At first glance this was one of the best DVD

That’s right 130 out of a possible maximum score of 130, cue the Rip Taylor confetti and party favors we have a winner. All kidding aside I can’t say as I’m actually surprised that an HQV equipped DVD player passed all of the HQV benchmark tests with flying colors but it is worth noting that the DVD-2930CI uses the Silicon Optix Reon-Vx and not the higher end Realta.
Another impressive bit of functionality directly related to the HQV video processing in the DVD-2930CI, is its multi-stepped adjustable noise reduction. Noise reduction circuitry in a DVD player is a plus, noise reduction that you can turn on and off in a DVD player is an ever bigger plus. But the DVD-2930CI not only has fantastic multi-stepped noise reduction, it’s adjustable and doesn’t greatly reduce the resolution of the image even at the highest setting.
So we’re done right? this players a winner. Not so fast, while I readily admit that the HQV benchmark is an important tool for evaluating DVD players and displays the real proof is in the viewing. Let me cite a few examples. I recently reviewed a budget video projector that failed nearly every one of the HQV cadence tests, except that is the all important 3:2 pull down detection test, end result? The projector in question will still receive a recommendation when the review posts, as I feel that it adequately passed the critical tests even though it failed on some of the less common cadences.
Second example, my Denon DVD-1910 actually scores slightly better than the Toshiba HD-A1 but the HD-A1 looks better in my system, quite a bit better as a matter of fact. At the end of the day tests and benchmarks are only half of the story. Now let’s get back to the rest of the story with the DVD-2930CI.
Image Quality:
As stated, talk is talk but image quality is the name of the game here, so I cued up the most recent disc I’d viewed with my Toshiba HD-XA1 and got down to brass tax. With the Indiana Jones Raiders of the Lost Ark (from the box set) disc in tray I was ready to see what this player is capable and again on a 123” screen, that should devour anything as measly as 480 lines of vertical resolution, or so one would think.
The first thing that jumped out at me versus the XA-1’s rendition of the same opening sequence was black level, it was defined and crisp and showed quite a bit of shadow detail once Indy moved into the temple. The color was highly saturated yet never over saturated. At first glance this was one of the best DVD images I’ve seen at any screen size much less 123”
Moving forward to chapter 23, as Indy races through the desert after the ark, I couldn’t help but notice the excellent earthtones in the soldier’s uniforms. I also noticed some of the best fleshtones I’ve seen from DVD, take a look at the screen shot below.