There were some jaggies in the Oscillating Pendulum Stem test, but they weren't as bad as other players we've seen. However, there were significant jaggies in the waving American flag, which is one of the most challenging tests for any deinterlacer. The hockey footage looked pretty good, but the moving cross-hatch pattern was always a bit jittery, indicating that the processor never fully locked on to the 3:2 pulldown cadence; this was confirmed by the Snell & Wilcox Zone Plate test pattern (3:2 rate) on VE. The mixed-content footage (video and film) looked quite good. The bottom line was a mixed result: some tests looked good, others not so good.

DVI vs. Component
DVI is a fledgling interface in the home theater arena, so it's not really surprising that different displays' implementations don't behave in the same way—but it is frustrating. Of the three DVI-equipped displays we tried with the D1, only the Runco behaved correctly. With the Sharp and Hitachi, only certain aspect-ratio settings were available when using DVI, and in most cases, non-anamorphic images were moderately to severely distorted. In both displays' 16:9 mode, non-anamorphic letterbox material occupied a 16:9 window within a 4:3 window on the screen, which could not be expanded to fill the screen, even with the player's Zoom 01 mode engaged. Anamorphic material was displayed correctly in most (but not all) cases.

Things were better on the Runco. Using its 16:9 mode, anamorphic and 4:3 material was displayed correctly, and the player's Zoom 01 mode expanded non-anamorphic letterbox images to fill the screen, although a bit of the picture was lost on the sides. Also, the Runco's Brightness and Contrast controls are available when viewing the DVI input, which made it easy to adjust the dynamic range as needed.

Once we'd determined that the Runco behaved properly with the D1, we could see that the image quality from the DVI output was superb. Sharpness and detail were exceptional, and colors were rich and vivid without being overblown. We watched excerpts from several movies and TV series on DVD; they looked uniformly excellent.

We wanted to see how DVI stacks up against a good component output, so we used the Runco to compare the D1's DVI 720p output with the 480i component output from the Integra DPS-8.3, a DVD player with excellent video performance. After selecting a black level of 7.5 IRE in the Integra, we adjusted the brightness and contrast controls of the Runco's interlaced component input to match the dynamic range of the DVI input using Digital Video Essentials.

We started by comparing several test patterns using two copies of DVE, cued up to the same place on both players. From the start, it was obvious that the DVI signal was quite a bit sharper than the component, especially in chrominance bandwidth. The component chrominance rolled off severely above 2.25MHz, while the DVI chrominance bandwidth was sharp as a tack all the way past 2.5MHz (the maximum value on the DVD's chroma sweep is 2.875MHz). There was much less difference in the luminance bandwidth, although the component signal exhibited a bit of comb-filtering at the high end. On the Snell & Wilcox Zone Plate, the bouncing ball exhibited quite a bit of moiré distortion with component, which was virtually nonexistent in the DVI signal.

Then, we cued up two copies of the Superbit version of The Fifth Element, which is a superb-looking DVD. Once again, the DVI signal looked noticeably sharper than the component; in fact, TJN thought it looked a bit too sharp on some scenes, but I found nothing to complain about. (Unfortunately, the Runco's Sharpness control is disabled with DVI, so we couldn't take it down a notch for Tom's sake.) In general, however, we agreed that the DVI image was clearly preferable, at least with this DVD. On discs with poorer picture quality, we suspect that DVI might be too revealing.

With the Loewe Aconda, the component output worked as well as could be expected, given the frequency-response problems noted earlier. Also as mentioned earlier, the D1 will not send 720p or 1080i signals from copy-protected DVDs to its component outputs, so virtually all commercial titles must be played at 480p from the component output. With so many excellent and inexpensive progressive DVD players on the market, it's difficult to recommend the D1 for use with its component outputs.

The D1 does solve one problem I have with the Loewe, which can't apply its 4:3 aspect ratio to high-bandwidth component signals. As a result, non-anamorphic material is not displayed correctly from most progressive-scan DVD players. With the D1, anamorphic and 4:3 material is displayed correctly in the set's 16:9 mode, and the player's Zoom 01 mode expands non-anamorphic letterbox material to fill the screen (with the same loss of image on the sides as the Runco). I suspect the D1 pre-squeezes non-anamorphic images to compensate for 16:9 displays with this limitation, which might also account for the strange rippling in the Frequency Sweep pattern on the non-anamorphic Video Essentials.

Conclusion
The V, Inc. Bravo D1 DVD player offers some intriguing capabilities, especially for a player that lists for less than $200. However, its interaction with DVI-equipped displays is difficult to predict—especially now, as DVI is just getting started. If you're considering this player for your home theater, test it with the display you intend to use to make sure it works as it's supposed to. I believe that this is not the D1's fault, but rather the fault of display manufacturers who have not yet implemented DVI correctly for video. I implore them to be more careful in their future products, and to please keep all picture controls active with the DVI input.

However, the D1 has other issues that V, Inc. does need to address. First and foremost, the component output must be improved; as it is, I can't recommend the D1 if you're going to use its component output—there are many other DVD players at or near this price that perform much better in this regard. Next, it would be great to have a black-level control for both the analog and DVI outputs. Many DVD players have such a control for their analog outputs, so it can't be that difficult to include. Also, the player should stay in the selected Zoom mode when you skip to different chapters, and you should be able to skip past title boundaries. Finally, the D1 needs a much better remote and front-panel display.

On the plus side, the quality of the image from the D1's DVI output is outstanding (at least when the player is connected to a display that works correctly with DVI video signals). Also, you can play anamorphic and non-anamorphic material without having to change the display's aspect ratio (again, assuming the display behaves properly). But perhaps most important, the Bravo D1 points the way toward a future in which video signals never leave the digital domain. And at this price, the big boys will have a hard time catching up with this startup (or should I say upstart?) company, especially if V, Inc. fixes the problems in their first-generation product.