Panasonic DVD-RP91 DVD-Video / DVD-Audio Player With Progressive Scan, DD And DTS Decoders, And Mp3
Written: Sep 25 '01 (Updated Sep 30 '01)
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Pros: Picture quality, looks, DVD-Audio, DD and DTS decoders, real progressive scan
Cons: Digital Re-mastering doesn't seem to improve sound of conventional CDs
The Bottom Line: The Panasonic DVD-RP91 is one of the best DVD players available. Excellent in both picture quality and ease of use...
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| dkozin's Full Review: Panasonic DVD-RP91 DVD Player |
Unfortunately, the Panasonic DVD-RP61, which was supposed to sell for less than $299 and play DVD-Audio and DVD-Video in real progressive scan with 2:3 pulldown and have both Dolby Digital and DTS decoders built-in was sacked.
Probably Panasonic people decided that nobody would buy the RP91, which has more features (including an image-sizing capability) and looks cooler, but costs at least $150 more. In any case, I think they made a mistake.
You can get Panasonic DVD-RP91 in either silver or black color. You get CD-R, CD-RW and MP3 playback, DVD-RAM playback, “real” progressive scan with 2:3 pulldown (also called 3:2 pulldown), Dolby Digital and DTS decoders with 5.1 out and DVD-Audio playback.
Looks
The RP91 looks nice in either color. The tray looks very solid and its operation is very smooth. If you press “power” to turn the player off, and the tray is open, it closes automatically.
Front Panel
The front panel has the microphone jack and volume control. It also has two pairs of buttons and LEDs – “Progressive Out” (to switch between progressive scan and interlaced mode) and “Audio Only” (turns off video circuitry when playing an audio disc to minimize interference).
The “digital re-master” button, although supposed to improve the sound of CDs through upsampling, doesn’t seem to do much. Another button turns on the MPEG digital noise reduction
Rear Panel
The rear panel has both Coaxial Digital Audio out and Optical Digital Audio out, 2 composite video outs, an S-Video out, a component out, 5.1 analog audio out, separate analog stereo audio out.
DVD-Video And Real Progressive Scan
The progressive scan in this player is the “real deal”. Previously, you could buy an inexpensive Pioneer 444 DVD player with progressive scan, but it didn’t features 2:3 pulldown (sometimes called 3:2 pulldown). So, when viewing film-based material (shot at 24 fps), the scenes with rapid vertical motion had blurriness and “stairstep” artifacts.
The RP91 has 2:3 pulldown, so those artifacts are gone. The image looks very film-like and scan lines are barely visible. Of course, you need a TV that accepts 480p (progressive scan) signal through the component input. And these TVs cost a lot, but if you don’t have one now, but plan to get a good TV later, by the time you get the TV, you will not have to replace your DVD player.
This player has no “chroma” bug, which is present even in players that cost much more. The colors are rendered accurately and there is no artifacts. There is no combing that is present in some players, including Sony DVP-NS700P and even players that cost much more than RP91.
DVD-Audio
You might have heard it – Sony claims that Super Audio CD (SACD) sounds better than DVD-Audio. Sony and Phillips try to sell SACD players when everybody else (Panasonic, JVC and others) are in the DVD-Audio camp.
In theory SACD looks good, however I don’t think the sound quality of SACD is noticeably better than DVD-A. I have never heard the same musical fragment through the same amplifier and speakers on both SACD and DVD-A, so there is no way for me to judge, but DVD-A sound excellent. I hope SACD will go the way of Beta and MiniDisk – we don’t need two competing standards.
The player has 5.1 analog output jacks for DVD-Audio playback. Unfortunately, there is no way at this point for you to be able to output DVD-A signal digitally (the case for all DVD-A and SACD players). Although it is difficult to find much music material on DVD-A (or SACD), the recording labels should start producing more and more of those.
CD-R/W
The player plays CD-R and CD-RW discs, which is an important quality when you want to play your MP3s or VCDs. It employs twin-laser pickup (for CD-R/W playback) and built-in disc stabilizer. The CD-R or CD-RW disc must be finalized and must not be multi-session. It also plays DVD-RAM discs (used in Panasonic’s consumer DVD recorders).
Video CD
A VCD can be created using Adapted Easy CD Creator Deluxe, for example. I use EZ CD Creator 5.0 Platinum. The VCD playback works well, but, after DVD, the picture quality seems much worse. It is, however, better than VHS.
MP3 Playback
You would have to settle for Apex or other player from the manufacturer you know nothing about with questionable reliability before. In RP91 you can have an MP3 playback without sacrificing reliability, ease of use and picture and sound quality.
At 192 Kb/sec the MP3 sound quality is difficult, if not impossible, to distinguish from the CD-Audio. The player takes some time to read the disc’s directory structure if it is complex. The player quite quickly reads the file structure and allows play all the songs in succession.
The player does not show file names when playing MP3s and there is no way to program the MP3 playback. The existing file structure gets "flattened" - you see the song's number but not the name and the total number of songs on the disc (for example "15 of 124"). The manual says that the playback order depends on file names.
Performance And Features
The discs are very fast to “load” and the operation is very fast. There is no delay after you press a button, everything happens immediately. The player features excellent picture and sound quality in all modes of operation.
The most important mode is probably DVD-Video, where this player excels. I have never seen better picture quality in both non-progressive-scan and progressive scan modes, even with players that cost several times the price of RP91.
Panasonic and Technics CD and DVD players are known for ability to play scratched CDs and DVD discs much better than other brands. The RP91 can play discs that, for example, Sharp DV600U would reject immediately.
The player allows you to resize the picture, for example to fill the screen of the standard aspect ratio when watching a widescreen movie.
Inputs
The player has 5.1 analog audio outs, separate analog stereo outs (left and right - RCA-type jacks) as well as an optical and coaxial digital-audio outputs (both Dolby Digital and DTS compatible), which you can use to connect it to Dolby Digital or DTS receivers or mini-systems.
The player itself has Dolby Digital and DTS decoders built-in, so you can employ them and send the sound through the 5.1 analog outs (which you will have to use when playing DVD-Audio).
The RP91 also has an S-video and component video outs. You can use either S-Video out to connect the player to your TV or, even better, component video out, which is the best possible way to connect DVD player to your TV. This is the connection you have to employ if you want to watch in progressive scan – the component out can be switched between interlaced and progressive scan modes.
If you have a non-progressive scan compatible TV, you can use S-Video, which delivers the picture of almost the same quality as component out, whereas the “standard” composite connection may (and will) create cross-luminance artifacts (rainbow like Moire patterns, dot crawl on the edges, etc.).
There is also a gold-plated headphone jack on the front panel and a volume control. And you can select “audio only” mode, in which the video circuits shut off to reduce the noise level.
Advanced VSS
The player has an Advanced Virtual Surround Sound (VSS) feature that simulates the surround sound by downmixing Dolby 5.1 signal to two channels, so you can enjoy audio effects with just 2 speakers.
Dialogue Enhancer
The standard for Panasonic DVD players dialogue enhancement feature boosts the volume of the center channel by 6 dB when playing a Dolby Digital 5.1 disc so that the dialogue doesn't become drowned out by the left and right speakers. As I found out, it is useful when watching movies such as U571 or “Trainspotting”, where it’s hard to hear what people say, especially taking into account their accents (the latter) or explosions (the former).
Other Features
The player features still and frame advance (both directions) modes, chapter preview mode. There is a high-speed, five-step, smooth-motion scan, which provides crystal-clear forward and reverse scan in five speeds (5 speeds of slow scan in both directions and 5 speeds of fast scan in both directions).
Once again, I was surprised to find out it works in CD-Audio playback as well as in MP3 playback. The player remembers where you stopped and can resume from that moment.
The player also has shuffle/random mode (not for MP3) and direct track access. The menus are very intuitive with descriptions of what buttons to use. The onscreen displays allow you to control everything.
Remote
The player has a remote control that’s very easy to use. It allows you to control the basic TV functions also (volume, channel, etc.). It has a good button layout and a small joystick control to navigate menus. Some buttons glow in the dark.
Bottom Line
The Panasonic DVD-RP91 is one of the best DVD players available. Excellent in both picture quality and ease of use, plays DVD-Audio, MP3 and CD-R/W discs, has progressive scan, DD and DTS decoders, superfast operation, excellent looks.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 440
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Epinions.com ID:
dkozin
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 in Electronics |
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Location: California
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About Me:
I love to push buttons on electronic (audio and video) equipment. It makes me happy.
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