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Toshiba SD-5980 DVD player VIDEO PERFORMANCE All results are for the component-video output set for progressive-scan format. Test patterns were widescreen (16:9) except for onscreen resolution and in-player letterboxing. Vertical luminance response (re level at 100 lines) 200/300/400 lines: -4.4/-14/-40 dB Horizontal luminance response (re level at 2 MHz) 4/6/8/ MHz: -0.45/-1.3/-1.9 dB 10/12/13.5 MHz: -1.9/-1.9/-1.5 dB Onscreen resolution: 540 lines (4:3 image) In-player letterboxing: good AUDIO PERFORMANCE (CD) Noise level (re -20-dBFS output, A-wtd): -67.3 dB Frequency response: 20 Hz to 20 kHz +0.13, -0.3 dB Aside from a drastic rolloff in vertical resolution from its progressive-component and HDMI outputs, the Toshiba player's video behavior was typical. The progressive and HDMI outputs had the usual jagged diagonals when playing material derived from video sources but not with DVD movies. Its stereo audio performance when playing CDs was also, unfortunately, typical of low-cost DVD players. The background noise level was audible and some 9 dB higher than theoretically perfect CD playback, a performance benchmark approached much more closely by other players. Use the digital output instead. Samsung DVD-HD950 DVD/SACD player VIDEO PERFORMANCE All results are for the component-video output set for progressive-scan format. Test patterns were widescreen (16:9) except for onscreen resolution and in-player letterboxing. Vertical luminance response (re level at 100 lines) 200/300/400 lines: -4.4/-14/-40 dB Horizontal luminance response (re level at 2 MHz) 4/6/8 MHz: -0.72/-1.6/-2.5 dB 10/12/13.5 MHz: -3.3/-5.2/-6.0 dB Onscreen resolution: 540 lines (4:3 image) In-player letterboxing: good AUDIO PERFORMANCE Frequency response (from 20 Hz to ...) Dolby Digital: 20 kHz +0.1, -0.35 dB CD: 20 kHz +0, -0.38 dB DVD-Audio (96-kHz sampling rate): 46 kHz +0, -2.47 dB SACD: N/A* Noise level (re -20-dBFS signal, A-wtd) Dolby Digital: -64.8 dB CD: -69.6 dB DVD-Audio: -68.6 dB SACD: N/A* * would not play multichannel test SACD BASS-MANAGEMENT PERFORMANCE Measured results obtained with Dolby Digital test signals. Subwoofer-output frequency response: 12 dB/octave rolloff above -3-dB point of 100 Hz High-pass-filter frequency response: 12 dB/octave rolloff above -3-dB point of 100 Hz Maximum unclipped subwoofer output (trim at 0): 1.82 volts Subwoofer distortion (from 6-channel, 30-Hz, 0-dBFS signal): 0.08% Crossover consistency: bass crossover frequency and slope same for Dolby Digital and DVD-Audio; SACD behavior N/A. Signal-format consistency: no bass management applied to CD Speaker size selection: all channels can be set to "small" Speaker-distance compensation: none! Channel-balance controls: none!! The Samsung player's progressive-component and HDMI outputs suffered from severely rolled-off vertical resolution performance. Otherwise, progressive and HDMI behavior had the typical jagged diagonals when playing material originating from video sources. DVD movies looked better in this regard. The audio performance was hampered by excessively high noise levels detectable even in CD playback. DVD-Audio had 1 dB worse noise performance than CD, when in theory it should be some 48 dB better. The player's puzzling inability to play our multichannel test SACD prevented any measurements for this format. Regular music SACDs played with no problem, but with noise levels comparable to DVD-Audio playback.

The player's bass management needs work. Besides the astounding omission of both speaker-distance and speaker-balance controls - which will prevent proper channel-balancing and imaging in many home setups - there was no bass management at all for CD playback. The subwoofer output overloaded about 3 dB short of the ideal maximum output when playing worst-case DVD-Audio signals. For all except SACD playback, you can get around these limitations by using the HDMI output to carry the audio digitally and letting your receiver do the decoding and bass management.

Panasonic DVD-S77 DVD-Audio/Video player VIDEO PERFORMANCE All results are for the component-video output set for progressive-scan format. Test patterns were widescreen (16:9) except for onscreen resolution and in-player letterboxing. Vertical luminance response (re level at 100 lines) 200/300/400 lines: ±0/-0.18/-0.45 dB Horizontal luminance response (re level at 2 MHz) 2/6/8 MHz: ±0/+0.34/+0.42 dB 10/12/13.5 MHz: ±0/-0.10/-1.9 dB Onscreen resolution: 540 lines (4:3 image) In-player letterboxing: good AUDIO PERFORMANCE Frequency response (from 20 Hz to ...) Dolby Digital: 20 kHz +0.016, -0.44 dB CD: 20 kHz +0.018, -0.22 dB DVD-Audio (96-kHz sampling rate): 46 kHz +0, -2.5 dB Noise level (re -20-dBFS signal, A-wtd) Dolby Digital: -76.0 dB CD: -76.2 dB DVD-Audio: -82.3 dB BASS-MANAGEMENT PERFORMANCE Measured results obtained with Dolby Digital test signals. Subwoofer-output frequency response: 12 dB/octave rolloff above -3-dB point of 100 Hz High-pass-filter frequency response: 6 dB/octave rolloff below -3-dB point of 100 Hz Maximum unclipped subwoofer output (trim at 0): 3.5 volts Subwoofer distortion (from 6-channel, 30-Hz, 0-dBFS signal): 0.035% Crossover consistency: bass crossover frequency and slope same for CD, Dolby Digital, and DVD-Audio Signal-format consistency: bass management applied to all formats Speaker-size selection: all channels can be set to "small" Speaker-distance compensation: 0.1-ms steps Channel-balance controls: 1-dB steps The Panasonic's progressive-component and HDMI outputs behaved properly in the vertical resolution test, producing nearly "flat" output at full vertical resolution. The slight "midband" boost of the horizontal luminance response made the player seem very slightly sharper on test patterns than the others, but the effect was difficult to see on movies. Both the progressive and HDMI outputs gave nearly perfect performance in the very tough progressive-conversion tests on the Silicon Optix HQV test DVD as well as on the moving test patterns on the new Avia Pro disc. This means no jagged diagonals and an overall clarity and smoothness to the image.

For once in a relatively inexpensive DVD-Audio player, the DVD-Audio noise levels fell substantially below those for CD playback, which itself was right at the theoretical performance limit.