Introduction
We would have never reviewed this DVD player if we had incidentally not received it from a friend some weeks ago. At first I was quite sceptical whether this low-cost product would be worth a single test but, I have to admit that my first impression was wrong. More on that later.
The DVD is on the way to become the most important video medium. Thanks to dics capacities between 4.3 GB (DVD-5) and 15.9 GB (DVD-18), a DVD can hold more than two hours of high quality MPEG-2 video with several audio tracks (multi-language) and subtitles. In order to avoid illegal copies, commercial video DVDs come with a region code that defines the origin. For example, 1 is North America, 2 is Europe, etc. A European (code 2) DVD player will usually not work with US (code 1) DVDs, as the industry does not want DVDs to be brought to Europe as long as movies are still in the theatres there. However, there are ways to short-circuit this view protection. Most players only need a little change in their firmware.
Gradually both video cassette recorders and later the conventional compact disc will be replaced by the DVD. First DVD recorders are available now (very expensive), making recordings possible as well.
The Jianghai DVP-9000C seems to be suitable for DVD newcomers with average demands and a low budget.
DVD vs. Video Tape
- One of the most important advantages of the Digital Versatile Disc over a standard tape is the much clearer image quality. Due to the analog recording process, you will always lose quality when copying to tape (no matter from which source). Bad brinks are a well known characteristic of analog video systems.
On DVDs the data is stored digitally, which means that basically no information gets lost during recording. A non-compressed high quality video stream would of course consume dozends of megabytes per second. That’s why the data is being compressed according to the MPEG-2 standard, which will always bate the image quality due to artefacts. - Data Safety
A tape is magnetized in order to store data. After a certain time, this magnetization will slowly degrade, thus decreasing the image quality. In addition, magnetic tapes do not last forever. Simply expose a cassette for some time to the sun; after half an hour you can usually throw the tape away. DVDs and CDs are much less delicate. Of course you will also kill a CD when placing it in the sun. Stored safely in a shelf, your data should be absolute safe for at least 20 years. Even the first CDs from the early 80s are mostly working properly today. - Data Access
The laser of a consumer DVD or CD drive can be posotioned in a few seconds, giving you the option to access every part of the medium within a very short time. - DVD consumes less space
If you store your discs without the plastic covers, you could have 100 of them consuming the same space than 6 video tapes. Even if you don’t want to chuck out the DVD cases you can still store 3 DVDs for 1 tape. - Less medium sensibility
Dropping a video tape might destroy some important part and leave the cassette useless. A CD or DVD will usually survive a fall without taking any harm. - Flexibility
You can watch a DVD movie either on a computer with DVD-ROM drive and MPEG-2 decoding software or on a consumer DVD player.
Features of the DVP-9000C
Supported formats are DVD, CD-i, Video CD, Audio CD, MP3 and Karaoke CD. One of the most interesting features is the fact that the Jianghai player does not care about DVD region codes. I tried two code 2 DVDs, one code 1 and a fourth without region code. Everything worked properly!
Fortunately I still have some CD-i discs which I could now recycle for this review. The picture quality I saw was definitely adequate to enjoy the movie. Another funky feature is the support of karaoke CDs.
Here you have two microphone line-ins and two regulators for the mic input level and the echo level. Unfortunately (or fortunate for the other people in the lab) I did not have any karaoke CD to test it.
Next I tried a CD-R containing almost 300 MP3 files in five directories. The DVP-9000C listed all tracks alphabetically so that I could select the one I wanted over the remote control.
The player supports fast forward and rewind at 2x, 4x, 8x or 12x playback speed, repeat a-b, a goto function which allows you to type in a time and a zoom function.
Remote Control
The remote control is ergonomically designed and all buttons on it are well organzied. All playback function buttons have an orange background, whilst the function buttons are marked in blue. The remote control carries much more functions than the DVD player itself. Features like 3D sound, subtitle alteration, repeat etc. can only be performed over the remote control. I like that the control also includes a button to eject the disc. Unfortunately, there are no batteries in the box.
Outputs
The Jianghai player comes with an integrated AC3 decoder, giving you the option to attach all 6 lines (2 front, 2 rear, center and subwoofer) to a receiver or amplifier without decoder. Of course you may also use either the coaxial or the optical digital output to attach the DVD player to a fully featured Dolby Digital device. If you have a less expensive model without digital inputs, you can also attach the DVP-9000C using the analog audio out.
Two video outputs are available, one composite and a S-Video out. Both can be used simlutaneously, just in case if you should have two TVs! Two more scart ports are available as well. Here you can attach e.g. a video recorder.
The Inside
Basically there is nothing mystique about a DVD player. All you need is a DVD-ROM drive, power supply, controller and decompression chip and some software for the playback and menu functions.
The decoder chip is the Vaddis III from the video specialist Zoran. As you can easily see on the photo, Dolby Digital is supported in hardware (it’s 5.1 as 6.1 devices are still very expensive).
Conclusion
Some people may complain about the medium quality of the front buttons or the strange «brand» name. Of course you should not compare such a low-end player with real brand players which strive for perfection. The Jianghai DVP-9000C can be obtained for less than $200, a very attravtive price if you consider the good picture and sound quality and the rich feature set.
The karaoke function may not be too important in Europe or the US, but Asians like this kind of entertainment. There’s no hint on the production place neither on the player nor on the box, but we know that it’s China.
I doubt that you will find any DVD-player as feature rich as this Jianghai for a similar or even lower price. The video industry may not be happy with it, but the DVP-9000C will play every DVD you stick into it except for MPEG4-disks. I tried a CD with one MPEG-4 file, but the disc was not even recognized.
If you don’t have a DVD player and want to get one — the Jianghai is an interesting option. You won’t have to spend a lot of money and will get a fully featured Hifi device which can also play MP3 discs.
