Introduction While
DVD has been around for over five years, only recently, with the
proliferation of digital displays (plasma, LCD, etc.), have home
theater enthusiasts been able to appreciate the power of digital video.
With the popular acceptance of a new industry digital video standard,
Digital Visual Interface (DVI), it is now possible to watch DVDs while
keeping the signal in the digital domain without ever having to convert
the signal to analog. The conversion of digital video to analog video
is undesirable for a digital display because the resulting picture
usually contains annoying artifacts.
V, Inc. is a relatively new entrant into the consumer
electronics marketplace. They are most famous for making products like
low-cost plasmas for other name brands, yet they also sell a growing
line of high-value, performance-oriented video products like plasmas,
LCDs, DVD players and HD tuners under their own brand V, Inc. Their
products are sold direct at vinc.com, as well as some wholesale
retailers like Costco.
Two ideologies make V, Inc. the company
and their products unique. First, the company makes products that are
for practical consumers looking for the absolute most modern
technologies without breaking the bank. Second, their products (with
the exception of the 13-inch LCD display) are all DVI-enabled. Set-up
The build quality of the Bravo D2 is perfectly reasonable for a player
at its modest $249 price point. The front panel is a snazzy polished
silver and is extremely clean, bearing only the most necessary
controls. The blue LCD is large and easy to read and complements the
player’s silver font facade. The remote control is comfortable,
uncluttered and provides for comprehensive control of the Bravo D2,
containing all the usual functionality found on typical disc player
remotes. The rear panel of the Bravo D2 is simple, with composite,
S-video, component and DVI video outputs, and analog and digital
optical and coaxial audio outputs.
Setting up the Bravo D2 was a snap. After unpacking the unit and
reading the 30-page user guide (yes, even reviewers read user guides
and you should, too), which is written in plain and simple language, I
connected the unit directly to my Fujitsu 50-inch plasma, using
Transparent DVI cable for video and to my Proceed AVP2 preamp, using
coaxial digital audio cable. During the initial installation, it was
necessary to make a one-time connection of the Bravo D2 to the display
using composite video cable, since the player comes preconfigured to
this output. Using composite is therefore the only way to visualize the
onscreen display during first-time set-up.
While the Bravo D2 has the usual component, S-video and composite video
outputs, the player, in my opinion, should mainly be used with the DVI
output. V, Inc. offers high-quality digital video at this price because
it is not investing big engineering and manufacturing dollars in
high-end and expensive digital-to-analog technologies found in
higher-priced disc players. Think of the Bravo D2 as a digital
transport for your music and movies – outputting digital video via DVI
and digital audio via either the optical or coaxial outputs. Hooking
the Bravo D2 up this way provides the most bang for the buck and,
because the digital-to-analog conversion is done outboard for audio and
video stays in the digital domain right to your display, the Bravo D2
can be considered even for high-end theaters where $249 players are not
commonplace.
The onscreen display of the Bravo D2, much like the user guide, cannot
be any simpler to understand, which is a pleasure. When one boils it
down, there are only three critical decisions in a proper set-up: video
output and native rate, audio output and TV type. I configured the
player to output video in DVI 720p to match the native rate of my
Fujitsu Plasmavision display. The Bravo D2 can output digital video in
the most common native rates, including 480p, 720p, 1080i, 852x480
(this last is DVI-only) plus a custom setting if the user knows the
display's specific timing. I configured the player to output audio in
“encoded digital” via the coaxial digital output. Lastly, I set the TV
type to 16:9.
Calibration of a top performing video device is essential. My Fujitsu
plasma was ISF calibrated for gray levels by a professional video
expert for each of my inputs. As an additional and very cool new
feature of the D2, you can adjust brightness, color, contrast and color
levels through the DVI inputs. These tools allow you to get the top
level of performance with your DVI device for those looking or needing
the tools to take the player's performance to highest level.
While
DVD has been around for over five years, only recently, with the
proliferation of digital displays (plasma, LCD, etc.), have home
theater enthusiasts been able to appreciate the power of digital video.
With the popular acceptance of a new industry digital video standard,
Digital Visual Interface (DVI), it is now possible to watch DVDs while
keeping the signal in the digital domain without ever having to convert
the signal to analog. The conversion of digital video to analog video
is undesirable for a digital display because the resulting picture
usually contains annoying artifacts.
