Yamaha DV-C6480 Progressive-Scan 5-Disc DVD Player
Simply a great DVD player
Compared to most DVD players today, the Yamaha 6480 is built like a battleship. Most new players have minimal weight and look cheap. This player has a high quality power supply that adds to its weight and all its mechanical operations are very quiet and smooth. I'll break down the operation of this player into seperate catagories.<br />Video:<BR>The DCDi de-interlacer that is so prominently displayed on the front panel silk screens is used for video source material and is not used for film source materials. Unless you play back video source dvd's this should not be a huge factor. The built in De-Interlacer provides crystal clear images with no flicker or distortions. There is no \\"Chroma Bug\\" that so many players seem to have and many home theater review sites mention. Compared to the JVC FA95GD, the Yamaha 6480 has far better color saturation and picture stability, very comparable to high end panasonic players, but with sharper image quality. The pause during layer changes is almost non-existant. Disk swaps are very smooth and quiet as compared to the JVC as well. This player does not scale non-anamorphic DVD's correctly. So far the only players that I have encountered that do are the JVC players and the Panasonic RP91.<br />Audio:<BR>The 24 bit Burr-Brown D/A converters built into this unit work only with the multi-channel output for DVD audio or if you use the internal decoder for Dolby Digital or DTS surround sound. If you have a cheap decoder built into a home theater receiver, use the onboard decoders. Your ears will thank you. I have encountered no problems playing CDR's, CDRW's, DVD-r or DVD-RW disks to date. The onboard decoder even gives MP3's a warm and rich quality. <br />Gripes:<BR>Player only comes in black. It would be nice to have a model that matches some of the high end Yamaha Home Theater Receivers such as the DSPA1 Gold. Major gripe.... The power button on the front panel is the only way to power up or down this unit. The remote control can not dothis for you. This really isn't a huge issue, but if you have a all-in-one remote with macro's programmed to power on or off your entire home theater, you will still have to walk up to this player and turn it off at the end of the movie. <br />A very good player overall and of high quality build. If you need progressive playback and don't need to scale non-anamorphic dvd's this player is one stop shopping at a very affordable price. ...