Comparison of Products & Build Quality

We pulled the DVD-3930CI out of the packaging it came in and balked at the strain it took to haul the unit onto the floor. Wow, a 25 pound DVD player that doesn't have a 1/2" thick aluminum faceplate to "fake" its bulk! We haven't seen this kind of mass since - well, the DVD-5910 came out. The build quality on the DVD-3930CI is nothing short of stellar, which is why I have such a hard time believing this isn't the flagship Denon DVD product. With discrete power supplies for audio and video, as well as a video processing board that takes up more room than the interior components of some AV processors we've seen, it's hard to see how it can be improved upon (at least physically).

We opened up the Denon DVD player (don't try this at home, kids) and found - another cover. The metal grounding and vibration "shield" found inside the normal cover made us very curious as to what this little gem was hiding 舰 Inside we found a little tiny man and a white gerbil running on a wheel - just kidding. The unit, as pictured above, is chock full of component-riddled circuit boards with high quality capacitors, chips and resistors. A very large heat sink covers the REALTA chip and makes it nearly impossible to get a better look at the video processing board without doing some major surgery to the unit. Suffice it to say, I was impressed and continued on with the review in humble silence (or was that a moment of silence for all the lost DVD-5910CI consumer sales this unit will cause?) Hey, don't get me wrong, DVDO scaling, simultaneous progressive component-HDMI outputs, and improved DACs on the 5910CI are cool and for the discriminating audio- and videophile "money is no object" type customer.