Hi all,
I have a quick question that I would like your advice on.

There are 2 DVD players that I am looking into (for all video/audio playback purposes). They are the Denon 1920 and the Denon 2910.

The [weird] question I have is, would you rather have someone give you the 1920 and $100 to spend on other equipment or the 2910?
1920 vs 2910 Comparison

If I connect the DVD player to the 990 via digital coax (for the audio), am I bypassing the Denon DAC? That said, is the 990 DAC 'better' than one or both of these Denons? Slightly lost as to what to do here...

Thanks for the advice.

Cheers,
Kgt

If it makes a difference, my fronts are B&W 804S's and my center is a B&W HTM3S. My rears are B&W 602S3. As for the amp, I will either be using a Monster3250 (with a 100X2 Onkyo for the rears) or the Model 7500. Television will be either the existing Sony 50in SXRD or the upcoming Sony SXRD with 1080P inputs.

Thanks.

A digital connection to the 990 bypasses the Denon's DAC. This isn't a bad deal, as the 990's DAC is excellent - I'd expect it to be better than the 1920's and at least on par with (or better than) the 2910's. For DVD-Video, I'd consider the DAC debate irrelevent - the vast majority of cases want digital audio from player to processor to allow the use of the processor's DSP and bass management. For CD's, the DAC issue is more relevent (many of us still listen to CD's in two channel), but I'd still lean toward digital connection - especially in the case of the 1920.

For DVD-Audio and SACD, we get into a different issue. To output these two formats, you must use the 5.1 analog output of the player. Both players support those two formats, so if you have (or plan to buy) any titles in those formats, you'll want to run connections from the multichannel analog output of the player to the 990's 7.1 Direct input.

I use the 1920 in my system and have had no issues with it, The DAC in the 990 is a lot better than in either the 1920 or the 2910. I run mine to the 990 with Digital Coax, as well as the analog 5.1 direct for listening to SACD and DVDA.

Thanks Gonk,
I wasn't sure if DVD-A and SACD could be output digitally and then use the 990's DAC - I guess they cannot. That said, it looks like I will be using the Denon's DAC for those formats, right?

This player will be used primarily (almost exclusively) for standard CD and DVD-Video applications. The question, then, becomes, how much better is the 2910 than the 1920 in the DVD Video and Standard CD areas?

From the comparison link above, I see that the 2910 has the following advantages:
1. Noise Shaped Video™- Interlace and Progressive
2. Dual, Discrete 12-bit, 216MHz Analog Devices Video DACs (480i/480p) (1920 is 11Bit - not even really sure what this means...)
3. Buffer Memory to decrease Layer change - 8MB (1920 is 2MB, again not sure what this means...)
4. Burr-Brown 24/192 Audio DACs (DSD/PCM Discrete) - PCM-1791 (1920 is PCM-1738).
5. HDCD Decoder
6. DVI-D (HDCP Compatible) - With Selectable Scaling – 480p/720p/1080i
7. The 2910 is made of aluminum as opposed to the 1920's plastic shell.
8. The 2910 weighs 18.75lbs as opposed to the 1920's 5.7lbs.

I don't know what all of these things mean specifically for DVD-Video and Standard CD listening, but it seems like the differences (for my purposes) don't justify the price.

Would you recommend taking the 1920 and cash?

Thanks again,
kgt

You can always go with the top of the line Pioneer
http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/pna/product/detail/0,,2076_15020671_278147278,00.html

I'd lean toward the 1920, and either way you'll be using the Denon's DAC for DVD-A and SACD.

I have the Pioneer 79AVi linked above and it is very nice. In fairness to Denon though, the Pioneer should probably be compared with the 3910 or 5910.

I got the DV-37 back in 2001 when it was the top of the line.
Still use it, and haven't had any reason to upgrade since my HDTV only has Component input; no HDMI or DVI.

In a few years I'd like to get a 1080p HDTV with either Blu-Ray or HD-DVD (depending on which one wins).

I have had two 1920s. The first would occasionally freeze up; the second has worked fine. Picture quality is great -- no evidence of macroblocking with my Sony XBR700 40" CRT, but YMMV. Multichannel sound is terrific. When I returned the first 1920, I offered to switch up to a 2910, paying the difference, and the dealer suggested I not waste my money. Given the move over the next few years to some form of hi-def DVD, I'd take the 1920 and the cash.