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Okay, I finally got a chance to run this thing through for a couple of hours. Here's my report (that is pretty consistent with what others are reporting).
Hardware references:
I have three Sony DVD players (an older 650, an NS900V, and an NS755V). I use the NS900V, though I've not been able to discern a huge difference among the three. To me, the NS900V had the best picture along with its better overall build quality.
I've been using the NS900V connected via component, outputting 480i, to my InFocus 7200 projector on an 8' wide 16:9 Stewart Filmscreen Firehawk. My main viewing position is about 17'-18' feet from the screen, but I also viewed most material from about 13'-14'.
The Bravo is connected through a 30' DVI cable. My observations, unless otherwise noted, are with the Bravo via DVI at 720p output.
I'm running the audio through a B&K Ref 50 pre/pro. The Sony DVD player is connected via coax, the Bravo via optical (more on that later).
Software:
Calibrated the Bravo/InFocus with AVIA, which altered the contrast and brightness settings quite drastically from where they were with the Sony.
I watched several early scenes each of Toy Story, Star Trek: Insurrection, Star Wars Ep. II AOTKC, and Hunt For Red October (note that this is non-anamorphic letterbox).
Impressions:
Overall picture: Beautiful! Gorgeous! As good as I've ever seen! The obvious disclaimers apply -- I haven't seen much, except for demos at retailers and my own experiences in my home theater which is only a couple of weeks old. Plus, I've had it less than 6 hours. But, the picture quality is dramatically improved with the Bravo via DVI compared with the Sony via component. This isn't night and day. For example, it isn't the difference between DVD and HDTV. It is still DVD. But, it is quite a bit closer than I expected for $200. The improvement is noticeable and, in my opinion, is significant enough to more than justify the $200. I have no doubt that it beats any DVD picture I've seen.
Specifically, the picture is more stable. Not necessarily smoother. In fact, in some cases, the picture is noticeably more harsh -- though not in an entirely bad way. On Insurrection, the opening titles were solid, but their hard edges showed. The overall picture appeared, in some ways, grainier. After going back to the Sony for comparison, the difference seemed to be that I was getting more detail with Bravo. In other words, I think I am seeing more of the DVD's true resolution, not smoothing any of it out too much. Star Wars Ep. II looked much better (I presume due to a nicer transfer). Indoor scenes with the deep blue and red tones on static (non-moving) backgrouds revealed far less "noise" using the Bravo DVI than with the Sony. Again, the picture was more stable and clean. In action scenes, things are as clear as they get. I seem to perceive more detail via Bravo DVI. Toy Story was as expected: rock solid. In looking for Chroma problems, I didn't see them. If they are there, they are mild. In summary, the picture from the Bravo DVD is more filmlike in that there seems to be less "electronic" noise. The picture almost seems like it has film grain, though it is more likely the resolution limitations of the DVD medium.
720p vs. 480p: I tried this by setting the Bravo DVI output to 480p and letting the outstanding scalar in the InFocus 7200 do the scaling. Not much of a difference, but the Bravo at 720p looked smoother and more detailed (a contradiction?) to me. I left it at 720p. There are no deinterlacing artifacts on the DVD's I've watched so far.
Copy Protection: I had a message when I first inserted Insurrection that it was restricted and could not be played until I set the output to 480p. As aaron has pointed out, a simple work-around is to toggle the Bravo's video output after the DVD has started playing (where "playing" simply refers to the disc spinning, menus appearing, etc. -- not literally playing the movie). I did not see this message again, but didn't try to make it happen again either, given that it was so easy to "defeat". Note to fence-sitters: if they fix this in future runs of this machine, you'll kick yourself -- maybe: the differences between 480p and 720p were so small on my projector that I'd still love this player. The key is that the unbroken digital chain via DVI at 480p or 720p is so much better than analog component, that I would think any display with a decent digital scaler will benefit, even if restricted to 480p output from the Bravo.
Audio: This is the only place where I can report a failure. On my machine, the coax digital output did not work. It was sending out crap, or at least crap that my Ref 50 didn't like. Perhaps I have a setting wrong on my Ref 50, but it was working fine with my Sony. The sound was just like a PCM DAC trying to decode (PCM) from a DD5.1 stream. A steady, irritatingly painful sound (that has anyone punching every key on the remote to find the mute button). The optical output was fine and I heard no difference between the Dolby Digital soundtracks. I didn't listen long and hard, but didn't notice any differences either. But, I was disappointed because coax is my preferred connection. I'll be calling Bravo about this, but I'll be hard pressed to send this unit back to them, especially if I start hearing that they are "fixing" the copy protection. Again, I haven't had the box long enough to rule out "user error" in how I have the Ref 50 set up.
Non-anamporphic: Shockingly good handling of letterboxed (non-anamorphic) material. Hunt for Red October is one of the few movies that I've watched all the way through in my young home theater. The picture was tolerable via the Sony. On the Bravo, using the "Zoom 1" mode, it was close to anamorphic quality from the Sony. That is, I was stunned at how much better this movie looked. For its scaling of non-anamorphic letterboxed movies alone, the Bravo is worth every penny. Is it better than other machines? I don't know, I could never find one near this price that I could actually put my hands on. But, it is a huge step up from my other players that don't have a zoom feature.
In sum, I'm happy as can be that I bought this. I will not be sending it back. I'll keep my Sony NS900V, but it is relegated to stand-alone SACD player. If you want to use the Bravo D1 as an audiophile transport, forget it. But, as a video transport, using optical out, it is awesome. I hope this machine doesn't wear out. Maybe I should buy a second one to have around in case the other one goes kaput. That is how much I love this machine. I'd be devastated if it stopped working.
As a post-script, I couldn't get the audio analogy out of my head. Some great hi-end speakers are reputed to be "revealing". Good material sounds good, but bad recordings are exposed. Some equipment can sound "bright" or "harsh", while the speakers reveal the most detail and nuances in the music. To me, this describes the Bravo D1. Insurrection looked a bit harsh in the opening credits. Once the movie got rolling, it simply looked great -- smooth, yet detailed. Toy story nevery looked bad and I thought I saw details or textures I hadn't noticed. Where the analogy ends is with the non-anamorphic letterboxed material. Here is the worst DVD has to offer, and it still looked great via the Bravo D1 (which cannot be said for the Sony players I have).
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в дополнение к инфе о плейере с DVI за 200$ (+) -- 876 -- 19.04.03@03:51 (Чит.: 165)