Whew!!! It took a little while, but here's that DVD player review from the May 2002 Home Theater Magazine. Enjoy!


Pioneering the Peace
Pioneer’s DV-47A multichannel
SACD/DVD-Audio player takes
The bite out of the format war!
By Chris Lewis

I always knew the day would come; I just didn’t know how long it would take. How long would it take someone to break through the politics, the partisanship, and all of the other garbage that has become the so-called format war between SACD and DVD-Audio and gibe the consumers what they want and need; choice, in all available forms. The day is finally here, so fire up a Cuban, cook up a big, fat T-bone, or do whatever it is you do to celebrate. Personally, I’ll be uncorking a 21-year-old bottle of Wild Turkey and loading up some triumphant music—maybe my SACD of 1812 Overture or my DVD-Audio of Beethoven’s Ninth. Maybe even my 16/44 cut of Muddy Waters’ "I’m Ready." Hell, as long as all of those options are available to me on one player, I don’t care if it’s Britney Spears (OK, I take that back). The bottom line is that the consumer undoubtedly wins as the debate between SACD and DVD-Audio (at least, on the hardware side) moves away from the store shelves and back into the halls of academia, where it really belongs. The format war should’ve never existed in the first place. Thanks to Pioneer’s new DV-47A and, if I know my consumer electronics, other players that will soon follow—it doesn’t have to exist as it has anymore.
Some of you are undoubtedly thinking, why strike up the band now? Pioneer already has a top-shelf SACD/DVD-Audio player, as does Luxman. Even Apex has released an SACD / DVD-Audio / progressive scan player. Well, it’s relatively simple: Both the Pioneer and the Luxman were prohibitively expensive and only offered two-channel SACD (which is fine for now, but, once recording and mixing skills mature and start to unveil multichannel’s true potential, that opinion may quickly change). The Apex does offer multichannel for both formats but, in my opinion, performs very close to its $349 price tag. To me, the DV-47A is the first player that offers high-quality DVD-Audio and SACD playback in all their forms—and is priced at a level that is accessible to the masses. After all, it’s the masses who will ultimately seal the fate of both of these formats, one way or the other.
In addition to multichannel SACD and DVD-Audio playback, the DV-47A has progressive scanning, further enhancing its value. It also offers 24-bit/192 kilohertz digital-to-analog converters, bass management (in that you can set the crossover via speaker-size-settings), and CD-R, CD-RW, DVD-R and MP3 compatibility. There’s also a couple of tricks that attempt to make standard formats sound more "SACD / DVD-Audio-like": The Legato Link digital filter upsamples CD’s from 44.1 kHz to 176.4 kHz and DVD’s from 48k kHz to 192 kHz, and the Hi-Bit feature increases 16-to-20 bit wordlengths to 24 bits.
When demo time rolled around, I started with some high-resolution material, albeit in two channel (old habits die hard). I had little choice with the SACD rendition of Miles Davis’ classic Kind of Blue, which is stereo-only---and thankfully so. I’m not quite ready to hear Davis, Adderley, or Coltrane blowing from behind me. Even with the smaller stage, the sound was rich, full, and incredibly clean. The quick, high-frequency bursts that are a key component of Davis’ repertoire were silky, with a delicate balance of perspective that resisted forwardness and over-aggression but remained front and center, clearly distinct from the rest of the presentation. Again I was impressed by the soundstage depth that SACD and DVD-Audio can develop from a stereo image, without any superfluous processing techniques in the hardware or in the formats themselves. The only real editorialization I noticed form the system was on the part of my amplifiers (the Krell KAV-500 and two Aragon Palladium mono-blocks in front), whose sound I naturally know well. The Pioneer was clean and true, operating as an open window to the source.
Next up was some multichannel fare, running the gamut from the SACD version of Jerry Goldsmith’s classic movie themes to the DVD-Audio mix of Queen’s A Night at the Opera, to the Big Band Christmas DVD-Audio (yes, I know what time of year it is, but a well-done mix is a well-done-mix). The Goldsmith disc particularly unveils SACD’s potential. It was one of the first discs to be mixed with SACD in mind form the outset---including proper miking for multichannel and the use of DSD throughout the recording and mixing process. It sounded brilliant, with perfect timbre and tonal balance and enough real estate to fill my large listening area with no effort whatsoever. The sweeping climaxes of the Star Trek theme teleported me (don’t bother, I’ll slap myself) beyond the normal dimensions of my room. The horns were especially clean, smooth, and not nearly as overly dominant as they can be.
The DV-47A was no less impressive on the DVD-Audio side. I’ve heard "Bohemian Rhapsody" far more times than I ever cared to but never in the DVD-Audio guise. I can easily say that this was the best I’ve ever heard this quality (although overused) cut sound. Say what you want about Freddie Mercury, but the man could sing, and that was a s clear here as it ever was. The mixers obviously took some liberties in terms of channel acrobatics with this pop piece versus what they might have done with an opera or classical work. There’s plenty of side-to-side and front-to-back movement, not to mention voices all over the place. It’s hardly textbook, but it’s undeniably entertaining. Hell, what was ever textbook about Queen---or rock-‘n’-roll, for that matter---to begin with? Once again, the DV-47A stepped aside and let the disc speak for itself, exactly as it is supposed to do.
As good a job as this player does with audio, video hardly receives short shrift. Eagle-eyed senior technical editor Mike Wood is the final word on the video around here, and he was as impressed as the rest of us were with the DV-47A’s performance. A quick run through Video Essentials revealed that this player offers sharp resolution out to the limits of the format and passes PLUGE (which is helpful for monitor calibration). We were also impressed with DV-47A’s 3:2-pulldown recognition (a skill that still escapes many players), and we liked how it handled the downconversion of 16:9 to 4:3 letterbox for use with a standard TV.
Of course, real world performance is what counts most, and for this we focused primarily on the DV-47A’s progressive-scan output. Saving Private Ryan and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon deliver the kind of high-speed action we needed to judge the Pioneer’s stability, as well as plenty of color, balance between light and dark scenes, and other key material to put the unit through its paces. Just like its audio image, the DV-47A’s video image is stable, clean and dynamic. The dreary grays an browns of Private Ryan stood in stark contrast to the explosions of red, green, and blue in Crouching Tiger, but the Pioneer handled both with equal enthusiasm and attention to detail. Color saturation was almost always dead-on, and black-level detail was clearly evident throughout. I was pleased to see that the only motion jerkiness in Private Ryan was that which the director intended, and any instances of tearing or other border issues were few and far between.
The DV-47A’s peripherals are first-rate. The onscreen menus are simple to navigate and well executed, including a setup navigator that really couldn’t make it easier to adjust the basic parameters. The manual is one of the more-informative ones that I’ve come across. While the remote isn’t the most comfortable one I’ve ever used, it certainly does the trick. Aesthetically, the DV-47A is clearly underdone by Elite standards (no champagne finish or fancy wood side panels); however, if that’s what helps keep the price tag where it is, I’m all for it.
It probably goes without saying that I like this machine, and not just because of what it symbolizes for the future of both SACD and DVD-Audio. After all, what’s not to like about a unit that plays both high-resolution, multichannel formats, adds progressive scanning, and does all of it very well at a relatively affordable price? I know that some of you want me to say that it handles SACD or DVD-Audio better, just like you want to hear that one format is better than the other. All I can say is what I’ve said so many times before: The final judgment of quality for these formats lies in their software, amongst which there will be hits and misses from both camps. The fact that we now have the ability to choose between the two formats on the same player and can open our options up to the full spectrum of high-resolution, multichannel software is an issue I cannot understate. All of you nurses out there had better start puckering up---this war just might be over.


My hands are kinda tired, think I'll go home now.

-Jeremy

Very cool! Thanks for all your work getting that on here for us! I've been contemplating a new player and this may be a good one for which to start saving my pennies.

I think I'll have to track one of these down and demo it. I know there are a couple of my Outlaw family members looking in to it, so if anybody takes the plunge or has some first hand info to share, please do report back to us!

Thanks again, Jeremy.

"Thank ya kindly"

...you tracked it down and had to type it? This goes above and beyond.

I'll read it again in the morning. Makes me want to go out and find a demo and see/hear it. I'll see if the store can find their 'moved' one.

Thank you much Jeremy!

Jeremy, (or anyone who has see/compared these 2 units in person)

If you’re around. Jeremy I checked our posts under ‘Mystery” it was clear you had seen the 47a yourself but not if you had ever seen a demo of the Panasonic 91. Wanted to know (as regards the video side by side). What was your opinion comparing them to each other?
I brought home the Panasonic 91, to see for myself after spending quick, just before closing trips, the last 2 weekends to 4 local stores. I have still not found a store with the 47a in stock and when I found 1 unit of the 91 in stock at one location brought it home for demo.
But have never seen the 47a myself anywhere yet to judge between the two.

Hey there little lady,

I'll see what I can do to try and set up a side-by-side comparison at one of my near by dealers and get back with you as soon as I can. I'll be pretty tied up this weekend at the races, and may not be able to pull it of then. By the way, how do YOU like your new Panasonic 91 player?

Oh Jeremy, no special trips on my account! Unless you want an excuse to head to your dealer. Just could not tell by your posts if you had seen both and wondered. I know for the best comparison I should hunt them up side by side, not view at one location then later another. Since I shy away from boutique type A/V shops, and tend to fly out the door just before closing times on the weekend to shop, I have not had luck seeing models I’m interested in up and running at any location, (or even in stock).

After having the P 515 which I returned for its glitches. I grew impatient, because I had seen such improvement in video (particularly on the larger screen which exaggerates all flaws) of upgrading to Progressive from my old player. So when I ran into the 1 unit in stock of the 91, I brought it home.

I can say I’m very pleased with it so far. But typical for me, I nervously second guess myself, immediately after a purchase, and do one last swoop of research, trying to ‘Be sure’. My reservations about the 91 revolve around several factors; its aging technology and I paid top dollar for the single unit I finally ran into. The $200. Sony 515 really had excellent video quality with its 12bit, that being one of my top priorities the cost increase to the 91 is hard to justify.
The 91 comes with DVD-A. But for the price, the ‘idea’ of having SACD included (47a) is attractive.
Not having scared up a DVD-A disc yet, I can’t judge if I will be inclined to make full advantage of these extra features or not.
I noticed the benefits of the 91’s scaling right away when watching a very difficult play, ‘Jeremiah Johnson’, that pleased me lots. Not sure if all current DVD players have this ability but the 91’s fast forward floors me. It’s so perfectly stable, it’s as if the movie was filmed at that speed. And I use that feature fairly frequently when searching. Although it’s really just a ‘wow’ effect that’s very intriguing.

Its that law of diminishing returns for me. Will I really make use DVD-A and/or SACD, (can’t tell yet), if I don’t models like the 515 (a non-lemon one) are a fantastic buy and be adaquate to the task.

Right now due to time-for-shopping-returning constraints, I may just sit on the 91 and check out the new model 47 Pioneer after it’s been out for a year. Of course by then, there will be something else just on the horizon to ‘wait’ for.

Are you 'veiwing' racing or 'driving'?

That all depends on your point of view! If you are asking me if I will be racing to get there then YES! I am just interested in doing a comparison since I haven't seen these two units side by side either, but have been able to pick up differences in video quality without seeing systems side-by-side. I don't believe that video quality is nearly as subjective a thing to discern as audio quality. Video has many definate characteristics that you can use again and again from place to place to differenciate TV's and especially DVD players alike. My favorite store to compare electronics is Magnolia Hi-Fi, due to a very diverse cross section of products of all sorts, not to mention the culprets who have ignited an almost undying obsession I now have for Martin Logan speakers, but that is a whole other subject entirely (the Audio thing again ). I was able to see the Pioneer on a 34" Phillips 16:9 HDTV and again cannot express enough how very impressed I was. But you must understand that I am one of those individuals that is willing to take something that is not quite as polished as other products, and see the potential it has to eventually blow most of those other products' sock's off. (i.e. my beloved sony monitor, which has such an incredibly steep learning curve that even the most technically adept have admitted to me that it is a "nightmare" to recalibrate!) Now this is not to say at all that the Pioneer isn't user friendly, by all means it is extremely understandable and easy to use, but I do admit that some of the higher end brands do have some neater(?) modes, menus, etc, or have friendlier remotes and such. But the BANG that you can get for your buck is undeniable. I personally only have two REAL major obsticles positioned to stop me from purchasing this unit. I have already been the proud owner of something like 7 DVD players in my time, meaning my wife would undeniably, justifiably, and probably literally KILL me if I was to swagger on home with that FINE piece of techno-gagetry! The other roadblock in my pipe-dreaming yellow-brick-road to nirvana is the coming advent of HD-DVD in one incarnation or another, and manufacturers better damn well get their $#!T together on this vital product line and get some damn unification, unlike DVD-A, SACD, DVD+R, DVD-R/RW, and so on. Whew! Sorry for that little blurb. With the advent of HD-DVD on the ever closing horizon, I have perverbialy been stopped in my tracks in purchasing even such a fine DVD player as the Pioneer 47A, but remember that my last player purchase has left me with the very respectable Sony DVP-NS700P progressive scan unit, keeping my itchy swiping-finger tamed for just a little longer.

My advice to you, since you seem to have had some iffy luck on your player purchases in recent months, is to go through your current DVD collection and pick out your very favorite titles that both define reference video quality and vary in presentations. I would recommend picking titles across the spectrum (1 animation, 1 sci-fi, 1 total action, 1 epic, 1 problem disc like your Jeremiah Johnson to help level the playing field as it were). You should speak with a sales person and ask if it would be alright to run the dedicated player through a few tests so that you have a good reference to compare to. Make sure that the player is indeed in progressive mode and hooked up to a "known" quality HDTV monitor (like yours). Pick out specific scenes in each title you have brought, being sure to have tested them first on your system before you go to ensure that they are fresh in your memory, and if you need to write the chapters down to make tests go quicker. I of all people know how impatient and frustrated some sales people can get if they aren't making a commission, and just want to save you that hastle. This is my most tried and true method of sifting through products and coming up with the jems. If you would like some suggested titles to try, other than ones you already prefer, either look through the favorite demo's section or I can try and post my favorite demo material for store comparisons here when I check in next, with my reasons and explainations for each one.

Oh, by the way, I was up a couple of nights ago and saw that STARZ was showing Sergio Leone's " A Fistful of Dynamite", another of his films that I had never seen and it was just great! The chemistry between James Coburn and Rod Steiger was absolutely teriffic. I think that they'll be showing it throughout the month.

As always, I hope that this information has been in some way helpful to you, and anyone else that reads it.

Ya'll have a good night now, ya' hear!

-Jeremy

From all the reviews I've read the opinion seems to be that it's pretty A-okay for DVD-Audio, but the SACD/DSD playback leaves a lot to be desired.

I would rather a universal player not sacrifice one format over the other, but instead playback both PCM and DSD with excellent quality and with no conversion in the decoders or DACs to one or the other (as may be the case here).

Dan

I recently got the 45A and have yet to use it's DVDaudio or SACD yet. My old DV-05 will be retired to the bedroom and the 45A is my main player now. Its video quality is amazing. I bypass my Pioneer 53" HDTV's progressive scan and use the 45A's...wow what a difference

I almost got the 47A, but saved close to $500.00 and picked up some BetterCables and DVD's

------------------
Play it LoUd!!

I'm glad to hear that you're pleased with the video performance of the 45A and look forward to hearing how you feel about it's audio performance soon!

-Jeremy