ENCORE
DV-450, £230
Any thoughts we
may have had lately, that DVD technology might be getting just a bit
predictable, has been quickly dispelled by the recently arrived Encore DV-450.
It looks ordinary enough from the outside, in fact it is an unusually
dull-looking black box, but the first sign that it’s a bit different comes when
loading and unloading discs. When the flap opens you get a glimpse of
cream-coloured plastic inside. Instead of the usual drive DVD mechanism inside
the box there’s a fully encased 5.25-inch PC DVD-ROM drive. We haven’t seen one
of those in a home deck DVD for quite a long time. One or two players in the
very early days of DVD had them but we put that down to supply problems on
purpose-built deck mechanisms. PC drives almost certainly cost more and
requires non-standard interface circuitry, so it’s even more surprising to see
one in such an apparently well-equipped and modestly priced player.
The headline
features on this machine are an on-board Dolby Digital decoder and component
video output, both of which were regarded as luxury fitments as recently as a
year ago. Take a closer look at the features list and you’ll spot another very
unusual addition and that’s MP3 replay. MP3, in case you haven’t heard is a
data compression system that’s mainly used to send sound and music files around
the Internet, for downloading onto PCs. From there MP3 files can be transferred
to memory cards and downloaded into personal players or, and this is the
salient point as far as we are concerned, copied to CD-R or CD-RW discs on PCs
with a CD ‘burner’. If you are wondering where all this is going, CD-R/RW discs
can be filled with up to 12 hours worth of music, which can be played on the
DV-450. We’ll deal with the quality in a moment…
Back now to the
home cinema oriented features. One unadvertised facility is the player’s easily
changed or disabled region lock. It’s in the player’s ‘firmware’, so here’s no
need to remove the lid and risk voiding the warranty. The exact procedure is as
follows: put the deck in stop mode, select the Setup menu then General Setup,
tap in 38883 and a menu called ‘Loopholes’ and a message ‘You should not be
here’ appears with a listing of Regions and Bypass or all region playback. Use
the cursor buttons to make your selection and the deed is done.
Connections and
operation are both very good. The single SCART carries both RGB and S-Video (in
addition to normal composite video), Separate S-Video and composite sockets are
also provided and there are three component video outputs, for high-end TVs and
video projectors. It’s worth having since it clearly doesn’t add anything to
the price but be aware that Component video is the preferred video connection
system for NTSC material, on PAL discs you’re better off using S-Video or RGB.
On-screen displays show the usual time, chapter, subtitle and language info,
everything else lives on the setup menu, which can be accessed during disc
replay, without loosing your place when the picture freezes.
If our sample
is anything to go by the PC drive has no impact on picture or sound quality and
the DV-450 looks and sounds as good as any ‘normal’ DVD player, better in fact
than some we could mention. The image is filled with fine detail, colours are
sharp and well-defined, skin tones look okay and the contrast balance is not
too bad at all. Layer change is over in a couple of frames; blink and you’ll
miss it. Trick play is very good but slomo access is a bit clumsy forcing the
user to step through forward speeds to get to the three reverse slomo speeds.
The Dolby
Digital decoder works very well with all channels clearly defined and effects
tightly focused within the soundfield. The frequency response is wide and open
and background noise is at a very low level. The mixed stereo output is also
clean with no more than average noise levels. It’s fine for Dolby Surround
soundtracks. The added ingredient on this machine is MP3 replay. MP3 sound
quality is typical of what the format is capable of, which means it is okay for
undemanding applications – personal stereos and party music – but even the most
carefully coded files sound flat and uninvolving and it is not a substitute for
CD or even good quality tape cassette.
From the
outside the DV-450 doesn’t look very promising but AV performance is as good,
if not a little better than many budget priced players but the fact that it has
a built in Dolby Digital decoder and hackable region lock makes it an even more
attractive proposition. MP3 replay is an interesting extra but don’t let it
influence your buying decision, and the odd deck arrangement obviously isn’t a
concern. Encore is one of a number of new and unfamiliar brands, we suspect
many will fall by the wayside but if Encore can continue with this kind of value
and quality it could be one of the survivors.
Contact Laser
UK, (01895) 450450, www.laseruk.co.uk
BOX COPY 1 –
REMOTE VIEWING
The remote
control handset looks pretty much like a standard issue item, similar to ones
supplied with a wide range of AV components. DVD operation was clearly not its
original intended function nor has it been given a particularly high priority.
Important and frequently used controls, like Play and Stop are not defined by
size or shape, in fact the transport buttons are mixed in with the rest of the
keys so they’re not that easy to find by touch, if you’re watching movies in a
darkened room.
BOX COPY 3 –
AROUND THE BACK
It’s an
impressive sight and there’s something for everyone here. The SCART socket can
be configured for RGB or S-Video and there are individual sockets for composite
video and S-Video signal outputs. The three video outputs on the far left carry
component video, which is now becoming a familiar sight on top-end players. Component
video works best with NTSC recordings, when shown on an NTSC or multi-standard
TV or video projectors; most users will find little difference on PAL
recordings. The audio outputs include separate connections for the mixed stereo
and Dolby Digital channels. By the way, the DV-450 also has a front mounted
headphone socket.
THE HARD FACTS
ENCORE DV-450
OUTPUTS
SCART Y
S-Video Y
RGB out Y
Component Y
Optical digital Y
Coaxial digital Y
5.1 decoder Y
EXTRA FEATURES
Region 2 (see
text), PAL/NTSC replay, Dolby Digital decoder, dts compatible, MP3 replay,
multi-speed replay, 2-stage picture zoom, 5-scene marker, front-mounted
headphone socket and level control
GOOD POINTS
Price and
performance, Dolby Digital, the loose region lock, and MP3, for them as wants
it
BAD POINTS
Extra bland
cosmetics and unhelpful remote control design
Ease of use 4
Picture 5
Sound 4
Features 5
Overall 5
BUYERS GUIDE
EXTRA INFO
Price £230
SCART 1
S-Video 1
Digital out optical & coaxial
Decoder Dolby Digital
Good Points
Price and
performance, Dolby Digital, the loose region lock, and MP3, for them as wants
it
Bad points
Extra bland
cosmetics and unhelpful remote control design
Rating
5
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Ó R. Maybury 2000, 0207
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