I recently bought a Daewoo 9000S5 DVD player - had some good reviews and was
cheap! Two days later my Phillips CD player (bought in 1987) died - so I
tried to hook up the DVD in its place. (Simple L/R Stereo out to the amp).
The sound quality is awful! I've played around with the menus - setting
SPDIF (?) to off or PCM (?) improves things but it still sounds bad.

It sounds like the signal to the amp is too strong - is this likely, or is a
cheap DVD player simply not up to the job? I don't notice the same
distortion on CD sound from the TV (via SCART lead), but then the TV is not
exactly hi-fi. The amp is quite old (Dual something or other - not expensive
but has been fine for everything I've needed up to now...)

cheers

KotF

KotF wrote:

I recently bought a Daewoo 9000S5 DVD player - had some good reviews and
was cheap! Two days later my Phillips CD player (bought in 1987) died - so
I tried to hook up the DVD in its place. (Simple L/R Stereo out to the
amp). The sound quality is awful! I've played around with the menus -
setting SPDIF (?) to off or PCM (?) improves things but it still sounds
bad.

I assume the L/R connection you made is analogue. In which case changing
SPDIF config should make no difference.

It sounds like the signal to the amp is too strong - is this likely, or is
a cheap DVD player simply not up to the job? I don't notice the same
distortion on CD sound from the TV (via SCART lead), but then the TV is
not exactly hi-fi. The amp is quite old (Dual something or other - not
expensive but has been fine for everything I've needed up to now...)


Check the spec for the output of the player and compare with the spec for
the input you are using on the amp.

Ian

KotF wrote:

I recently bought a Daewoo 9000S5 DVD player - had some good reviews and
was cheap! Two days later my Phillips CD player (bought in 1987) died - so
I tried to hook up the DVD in its place. (Simple L/R Stereo out to the
amp). The sound quality is awful! I've played around with the menus -
setting SPDIF (?) to off or PCM (?) improves things but it still sounds
bad.

I assume the L/R connection you made is analogue. In which case changing
SPDIF config should make no difference.

It sounds like the signal to the amp is too strong - is this likely, or is
a cheap DVD player simply not up to the job? I don't notice the same
distortion on CD sound from the TV (via SCART lead), but then the TV is
not exactly hi-fi. The amp is quite old (Dual something or other - not
expensive but has been fine for everything I've needed up to now...)


Check the spec for the output of the player and compare with the spec for
the input you are using on the amp.

Ian

Ian Bell wrote:
KotF wrote:

I recently bought a Daewoo 9000S5 DVD player - had some good reviews
and was cheap! Two days later my Phillips CD player (bought in 1987)
died - so I tried to hook up the DVD in its place. (Simple L/R
Stereo out to the amp). The sound quality is awful! I've played
around with the menus - setting SPDIF (?) to off or PCM (?) improves
things but it still sounds bad.

I assume the L/R connection you made is analogue. In which case
changing SPDIF config should make no difference.

It's marked as stereo L & R - standard phono type connectors. I wouldn't
have expected the SPDIF setting to affect this either, yet it undoubtedly
does. Would that indicate cheap rubbish or faulty product?

KotF

Ian Bell wrote:
KotF wrote:

I recently bought a Daewoo 9000S5 DVD player - had some good reviews
and was cheap! Two days later my Phillips CD player (bought in 1987)
died - so I tried to hook up the DVD in its place. (Simple L/R
Stereo out to the amp). The sound quality is awful! I've played
around with the menus - setting SPDIF (?) to off or PCM (?) improves
things but it still sounds bad.

I assume the L/R connection you made is analogue. In which case
changing SPDIF config should make no difference.

It's marked as stereo L & R - standard phono type connectors. I wouldn't
have expected the SPDIF setting to affect this either, yet it undoubtedly
does. Would that indicate cheap rubbish or faulty product?

KotF

In article , KotF
wrote:
Ian Bell wrote:
KotF wrote:

I recently bought a Daewoo 9000S5 DVD player - had some good reviews
and was cheap! Two days later my Phillips CD player (bought in 1987)
died - so I tried to hook up the DVD in its place. (Simple L/R Stereo
out to the amp). The sound quality is awful! I've played around with
the menus - setting SPDIF (?) to off or PCM (?) improves things but
it still sounds bad.

I assume the L/R connection you made is analogue. In which case
changing SPDIF config should make no difference.

It's marked as stereo L & R - standard phono type connectors. I wouldn't
have expected the SPDIF setting to affect this either, yet it
undoubtedly does. Would that indicate cheap rubbish or faulty product?

I don't know anything about the player so can only guess. However i wonder
if selecting S/PDIF or stream digital ouput may alter the way the player
gets L/R 'stereo' from surround-sound tracks?

FWIW when I play CDs on my DVD player they do tend to come out louder than
many DVDs, even via the S/PDIF output into a stereo DAC. I have assumed
this was simply that the DVD's I have tend to be recorded at lower level
w.r.t. to full-belt than CDs. No signs of distortion with CDs in general,
but with some the player is clearly struggling, and in these cases the
sound can be rough, presumably due to interpolations as data is lost as a
result of the player not tracking reliably. No idea how characteristic this
is, though, of cheap players. (mine is cheap as it is a DVD/VHS combo.)

Slainte,

Jim

--
Electronics http://www.st-and.ac.uk/~www_pa/Scot...o/electron.htm
Audio Misc http://www.st-and.demon.co.uk/AudioMisc/index.html
Armstrong Audio http://www.st-and.demon.co.uk/Audio/armstrong.html
Barbirolli Soc. http://www.st-and.demon.co.uk/JBSoc/JBSoc.html

In article , KotF
wrote:
Ian Bell wrote:
KotF wrote:

I recently bought a Daewoo 9000S5 DVD player - had some good reviews
and was cheap! Two days later my Phillips CD player (bought in 1987)
died - so I tried to hook up the DVD in its place. (Simple L/R Stereo
out to the amp). The sound quality is awful! I've played around with
the menus - setting SPDIF (?) to off or PCM (?) improves things but
it still sounds bad.

I assume the L/R connection you made is analogue. In which case
changing SPDIF config should make no difference.

It's marked as stereo L & R - standard phono type connectors. I wouldn't
have expected the SPDIF setting to affect this either, yet it
undoubtedly does. Would that indicate cheap rubbish or faulty product?

I don't know anything about the player so can only guess. However i wonder
if selecting S/PDIF or stream digital ouput may alter the way the player
gets L/R 'stereo' from surround-sound tracks?

FWIW when I play CDs on my DVD player they do tend to come out louder than
many DVDs, even via the S/PDIF output into a stereo DAC. I have assumed
this was simply that the DVD's I have tend to be recorded at lower level
w.r.t. to full-belt than CDs. No signs of distortion with CDs in general,
but with some the player is clearly struggling, and in these cases the
sound can be rough, presumably due to interpolations as data is lost as a
result of the player not tracking reliably. No idea how characteristic this
is, though, of cheap players. (mine is cheap as it is a DVD/VHS combo.)

Slainte,

Jim

--
Electronics http://www.st-and.ac.uk/~www_pa/Scot...o/electron.htm
Audio Misc http://www.st-and.demon.co.uk/AudioMisc/index.html
Armstrong Audio http://www.st-and.demon.co.uk/Audio/armstrong.html
Barbirolli Soc. http://www.st-and.demon.co.uk/JBSoc/JBSoc.html

KotF wrote:

Ian Bell wrote:
KotF wrote:

I recently bought a Daewoo 9000S5 DVD player - had some good reviews
and was cheap! Two days later my Phillips CD player (bought in 1987)
died - so I tried to hook up the DVD in its place. (Simple L/R
Stereo out to the amp). The sound quality is awful! I've played
around with the menus - setting SPDIF (?) to off or PCM (?) improves
things but it still sounds bad.

I assume the L/R connection you made is analogue. In which case
changing SPDIF config should make no difference.

It's marked as stereo L & R - standard phono type connectors. I wouldn't
have expected the SPDIF setting to affect this either, yet it undoubtedly
does. Would that indicate cheap rubbish or faulty product?

KotF

Definitely sounds faulty or at least 'not fir for the purpose' to me. if it
is advertised as playing Cds I would take it back for a refund.

Ian

KotF wrote:

Ian Bell wrote:
KotF wrote:

I recently bought a Daewoo 9000S5 DVD player - had some good reviews
and was cheap! Two days later my Phillips CD player (bought in 1987)
died - so I tried to hook up the DVD in its place. (Simple L/R
Stereo out to the amp). The sound quality is awful! I've played
around with the menus - setting SPDIF (?) to off or PCM (?) improves
things but it still sounds bad.

I assume the L/R connection you made is analogue. In which case
changing SPDIF config should make no difference.

It's marked as stereo L & R - standard phono type connectors. I wouldn't
have expected the SPDIF setting to affect this either, yet it undoubtedly
does. Would that indicate cheap rubbish or faulty product?

KotF

Definitely sounds faulty or at least 'not fir for the purpose' to me. if it
is advertised as playing Cds I would take it back for a refund.

Ian

KotF wrote:

I recently bought a Daewoo 9000S5 DVD player - had some good reviews and was
cheap! Two days later my Phillips CD player (bought in 1987) died - so I
tried to hook up the DVD in its place. (Simple L/R Stereo out to the amp).
The sound quality is awful! I've played around with the menus - setting
SPDIF (?) to off or PCM (?) improves things but it still sounds bad.

It sounds like the signal to the amp is too strong - is this likely, or is a
cheap DVD player simply not up to the job?


If it sounds like the signal to the amp is too strong,
then it probably is. Try a 10dB attenuator (4 resistors)and see if
things improve.

--
Roger.