The verdict First, explanation later. This DVD player is a well made unit that is great for anyone using standard production DVD's and wants a great quality from an analog progressive or interlaced signal. I purchased this unit for a great price but was sad to find that it has trouble with burned dvd's. The reason this is important to me is because I often copy my dvd's so that I can keep them accessible in my theater and let my friends borrow them and have the originals put away in storage. While there is a little quality loss in some cases, usually it isnt anything to moan over when the audio and video still look pretty great. The second major concern with this player is that the NTSC and PAL swap does not seem to work. I can play my PAL discs fine everywhere else but even though this player is compatible with both, it will not play them. My final concern is something to be expected, the lack of a digital video output and upscaling. Everyone looking at this unit would know and expect not to have this but I will admit it is an inconvenience for anyone with a digital television that really wants a better quality signal. I admit the video output on this is superior to many inexpensive upscaling players and the audio is unsurpased in the price range, but for modern applications, you can get a sense of the unit being a legacy product. Anyone who has this DVD player is in for a treat but just be ready to accept it's limitations.Read full review
I purchased this CD/DVD player to replace my old Yamaha 5 Disc CD player that gave up the ghost after 5 years of not too heavy use. I chose the Denon to match my Denon receiver. After 2 months, everything is working fine except for the CD tray. The unit is having difficulty reading discs, thus opening and closing repeatedly when inserting a disc to play. I have to push the play button as soon as the tray closes to get some discs to play. Also have to turn the unit off after removing a disc to keep the same thing from happening. However, this unit is 12 years old and I haven't tried to clean the eye yet. I chose to purchase an optical audio cable instead of using the RCA cables. This is the only way to get true 5.1 surround sound(so I was told at the place I bought the cable), and I would highly recommend this route. The sound quality and depth is incredible in comparison to the old set up of having a regular DVD player hooked up to the stereo. Feels like I have a new, much more powerful, stereo. No regrets other than the tray not working properly(maybe just bad luck on my part). This is a great product for the price.Read full review
It finally happened. My old DVD player gave up the ghost and stopped loading discs, so it was time for a new machine. It seemed logical to upgrade to Blu Ray, so I started looking at units. One of my requirements was that it would be able to also replace a high quality CD player, and reduce the component count on my rack. So I made a few calls. My first call was to a friend, Chris, who used to work for a very high end amplifier manufacturer. He immediately pointed me to this machine. One of the features it offers is very good circuitry on the 2 channel audio output, making this an excellent dual duty machine for high end AV set ups that also have a good stereo system attached. This was one of the main selling points for me. After listening for a while I'm ready to say that the audio output on the Denon 3800 is CLOSE to what I used to have from my A/D/S audiophile grade CD player. Moving from DVD to Blu Ray was simply an amazing leap forward. The TV I have is limited to 1080i resolution, but the picture is truly amazing. I've never owned a blu ray player before, so I can't compare this unit to others like it, but can say that the colors are rich, the detail in the picture is amazing and the sound is exceptional. Set up: I would rate this as VERY easy. Using an HDMI cable to connect the 3800 to the TV was a piece of cake and HDMI transmits both audio and video. My unit came with the latest firmware update, so there was nothing to do there. The set up instructions are buried in the manual, but once you find them they are easy to follow. The 3800 offers a huge range of set up options and every user should be able to find settings that work well for them. build quality: Initial impression is that the build quality of the 3800 is very high. The chassis is robust and seems to be well isolated from external vibrations and the such. The transport mechanism moves smoothly and the remote works well. The front display on the unit is easy to read and offers a dim option for low light situations. This was Denon's top unit for several years, but is now just a touch out of date. It doesn't offer features like an ethernet port or BD 2.0, but from my reading the 2.0 isn't always desirable anyways. The ethernet would be nice for future firmware upgrades, but I'm sure that I can handle doing that by burning a CD from my computer. High end components take up some space, so this unit is larger than your typical BD player. At almost 6" tall it will likely be one of the largest components in your system, so make sure that you have adequate space for it. It also makes a fair amount of heat, so placing it in a closed cabinet is probably a bad idea. All in all this is a very nice machine that as of right now (Jan 2010) can be purchased for very reasonable money.Read full review
Since we installed our home theater with a projection system (Runco) this is our third DVD player upgrade. A 12 foot picture brings out flaws in even good systems. Overall the 3800 gave us a modestly better picture with much less pixelation when you are really close to the screen. It handles brighter pictures and quick action sequences much better than our other Denon. The city walls in Troy and the battle in Revenge of the Sith were greatly improved. This player will serve us well until the blue-ray vs. HDVD vs. hard drive venue sorts itself out.
picture quality and sound quality Denon is the name
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
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