Listening Tests continued and Video Evaluation

Moving to the DVD-A format is a completely different ambience in my set up because to switch between audio formats (i.e. stereo or multi-channel) it is necessary to navigate the disk using the on screen menus requiring me to crank up the projector.  It is not like SACDs where I could just use the S.Mode button to switch between formats.  Something I did like about using the DVD-A format was that the “Resume” functionality worked here where as it did not for SACD.  The “Resume” functionality is when the Stop button is pressed and the disk stops but does not lose its tracking information.  The only way to not lose tracking on an SACD is to press the Pause button where the disk doesn’t actually stop. There was one annoying feature for every type of disc which was the “Stand By” state.  The player does not retain its last track when it enters “Stand By” mode, whether you put it there or it goes into “Stand By” by timer.

I did some comparisons between DTS, DVD-A multi-channel and two-channel.  I did not have the same luxury that I had with SACD (the same CD recording as the DVD-A recording.) So while I could not do a two-channel comparison, I could definitely hear a superior sonic quality.  I started with a recording from Blue Man Group, The Complex.  I particularly like their version of “White Rabbit”.

The comparison of DTS to DVD-A multi-channel is a very important one.  Some people may think “why bother getting a DVD-A player when they could just play the disc on a regular DVD player.”  The reason to bother is huge.  The difference between the compressed DTS and the high resolution DVD-A is one of detail, sound stage, imaging, channel separation and overall ambience.

Although the sampling rate was low, porcupine tree, “in absentia” was a great disk for listening.  They have a Pink Floyd kind of sound which is excellent in multi-channel.  There were no specific sonic differences for this disk but the Marantz kept performing its audio feats. The DV-9500 appeared to be first class in all audio formats.

One more audio feature to mention is the Audio DRC (Dynamic Range Compression).  If you’re like me you are probably thinking “why in the world would anyone want to compress the dynamic range?”  Dynamic range is an audio quality we strive to increase.  The DV-9500 is a universal player and as such should accommodate as many needs as possible.  This feature is for when you are entertaining guests and you’re only playing background music or a movie so in the middle of a conversation the sound doesn’t all of a sudden become very loud.  Like Pure Mode, it would be nice to have a button on the remote to engage and disengage it.

Video Performance

The DV-9500 uses an Analog Devices Video Encoder chip which allows 216Mhz of over sampling and it includes six NSV 14 bit DACs at the output.  I took a quick look at some of the different Analog Devices Video Encoders and found that the chip that Marantz uses is about the most advanced, best performing encoder offered by Analog Devices.

Set Up

The basic video setup was just as easy as the audio setup.  The basic settings were in the main video menu such as Aspect Ratio, Component Out, and Pause Mode (Field, Frame or Auto).  The Background can be set by capturing a JPEG image which I thought was a neat little feature.  There is a Screen Saver that can be turned on and off and a separate Parental Control menu with different levels of control. There is also the “Others” menu for things like Angle Mark (for turning off the camera icon during scenes with multiple angles), Power Mode, Economy Mode and HDMI.  Aside from all of these menus there was a separate menu and button on the remote for Video Adjustment.  At first I thought that was a little odd and inconvenient but after I thought about it, it made sense.  The items in this menu such as Sharpness, Brightness, Contrast and Detail were the type of adjustments you would only make once with greater than normal effort. By separating it into its own menu, the settings couldn’t easily be changed by accident.  Another good feature for this menu was its connection to the Display button on the remote.  By pressing the Display button with one item highlighted all other items are removed from view so you can watch the picture and make the adjustment. This feature is important considering that the OSD menu almost fills the entire screen and it is not resizable.  The following picture shows this feature with the Lip sync adjustment.

The Lip Sync feature is another interesting one. It allows a delay for the audio.  Its main use is for displays whose video processing causes noticeable delay, putting the picture “behind” the audio.  In my setup I did not require the use of audio delay.  For the rest of the video adjustments I used the AVIA test DVD and made only slight changes.

Audioholics/HQV Bench Testing Summary of Test Results

Perfect Score is 130

Marantz DV-9500 Benchmark total score: 72/130 (This indicates a very competent score considering the difficulty of these tests, but there is definitely room for improvement.)

Jed Deame, a design engineer from Silicon Optix, stopped by with the HQV Benchmark DVD for testing the deinterlacing and noise reduction circuitry.  We spent a few hours going over the tests and then commenced scoring the Marantz.

The deinterlacing circuitry (made by Pioneer Micro Technology Corp. and codeveloped under close supervision by Marantz) was activated by setting the DV-9500 to Progressive mode.  It passed the “Color Bar” test without a problem and also passed the “Jaggies” test.  Most of the problems came when 3:2 pull down tests were combined with additional video processing needs.  In the Film Detail test a moiré pattern could be seen through almost the entire scene where it should lock almost instantaneously.  Conversely, in the Cadence test, the 3:2 pull down was the only cadence that got full points (not uncommon with the HQV tests.)  But when Mixed 3:2 was run which mixes 3:2 film material with text, the horizontal text scrolling had noticeable tearing until about the third time running the test;  after the third time the horizontal text scrolled perfectly as if the player had learning capabilities and locked into the correct mode.  Here is a scoring summary of the HQV Benchmark test:

It is obvious from the table that the HDMI output scored higher than the component. As such we recommend using this output if possible.  The HDMI generally looked softer with more detail and the colors were more natural than the component progressive out. I did compare the HDMI output 720p and 1080i resolutions but saw little or no differences so I left it set to 720p which is the native resolution of the projector. Changing the HDMI resolution settings only forces the projector (a BenQ in this case) to rescale the image.  Just to be certain I used the AVIA test disk to compare the resolutions.  At 6.5 MHz I could not see any jitter at any HDMI resolution or on the component output.