease my frustration, I decided to buy the Nextbase NB 787S.
Build nya ang ganda, sleek, slim, and the front panel display are all stylish. Seems matibay din. Actually mas malapad at mabigat sya sa Pioneer DV355. I wonder why? Casing is aluminum din naman. Pretty yung NextBASE engraving on top. Simple pero elegante ang design. The two ports at front left of the unit you see in the picture are two microphone ports. Yes, pwede po pang videoke ang player na to.
This is the latest in the line of DVD (and multi-player) system the Nextbase is offering. Like any other multi-players that we see now-a-days, this one has everthing as well, including DVD/VCD/SVCD/MP3/CD/JPEG and supports different types media like CD-R/RW, DVD +/- R, DVD +/- RW. But what surprised me was that the NB 787S also supports HDCD!
After connecting it to my RXV1400, and the analog connection to my RA-02 I immediately inserted my "BEE GEES Their Greatest Hits" HDCD disk and started playing it. There was no way to tell from the front panel if the player was actually recognizing the HDCD format. The indication that it is playing HDCD disk appears only on the TV screen when you enable the OSD (on screen display button on the remote). Gees, that is really something new from Nextbase, and for me it is a bonus considering the price I paid for it: Php 3,995.00 from AstroVision, SM Fairview.
Setup? Not that difficult. Straight forward naman yung manual, and for anyone kahit walang experience di mahihirapan. In fact you can start using NB 787S out of the box, connect it to your TV or multi-channel or stereo reciever and okay na. You may just have to turn off the built-in speakers when using with your receiver, which can be done using the remote. Because they really sound bad.
Ok, so how did it sound? Well, since I started using and listening to it first in stereo, here is my impression. Not bad. It had enough detail to recognize instruments, but did not have enough localization and depth. It has much more base (kaya NextBASE hehehe, joke) than my Arcam, but not as defined. It sounded decent enough though to play pop and rock tunes, which sounded good naman (BEE GEES-The Greatest Hits, Kitche Nadal, Eagle's Hell Freezes Over, South Border-Episode III, Maroon5-Songs About Jane, Tunog Accoustic 1 & 2, Perfectly Accoustic 1 & 2, MTV Unplugged 1 HDCD, MTV Unplugged 2).
But for more serious jazz, instrumental and vocal tunes it may be a little bit lacking, ika nga sa wordings ni Ronie, "parang may kulang". List of CDs I played are Jane Monheit-Taking a Chance on Love, Nat King Cole-Unforgattable 24bit Remastered, Diana Krall-When I Look in Your Eyes, Pinetop Perkins-Born in the Delta, Harry "Sweets" Edison and the Golden Horns-Live at the Iridium, Earnest Ranglin-Modern Ansers to Old Problems, Tonny Bennet-Playin' with My Friends, Best Audiophile Voices Vol. 1, Tsuyoshi Yamamoto-Autum in Seattle, Paquito d'Rivera-Portraits of Cuba. All disks are original except for Best Audiophile Voices Vol. 1 and Tsuyoshi Yamamoto-Autum in Seattle which were copies only.
Somehow, the music has a not-so-clear consistency, not as sweet but quite fun to listen to nevertheless. My wife also noticed this character, and said "hindi sya ganun kalinaw noh?" Pasensya na, medyo na train na rin ang listening ears ng wife. This actually led me to ask, ano kaya ang gamit na HDCD decoder chip ng NB 787S. As I have learned before, HDCD processing chips provide better filtering of sound even for non-HDCD disks. Pero baket kaya it seems hindi ganun yung effect sa player na ito. Hula ko lang baka di pa rin properly broken yung player. I'm suspecting also yung S/N ratio rating nya, na 80db lamang, which may indicate the level of audio accuracy.
I have searched the Internet but could not find information on the chips used for NB 787S. Maybe we should do more research.
On the HT test naman, here is my observation. On the video side, panalo pa rin yung Pioneer DV355. Mas crisp and sharp ang image nito. For the NB 787S noticably malabo and hindi properly mixed yung colors. Minsan parang matapang yung red minsan naman parang maputla yung blue and brown. You could say pwede sa TV rin ang problem, pero same TV and connection method ang gamit ko with the DV355 eh. S-VIDEO cable nga pala ang gamit ko from the NB 787S to the RXV1400 then standard coax to the TV, exactly the same connection method I used for the DV355. Then we (my wife and I) noticed several vertical stripes on the TV screen. Its not noticable until maging dark yung screen, like night shots or may switching (fade in and out) of scenes. Kita yung lines. It seems nawawala yung lines when you increase the saturation setting of the DVD player. The NB 787S has its own setting for BRIGHT, CONTRAST, HUE, and SATURATION, which I did not like. Kasi I prefer doing those settings on my TV instead. Nahirapan ako mag timpla ng image and color kasi I had to work with two set of video controls, one on the TV and the other on the DVD player. I don't know if our other colleagues would prefer this feature, though.
Audio side the HT, halos similar ng audio assesment for stereo mode listening. Sound was detailed enough, but we had a bit of difficulty understanding the dialogue in the beginning, which led me to check nga the tone settings on my HT receiver. Parang mufled pag nag sasalita and not as clear. I never used kasi the tone settings (bass & treble) and it's always disabled in my setup. I often just rely on the YPAO settings to compensate for the bass and treble tones and audio clarity when I do auto setup. Dialog was not an issue with the DV355, it was clear and understandable kahit medyo maingay yung kids ko when watching. I had to increase the receivers volume na lang to resolve this with the NB 787S. For my tests I used original DVDs of Ridely Scott Signature Selection of Gladiator Region 1 (DTS-ES 6.1), James Taylor Live at the Beacon Theatre (Dolby Digital 5.1), Eagle's Hell Freezes Over (DTS).
We'll, for what it's worth, it resolved my issues with the skipping and hanging as well as with the PAL encoded DVDs that I mentioned at the beginning of this story. I can now watch decent DVD movies encoded in PAL or NTSC systems on my old TV. This is unlike the DV355, which can read multi system DVDs but cannot convert it for the the TV. The NB 787S could read and play, so far, all my DVDs, Q-types or originals, and I have no more scrolling black & white screen images on my TV.
Sabi ko nga sa esmi, mas maganda nga sana yung DV355, kaya lang luma na nga lang kasi and bugbog na rin sa pag gamit ng family ko, and could not do the PAL/NTSC conversion I needed. I told her that I would have the DV355 cleaned and recalibrated at the Pioneer service center and use it next time na lang for my original DVDs instead.
Pero target ko talaga yung Denon 3910 kung kakayanin or 2910 pwede na.
Pag nakabili, post ako ng another review.
Complete Specs of NB 787S:
DVD
AUTO/PAL/NTSC SYSTEM
BUILT IN DOLBY DIGITAL DECODER
MULTI OSD LANGUAGE (ENGLISH/GERMAN/FRENCH/ITALIAN/SPANISH)
MULTI ANGEL/AUDIO/SUBTITLE SUPPORTED
PARENTAL LOCK
FAST FORWARD/REVERSE (X2,X4,X8,X20)
ZOOM PLAY(X2,X3,X4,X1/2,X1/3,X1/4)
A-B AND REPEAT FUNCTION
PROGRAM PLAY FUNCTION
PREVIOUS AND NEXT PLAY FUNCTION
SEARCH PLAY FUNCTION
STEREO SPEAKERS
STEREO SPEAKERS 2W+2W
FORMATS & MEDIA
DVD/VCD/SVCD/MP3/CD/JPEG
CD-R/RW, DVD +/- R, DVD +/- RW
INPUT / OUTPUT
AC 110V/220V INPUT
2*MICROPHONES INPUT
1* STEREO AUDIO OUTPUT (LEFT + RIGHT)
1*5.1 CHANNELS AUDIO OUTPUT
1*OPTICAL DIGITAL AUDIO OUTPUT
1*COMPOSITE VIDEO OUTPUT
1*S-VIDEO OUTPUT
1*Y+CbPb+CrPr VIDEO OUTPUT (STANDARD VERSION)
1*SCART OUTPUT (EUROPEAN VERSION)
ACCESSORIES
REMOTE CONTROL WITH A PAIR of AAA BATTERIES, AV CABLE, USER MANUAL. (INCLUDED)
PACKING AND SHIPPING DETAILS
PLAYER DIM.: L425*W285*H41mm
CARTON SIZE: L53.5 *W45.0 *H36.5cm
Additional Specs:
Video Amplitude 1.0Vp-p (75 ohms)
Freq Response 20Hz - 20KHz
S/N Ratio > 80Db
Power Supply ~220V, 50Hz
Power Consumption 12W
List of equipment used:
Home Theater Test:
Yamaha RXV1400 HT Reciever
IXOS Gamma Auditon II Interconnects
DAIY (Japan Made) Digital Coax Cable
LX2002 front L/R speakers
LX200C center speaker
SCS178 suround speakers
LX2000 Sub
Audio pro speaker cables (bi-wired to front L/R)
Quantum Banana Plugs
Stereo Test:
Rotel RA-02 Integrated Amp
IXOS Gamma Auditon II Interconnects
Acoustic Energy EVO 1 speakers
Quantum Banana Plugs
Audio pro speaker cables
Power supply:
APC CS650 w/ power conditioning & EMI filtering
Regards sa lahat.
Bogsle