Old Denon DVD players?

Mr. Sharpe

Universal players, Upconverting players, progressive scan players. Which ones are good? I read several reviews about both some of their universal players and plain progressive scan ones and for the progressive ones there are some that love the players and some have them lock up, skip etc.

I've only heard good things about the Universal players. I was pretty much hoping for opinions from owners present or previous owners of Denon DVD players, Universal players and Progressive scan.

skrol

I have read of several folks with the Denon units and other brands having problems reading disks. My old Denon stand-alone CD player from 1990 would read all but the most trashed disks.

I have a DVD-2910 which I bought as a store demo and primarily use it for 2-ch listening. Initially it had issues reading some disks (CD, SACD and DVD) but later degraded to the point that it played only a few disks. I disassembled it and very carefully cleaned the optic and it was good as new. Picture quality is fantastic and sound quality is excellent for Red Book, SACD and DVD-A.

There is some good information for modifying this unit out on the web. Another one that folks seem to like is the DVD-2900, which is a different animal in spite of the similar model number.
Stan

jon s

I have a Denon DVD-3930CI. When working, it has been a really good player. Unfortunately, the Denon's seem to have a very unreliable laser transport where the lasers fail. My unit failed 3x, once for a HDMI board failure and twice for laser failure. The crappy thing is that Denon, which is considered a high end brand, have really lousy warranty, only one year. Their service center also has a lousy track record for customer service in my view. Repairs on the laser go for $300. Some users have had luck replacing the laser themselves.

55LS70

Last month I picked up a Denon DED-2910 at a local pawn shop. I put it in the HT system and so far, it has been playing great. When I get the time (and a SACD disc) I'll hook it up to my 2 channel rig and find out how it compares to Cambridge Audio 640C V2.

teamjhertz

I have a DVD-955s which is similar to the 2910 and have had no problems in the 4 years I have owned it. It upconverts quite well and the SQ with CD playback is also great.

Mr. Sharpe

I appreciate all this. I'm thinking of getting an older progressive scan player and if DVD's don't work on it just use it for Cd's. I have a good feeling a denon would be better than the magnavox that I am using now. I'll eventually get one of their Universal players too, something like this one: http://www.ebay.com/itm/DENON-DVD-5910ci-UNIVERSAL-DIGITAL-PLAYER-PRISTINE-/250882697313?pt=DVD_Players_Recorders&hash=item3a69c62861

that's super cheap on that model and looks brand new but I don't have 1.5 g's to put into one yet. I've seen a lot of these older ones I'm thinking of for pretty affordable all over the place, there's a great wealth of them on Ebay and some I'm sure on Audiogon. I've only looked for amps there.

cnh

The 2900, 2910 and the 3910 are all good U-players. Maybe the 3910 is the best. In actuality it is really not that much of a step down from the grossly overpriced 5910. Some here, have also modified some of these players...a search will lead to a wealth of info.

Look on Denon's site, there are links there to B stock dealers--you can get these as refurbs with a year warranty...sometimes.

cnh

Mr. Sharpe

Sweet!!! yea, I've seen the 5910 online and I have to say paying anywhere over $3000 for a DVD player is nuts although for a while a few years ago I considered it lol. pretty sad huh?

I would like the 3910, any of those listed and I appreciate those you listed.

Mr. Sharpe

wow, one of those sites has a Denon AVR-5805CI lol funny looking receiver due to size.

Mr. Sharpe

Hey cnh, would you recommend the 5910 if it was at a good price? I've seen $900 $800, 1,000 etc. wasn't it like $5,000 new? or $7,000?

DON73

I had the 2800 and the DAC ? failed after 2 yrs. Repairs would have cost more than a new DVD player. I had the same problem with a 33 series receiver. I hung both on my back fence in the alley. They were both excellent components while they worked.

pitdogg2

the Denon 3930ci is for all intense and purpose the same player as the 5910. I have a 3910 and it is a 5900. All this info is on AVSforum the big difference are the 5900/5910 have better power supplies. The 3930 will have the same A/V chips as the 5910 just as my 3910 has the same A/V chips as the 5900.

love both my 2900 and 3910. I would love to get a 3930 to compare to my 3910 ya know just for giggles

pitdogg2

DON73 wrote: »

I had the 2800 and the DAC ? failed after 2 yrs. Repairs would have cost more than a new DVD player. I had the same problem with a 33 series receiver. I hung both on my back fence in the alley. They were both excellent components while they worked.

the 2800 had many problems right out of the gate hence the 2800MkII

Mr. Sharpe

pitdogg2 wrote: »

the Denon 3930ci is for all intense and purpose the same player as the 5910. I have a 3910 and it is a 5900. All this info is on AVSforum the big difference are the 5900/5910 have better power supplies. The 3930 will have the same A/V chips as the 5910 just as my 3910 has the same A/V chips as the 5900.

love both my 2900 and 3910. I would love to get a 3930 to compare to my 3910 ya know just for giggles

Sweet deal. I already ordered a used 2800, if nothing else I can always use it as a Cd player if the DVD player doesn't work. but I'm hoping it will.

Thanks for all the info on these, all these models that were mentioned were ones I had in mind:)

jon s

The good thing is that most Denon players can easily be programmed to be universal DVD players, i.e. play any region.

Mr. Sharpe

I don't think I'll need them to do that but that is cool:D