Introduction During
the past few years, we've seen the A/V family tree grow and bear more
fruit than ever before. Perhaps the most noticeable offspring is DVD.
With new titles being born daily and the fall in player prices, how can
you resist throwing down a few hundred bones and walking away with one
of these babies?
One thing that may be stopping you is
the "price vs. feature" dilemma. At $799, the Yamaha DVD-S700 is packed
full of features that may eliminate the anxiety of raising a home
theater system of your own. Read on.
The back panel of this unit is clear and concise, with plenty of output
options as your system continues to develop and mature. These options
include composite video, S-video and component video. The audio output
section employs the following outputs: stereo pairs, six-channel
discrete, coaxial and optical digital. If you thought you'd have to
replace your existing receiver/preamps to take advantage of DVD's
multi-channel soundtracks, the DVD-S700 is the perfect component, with
its built-in Dolby Digital decoder.
Growing pains can be hell on home theater systems. Yamaha has planned
ahead for adolescence and future software (DVD title) developments,
including subtitles displayed in 32 languages, soundtracks heard in up
to eight languages and a multi-angle function which allows you to view
a scene from up to nine different camera angles. (The subtitle,
language and multi-angle features are all software -dependent.)
The DVD-S700 really takes root with impressive hardware, featuring twin
focus laser pick-up, MPEG-2 capability and 500 lines of horizontal
resolution and luminance. In addition, with a sleek low profile, the
industrial design of this product is clean and unobtrusive.
Evaluation
Enough with the tech-talk, let's get on to the performance. The
DVD-S700 sounds, looks and feels great. Yes, feels great... right down
to the remote control.
The onscreen, icon-based display is positioned at the top of your TV
screen. This feature allows you to see and access controls without
disturbing what is being viewed. Very cool.
Another one of my favorite characteristics of this unit is the "mark"
capability. This feature, usually reserved for the VHS domain, allows
you to set up to five location tags. Picture this: You've started to
watch a movie, it's getting late and it's a school night. You find
yourself dozing off. Simply set a mark and continue to view your
feature the following day.
The video performance of this unit was wonderful. I viewed an
assortment of movies, new and old, utilizing the S-video connection.
The depth and color separation was outstanding. The sound tracks didn't
miss a beat.
The Downside
There weren't many downsides to this unit. However, a couple of things
should be noted. The organization of the owner's manual was
disappointing. The manual is written is three languages, which is
overall very helpful. However, each section contains all three language
versions. I would have preferred for each language to have its own
self-contained manual. In other words, three manuals in one.
In addition, when you first insert a CD or DVD or search the contents,
you can hear the drive motor. This is a minor point. I noticed this hum
only in close proximity to the unit and the noise diminished as I
backed away from it. From a distance of approximately three feet, I
couldn't hear a thing.
Conclusion
The Yamaha family has delivered another success. Although it is not the
least expensive product on the market, the mark feature alone makes it
well worth a few extra bucks. And remember our "growing pains"
scenario? This unit also is capable of doubling as your Dolby Digital
decoder if you already have a "5.1 Ready" receiver/preamp: a second
decoder is unnecessary. The Yamaha DVD-S700, like most
second-generation DVD players, passes the DTS bitstream, but you must
have a DTS decoder in your system.
At the time this review was written, Yamaha was on the brink of
releasing the replacement unit which is the DVD-S795. All of the
features described in this review are included with the new model plus
three additions. One is the Cinema Image control, which allows you to
adjust the brightness and contrast on the unit without disturbing your
TV's settings. Second, the Cinema Dialog control allows you to tweak
the center channel of your system without disrupting other channel
levels. Best yet, the DVD-S795 is $100 bucks cheaper than the DVD-S700
that was reviewed. Truly a great value.
I know that entering DVD-hood is a big step. Don't worry, the DVD-S700,
or should I say DVD-S795, is ripe and ready to pick. This one is a
keeper.
Like this article? Bookmark and share with any of the sites below.
During
the past few years, we've seen the A/V family tree grow and bear more
fruit than ever before. Perhaps the most noticeable offspring is DVD.
With new titles being born daily and the fall in player prices, how can
you resist throwing down a few hundred bones and walking away with one
of these babies?
