Denon has unveiled its latest upscaling DVD players and, if they are anything like the multi-award winning Denon DVD 1930, then they could be little crackers indeed.
The new entry-level model is the DVD-1740 is which promises near-Full HD upscaling of existing DVDs to your HDTV through its HDMI port. There are also the usual component video hook-ups for delivering the next best video quality to older TVs. The DVD 1740, which supports the increasingly popular DivX file format, costs a wallet-friendly £150.
For £250, you can opt for the Denon DVD-1940, successor to the excellent 1930, which boasts superior 1080p upscaling thanks to its Faroudja FLi2301 DCDi chipset, which supports five Image Mode memories so that you can tweak it until you find the best image for you.
It also sports interlaced and progressive video DACs as well as some decent sound credentials thanks to the use of PCM-1738 Burr Brown Audio DACs.-Martin Lynch
DVD movies upscaling home cinema denon
You may have heard that there’s a big stink surrounding the BBC’s iPlayer video on demand service, largely because Windows users are catered for immediately while Linux and Mac users will have to wait 'up to' six months.
There is an online petition against this decision which now stands at more than 16,000 signatures. The government has made its first statement on the kerfuffle and, well, it’s pretty much washing its hands of this mini-timebomb. Here’s what the official statement said:
The Government set up the BBC Trust to represent the interests of licence fee payers, and to ensure good governance of the BBC.
The BBC Trust has responsibility for ensuring that the correct degree of scrutiny is given to all proposals from the BBC Executive for new services (such as the iPlayer) and any significant changes to existing services. To fulfill this duty, the Trust conducted a Public Value Test on the BBC Executive’s proposals to launch new on-demand services, including BBC iPlayer.
This included a public consultation and a market impact assessment by Ofcom. In the case of the iPlayer, following the consultation, the Trust noted the strong public demand for the service to be available on a variety of operating systems.
The BBC Trust made it a condition of approval for the BBC’s on-demand services that the iPlayer is available to users of a range of operating systems, and has given a commitment that it will ensure that the BBC meets this demand as soon as possible.
They will measure the BBC’s progress on this every six months and publish the findings.
As you can see, it’s little more than a summary of the BBC Trust’s job description. For those affected by iPlayer’s technical shortfalls, it’s a kick in the teeth, while for Windows users [not Vista], it’s business as usual.-Martin Lynch
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Editor and Contributor | Martin Lynch
Contributor | Tamlin Magee
