Page 1 of Aiwa 370 Vs. Lecson Vs. Encore 450 which 1 ?????????????????????????

After chucking out the Yelo and the Scan from the equation, due to their various reliability problems, I was left with 3 players.

I already have a good normal Pioneer amp which I hope to use to power the front 2 speakers, so DD outputs would be helpful. I also would like one which can play RCE, either automatically or via a remote hack. Also a player where firmware is readily availible would be helpful, as I don`t fancy splashing out again if it breaks down cos i`ve had 2 do a hardware mod.

I need some help on which 1 I should plump for now:

Aiwa - sounds good but no in built DTS or DD5.1. Heard it needs a hardware mod 4 RCE disks?

Encore - Again good reviews but apparently no DTS on board, is there an output 4 it?. Does it play RCE once region hacked?

Lecson - Sounds good. But does it have an RGB output, component video output, can it play MP3`s and is it NTSC compatible? Does it play RCE once region hacked?

Does anyone no where to get a Lecson from, apart from Debenhams? Also is there anywhere thats doing an Encore 4 less than 200quid?

Anyone know of better players being launched in the next month or 2?

I will answer the Encore question.

Yes it outputs DTS, just doesn`t advertise it. Yes it does RCE, as long as you set the region to R1, rather than bypass. Oh, it does component too, if you`ve got a projector...

The Aiwa is basically an LG3200E with more features namely MP3, VCD & Optical Output.
It does do DTS, can do RCE if you can set the region 1 – 6 manually, so if your DVD is region 1 set the player to region 1 then it will work, and set it to 0 (Multiregion) for all other times. I know it’s a pain having to press a few buttons for some but it works.

The DVD drive mechanism runs virtually silent when playing films, you’ll only hear it when it’s access the root, or skipping chapters etc.

The Picture is very good, but I can notice banding in virtually every film I own. It defiantly has not got a better picture than the Wharfedale, I had one of these, and my friend still has, and yes you’ve guessed it we’ve had em’ side by side and the Wharfedale shows hardly any banding at all when compared (banding is the artefact created when the colour pallet cant display all the hue’s for a colour, thus resulting in a stepping effect from the dark area to the light)

Hope this helps.

LOZ.

The Encore DV450 is advertised at dvdworld.co.uk for £179.00 + £10 uk delivery charge.

In fact I`m thinking of getting one myself - although what`s all this about upgrades for out-of-sync lips?

Dont F*ck around BigBoy!
Go for safety......Get the AIWA!

HITACHI ROCKS!!!!!!!!

Well done that Dukey man!
(he`s a nice man...very very nice man! lol)

And Loz, this banding thing you`re on about?
I have NO signs of banding whatsoever, on a crud Matsui 28" wide running composite OR S-video and nothing on a Toshiba 29" 4:3 running the same.

I`ve sold the Wharfy, and can assure you that the Aiwa far exceeds the picture quality on any one I have seen.
Are you sure it isn`t a compatibility issue with your TV?
Everyone else seems to agree with my verdict, but you have done the one usual "failsafe" test by using it side by side with another player.

I rate the Aiwa picture almost the same as my previous Pioneer 525.

Try setting the "Video" option in the menu to Svideo..I know it sounds wierd, but the Matsui I got does NOT have S capability, but runs perfectly well on this setting for me.

Hope it helps cure the banding for ya!


AIWA 370 (officially) ROCKS!!!!!!!!